Zimbabweans Without Borders (ZWB), a movement of exiled Zimbabweans focused on supporting citizens’ efforts to bring about a human rights respecting society and a legitimate, tolerant and just political dispensation in Zimbabwe, has noted the statement by The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) regarding the very private family event observed by the family of Itai Dzamara at the last place he was publicly seen alive.
According to UNICEF, “the State has a responsibility to ensure that children’s rights are safeguarded. The use of children in the protest violates Article 36 of the UNCRC, which provides for the protection of children from any form of exploitation, which includes being taken advantage of. In this case (the commemoration) it is clear that the organisers of this protest took advantage of these children to get a sympathetic ear,”
Credible press reports suggest that the Zimbabwe Republic Police, perhaps on the basis of this reminder to their ‘responsibility’, are now keen to investigate the convenors of the commemoration.
ZWB notes that the general understanding of UNICEF is that of an organisation that provides long-term humanitarian and developmental assistance to children and mothers in developing countries. ZWB notes that in this particular case, there could be no more deserving recipient of UNICEF support than the wife and children of a husband and father last seen in the custody of state security agents and whose whereabouts remain shrouded in mystery.
ZWB notes that when Itai Dzamara disappeared, he had been involved in a peaceful and justified exercise of his constitutionally guaranteed right to engage in democratic protest. He was last seen by the public being led away in handcuffs from Africa Unity Square, the place where his family held their picnic.
ZWB also notes that the wife and children of Itai Dzamara have not received any support from the state (or indeed UNICEF) regarding finding out what has happened to Itai.
ZWB notes that on the occasion of Itai Dzamara’s 39th birthday, his family decided to celebrate his birthday at the place where they know he was last seen. No doubt if the state had released Itai to them, the family would have had no reason to celebrate his birthday at that public place, but rather in the comfort of their home.
ZWB notes that the constitution of Zimbabwe guarantees all citizens, including the family of Itai Dzamara, the freedom of movement and freedom of choice to decide when and where they choose to celebrate family functions. ZWB accepts that the family of Itai Dzamara might well like to celebrate birthdays on a river boat on Lake Kariba, on a resort in Mauritius or in an exclusive hotel in Singapore or Dubai, but recognises that those privileges are as yet not readily available to all Zimbabweans but a select few.
ZWB notes further that a birthday celebration at Africa Unity Square is not outlawed by any statute, and remains one of the very few things that are still free in Zimbabwe.
ZWB is not aware of any press reports suggesting that the police were invited to this private family function. Instead, credible reports and photographs in social media clearly show that state security agents gatecrashed a solemn private event and, having done so, were welcomed with the kindness and humility that demonstrates the best of what it means to be Zimbabwean. Everyone would have been moved by the pictures of Itai Dzamara’s children offering the little they had to the armed police officers that invited themselves to their family picnic.
In the circumstances ZWB deplores the insensitive statement from UNICEF, which was not only tone-deaf as to the nature of the celebration, but seeks to blame the victims of an unwelcome state intrusion for nothing else other than the very fact of suffering said intrusion. The statement assumes, incorrectly, that a private birthday celebration was a protest, then attempts to twist the meaning of Article 36 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in a situation where it clearly does not apply.
When the government instructs schools to bus their pupils to football stadia for optics so that the President can address ‘a large crowd’, Article 36 applies. When the government takes children to participate in the 21st February Movement (a celebration of the President’s birthday), Article 36 applies. When the government uses the backdrop of school-children at a ‘school opening’ as the lead news item on a day when everyone in the country was focused on the Evan Mawarire bail hearing at Rotten Row, Article 36 arguably applies. However, when a family goes to a public park in the centre of their capital city in a democratic country in order that they might have a picnic celebrating a loved one’s birthday because they do not know where he is, Article 36 does not, and can never apply.
ZWB laments that UNICEF appears to have taken the wrong moment to be involved in partisan politics, and that when it chose to do so, such an august body would choose to stand against a woman and a her children and on the side of the state that has probably killed their husband and father. ZWB implores UNICEF to reexamine its mandate and reconsider this position.
ZWB has noted press reports linking the personnel employed by UNICEF to prominent members of Zanu PF. ZWB notes that it is inevitable that where an organisation’s employment policies require government recommendations, when UNICEF operates in countries where a nepotistic and thieving kleptocracy is in power, then most of its recommendations will reflect that same ethos. However, ZWB hopes that UNICEF can still reflect on its founding principles and retract this unfortunate statement, whose effect appears to be an encouragement for the state to take action against the wife and children of a man that has probably been killed by the state.
Zimbabwe belongs to all Zimbabweans. Including wives and children of victims of the state.
Zimbabweans Without Borders