10 December is Human Rights Day and Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation (VISET) joins the world in celebrating the day whose 2022 theme is Dignity, Freedom and Justice for All.
The day is an occasion to create awareness and mobilize political will to promote respect for the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948.
In keeping with this year’s theme, there can be no dignity, freedom, and justice, in absence of rights such as affordable health care, education, social protection, food and access to safe drinking water and sanitation for all. At a time when we are grappling with the issue of Unpaid Care and Domestic Work (UCDW) amongst women and the girl child, it is important to acknowledge the negative impact this has in attaining the lofty ideals of human rights for all. Many persons with disabilities also face challenges in accessing the most basic of services and when advocating for these, they are often viewed as irritants.
In Zimbabwe, and the informal economy in particular, the lack of human rights literacy amongst law enforcement agencies is an issue that requires urgent redress. Oftentimes in the discharge of their duties, we have seen the wanton abuse and harassment of informal traders, with cases of physical and sexual abuse, confiscation of goods and bribery often going unreported owing to lack of political will in addressing the malpractices.
On this occasion, we call upon the Government of Zimbabwe to commit itself to ensuring that all public officials are conversant with what human rights are, and that everyone irrespective of social standing, political affiliation, gender and sexual orientation is entitled to dignity freedom and justice.
VISET acknowledges the great work that colleagues such as ZimRights undertakes in communities, not only through awareness campaigns, but also in ensuring access to documents such as birth certificates and identity cards, which has greatly assisted our constituency to register to vote.
Indeed Dignity, Freedom and Justice for All is attainable in our lifetime!
