Check out this update on what’s happening in Zimbabwe from our friends at Amnesty International USA.

-Margaret McDonnell

Zimbabwe is locked in an increasingly downward spiral of diminishing civil rights, decaying infrastructure, violent farm seizures, food insecurity and mass displacement of persons through government destruction of property and those escaping violence and poverty. The situation came to a head last year following Presidential and Parliamentary elections when a run-off election instigated mass violence perpetrated against members of the opposition candidate party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and human rights defenders in an attempt to sway the election results.

A power sharing agreement was negotiated in September 2008 between President Mugabe of the ZANU-PF party, Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC-T and Arthur Mutambara of the MDC-M, calling for a return to the rule of law, an end to harassment of political parties, respect for human rights, a new constitution and prosecutions of perpetrators of the election violence.

Since the new government was sworn in February of this year, there have been some small changes in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe now uses a monetary system based on the US dollar or South Africa rand which has curbed inflation but it means many people can’t access hospital care because they have no foreign currency. Additionally, Zimbabwe’s healthcare system cannot provide the services necessary to sustain the population due to serious shortages of basic clinical equipment and medications.

Zimbabwe also faces a continuing cholera epidemic that has seen 100,000 cases and claimed more than 4000 lives since initials outbreaks in August 2008. The epidemic’s severity is traced to lack of functioning hospitals, abject poverty due to the collapse of the nation’s economy and infrastructure and the rainy season that caused raw sewage to seep into wells used for drinking water. Crisis levels of the outbreak will resume when the rainy season returns in October 2009 if the water treatment plants and sewer systems are not repaired.

Zimbabwe’s education system, once a model in southern Africa, is in a state of near collapse. Compulsory school fees are not affordable by most of the population. Educational supplies are not sufficient to promote a conducive learning environment, with children required to bring chalk, paper and other materials to the classroom. The current Education Minister David Coltart reports an average of 30 pupils share one text book in rural areas while in urban areas it is mostly 15-1 or 20-1. An assessment by UNICEF in February 2009 reported “eighty-six percent of schools reportedly open were not fully functional; 54% of the opened schools were conducting no classes at all. Ninety-two schools visited were completely closed: of the total 94 schools reportedly “open,” only 14% of schools reported teaching at full capacity.”

Amnesty International’s Secretary General visited Zimbabwe last month and noted that repression of human rights defenders, political activists, lawyers and journalists continues. In fact, while she was there, members of civil society group Women of Zimbabwe Arise held a protest near the building Ms. Khan was simultaneously conducting a press conference. Police converged on the protest, arresting and beating many people severely, including a grandmother and a mother with her 9 month old baby.

Zimbabwe is approaching new elections in less than a year’s time. The new constitution process requires it to be ratified by the Zimbabwe people in a vote which should occur around July 2010. Further, if the new constitution alters the current structure of the power sharing agreement, such as eliminating the new Prime Minister position or calls for new Presidential elections, there is potentially a second election in Zimbabwe as well. Considering that the violence never ceased in Zimbabwe, the chances of a dramatic increase during the next year are high.

You can help. Amnesty International USA and Physicians for Human Rights are calling for the United Nations and African Union to deploy human rights monitors on the ground in Zimbabwe NOW. These monitors will assist in compiling investigation reports of the violence that occurred during the elections last year, assure that humanitarian aid flowing into Zimbabwe is distributed equitably, monitor and report on-going incidences of human rights violations and hopefully remain on the ground throughout 2010 to assist with monitoring human rights conditions during the coming elections.

-Sarah Hager, Amnesty International USA

Sign the petition here calling for human rights monitors to be deployed to Zimbabwe.
Listen to Amnesty International’s Secretary General Irene Kahn discuss her visit to Zimbabwe.