The displacement of villagers from their ancestral land to pave way for corporate activities is increasingly becoming one of the major human rights violations in the country, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights) has said.
Vongai Mbara
In a statement to commemorate International Day of Peace held yesterday, ZimRights called out the government for displacing communities and “parcelling out the land to businesses run by friends and families of the ruling elite”.
“ZimRights, therefore, calls on the government of Zimbabwe to participate in the peace-building journey by respecting the rights of the people of Zimbabwe as enshrined in the Bill of Rights,” ZimRights said.
“During the course of the year, we have documented serious violations of human rights that are an affront to our Constitutional obligation to work for the peace and justice of all. (These include) the displacement of communities from their ancestral and agricultural lands to pave way for big businesses that are owned by friends and families of the ruling elite.”
Thousands of villagers throughout the country are facing eviction, while others have already been displaced to pave way for Chinese mining companies.
The International Day of Peace was held under the theme ‘Recovering Better for an Equitable and Sustainable World.’
