The Sunday Mail
Online Reporter
THE Second Republic has heightened legislative reforms to entrench human rights and personal freedoms in line with recommendations from the United Nations, a Cabinet Minister has said.
Addressing the United Nations Human Rights Council at the third cycle Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Switzerland recently, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said the country had received 264 recommendations from Member States with 127 accepted while 98 were deferred and 39 noted.
He said Zimbabwe had also set up a UPR National Steering Committee composed of Government, cooperating partners, National Human Rights Institutions, and Civil Society Organisations to monitor promotion and protection of human rights.
“The National Steering Committee is tasked to craft the National Plan of Action for implementation of supported recommendations. The adoption of this outcome report is therefore an important step in this direction.
“Further, in an effort to strengthen the legal and policy framework on the promotion and protection of Human Rights, Government has continued with legislative reforms and alignment of laws to the Constitution.”
Minister Ziyambi said some of the laws enacted to date include the Marriages Act, which effectively outlawed child marriages and the Guardianship of Minors Act that further enhanced protection and promotion of children’s rights as enshrined in the Constitution.
Progress has also been made in amendment of the Private Voluntary Organisations (PVO) Act in accordance with international best standards.
The PVO bill, which is before Parliament, seeks to address gaps relating to the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing, identified in the 2016 Mutual Evaluation Report, which led to Zimbabwe being grey-listed by the Financial Action Taskforce and delisted recently after internal reforms.
In the address, Minister Ziyambi also called for the removal of sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe as the measures impinge on human rights.
“The imposition of economic sanctions by some countries in the West has severely impacted on economic performance, inclusive growth and development for more than two decades. My Government reiterates its call for the removal of these unjust measures to enable the full realisation of human rights and economic growth.
“Over compliance by international financial institutions has compounded the difficulties faced by Government in its efforts to mobilise resources for the provision of social services, including education and health provision. The impact has seen the continued shrinkage of the country’s fiscal space, which consequently has limited resource mobilisation to the domestic market,” said Minister Ziyambi.
The UPR is a process which reviews the human rights records of all UN Member States.
