Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development

Sous-comité des droits internationaux de la personne du Comité permanent des affaires étrangères et du développement international

For immediate release

Ottawa, December 11, 2020 -

Since gaining its full independence in 1980, Zimbabweans have suffered under decades of corrupt governments who disregard human rights – a situation that has only deepened since Edward Mnangagwa came to power in 2017. Witnesses shared details of this situation with members of the Subcommittee on International Human Rights.

Zimbabweans today face a host of human rights challenges and violations. An array of factors contributes to these violations, including rampant inflation, insufficient access to basic necessities, state repression of political opposition, police brutality and the corrosion of the rule of law.

Witnesses described the widespread electricity shortages that allow only 40% of the population occasional access to electricity, hampering employment, education and daily tasks. Water shortages, particularly affecting poor urban and rural populations, have caused outbreaks of disease and illness as a result of people forced to drink contaminated water. The health care system is collapsing, with nearly no urgent care available. Health care workers earn low wages and are expected to work without personal protective equipment during the pandemic.

The dire situation in Zimbabwe is compounded by severe food insecurity. More than two million Zimbabweans currently face starvation, with another million forecasted to be in the same situation by next spring. As one witness put it: “[F]amilies have nothing to eat, job losses are high, and unemployment is at an all-time high.”

When Zimbabweans demand change, their requests are met with violence. Witnesses used the term “non-democratic conditions” to describe the growing reality that protesters and other political dissenters as well as journalists and public figures subject to police and military violence, torture, forced disappearances and sexual violence.

The Subcommittee on International Human Rights expresses its solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe and is determined to advocate for those who work to advance the human rights and overall quality of life of Zimbabwean citizens. The Subcommittee calls on the Government of Canada to raise the Zimbabwean situation with its partners on the international stage by condemning the human rights abuses occurring there and to commit to working with its non-governmental partners in the country to address rising food insecurity and to provide clean water and other basic necessities. Zimbabweans are demanding change, and ought to know that Canada stands with them in this goal.