ON INTERNATIONAL Day of Peace, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) implores government to create a harmonious nation through cultivating a culture of peace across the country.
Every year on 21 September, the world connects in commemoration and reflection on the importance of the United Nations (UN) International Day of Peace, which epitomises people’s aspirations for a world that is devoid of discord, conflict and turmoil.
International Day of Peace represents more than a date on the calendar and is a day, where every day embodies peace as now, more than ever, the world cries out for sustainable peace.
This year, the day is being commemorated under the theme “Cultivating a Culture of Peace”.
International Day of Peace, serves as an inspiration for peace observances and activities around the world, encouraging global citizens to reflect upon and champion the cause of peace in diverse ways.
A culture of peace can only be cultivated when societies are in good health, while there is positive economic growth, clean water, energy, general respect for human rights and amenities and a harmless environment.
Ensuring respect for human rights and access to essential resources can dispel tensions while robust institutions and strong justice and rule of law institutions and access to justice at all levels are a cornerstone of achieving peace while intolerance to poverty and eliminating hunger, helps address some primary causes of conflict and war.
In 2024, the theme for International Day of Peace aligns with the 25th anniversary of the UN General Assembly’s adoption of the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace and such a milestone underscores that peace is more than simply the absence of conflict.
In Africa, ZLHR is saddened that the African Union’s initiative to silence guns by 2030, which is the flagship project of the AU’s Agenda 2063 for achieving sustainable socio-economic development, could remain elusive and unfeasible owing to recurring conflicts on the continent and more worryingly within the SADC region.
This calls for the urgent need for African governments to strongly focus on combating inequality, poverty, violence and other vices bedevilling the continent and to enhance the practice of good governance and redoubling efforts to spur economic growth and promote the well-being of citizens on the continent.
In Zimbabwe, the attainment of peace has proven to be a challenge. Instead of cultivating a culture of peace, government has unashamedly been orchestrating an orgy of repression, thereby plunging the country’s deteriorating human rights crisis into a freefall punctuated by repeated violations of the most brutal forms including torture, abduction, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and prosecution of imagined government adversaries and internal displacement of people across the country. So shocking is the arrest, prosecution and detention in prisons of minors and people with disabilities.
Enjoyment of critical socio-economic rights remains elusive as people grapple with poverty and economic hardships spawned by economic mismanagement and unbeneficial management and exploitation of natural resources, which is causing unprecedented harm to the environment.
To cultivate a culture of peace, ZLHR implores government to;
- Guarantee peace for present and future generations and build a more peaceful and harmonious nation for everyone;
- End impunity and provide redress to victims of human rights violations and prosecute and adequately punish perpetrators;
- Allow victims especially those affected by Gukurahundi to participate in grieving and conducting commemorative activities without any restrictions;
- Ensure that members of the security services conduct themselves with utmost respect for all the fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution and regional and international instruments that Zimbabwe is party to;
ENDS
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
Kodzero/Amalungelo House
No. 103 Sam Nujoma Street, Harare, Zimbabwe
Phone: (+263 8677005347, +263 242 764085/705370/708118
Email: info@zlhr.org
www.zlhr.org.zw
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