22 December 2008
Four independent United Nations human rights experts today called on the Government of Zimbabwe and the international community to do more to rebuild the country's health system, end the worst cholera epidemic ever recorded there and ensure adequate food for all people as millions face hunger.
"Zimbabwe's health system has completely collapsed - it cannot control the cholera outbreak which is spreading throughout the country, with a daily increase in the death toll," the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, Anand Grover, said of the epidemic which has already infected 20,000 people, killing over 1,100.
"New cholera cases are being reported with no medical system or staff with the capacity to contain the epidemic," he added.
The experts, whose comments ranged over a wide range of issues from lack of clean water and food to the unjustified use of force by the authorities and civil rights abuses, expressed particular concern about the closure of the main public hospitals due to lack of medical supplies and health professionals.
They also highlighted the shortage of anti-retroviral therapies and essential medicines to treat acute diseases, stressing that the participation of communities was crucial for the development and implementation of plans to rebuild the failing health system and warning that the situation was becoming disastrous and was likely to deteriorate as the rainy season approached.
"There is no access to clean water sources and the country is faced with poor sanitation and meagre waste disposal and management infrastructure, greatly exacerbating the incidence of the disease," the Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque, said, noting that unsafe drinking water is also contributing to severe malnutrition.
The Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, warned there was just not enough food at the national or household level. "An estimated 5.5 million people may need food assistance. Food and agricultural production have decreased drastically. With rising unemployment, and hyperinflation due to several years of economic instability, people have been suffering for too long in Zimbabwe; their right to adequate food has to be fulfilled now."
Ongoing violations of civil and political rights make it harder for the authorities and the people of Zimbabwe to unite and cooperate with the international community to tackle the humanitarian crisis, the experts stressed.
"The crisis is compounded by the use of unjustified force by the authorities in response to peaceful demonstrations and the recent abductions of human rights defenders," the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, said.
The Rapporteurs, who are independent unpaid experts reporting to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, noted that Zimbabwe had one of the best public health systems in sub-Saharan Africa, and was considered its 'breadbasket.'
"Stable systems for providing access to health, water, sanitation and food must be restored and respect for civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights assured," they added, reiterating their willingness to work with the Government and the international community to find urgent solutions to these problems.
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The world will help in a major way when mugabe and regime is gone, simple as that. Governments around the world are capping aid to Zimbabwe to force mugabe and regime aside for a very good reason and that is mugabe and regime could not care less about the real people of Zimbabwe!
mugabe and regime are just scum that have sucked Zimbabwe dry! Why to mugabe and regime live so rich and well in a totally failed country?? Even the most ardent mugabe and regime follower must see that to live the way they do goes against any commonsense… [Read Full Text]
Who is always YELLING HIS GUTS OUT AT THE BLITISH!!- ONE LUNTATIC CALLED BOB STOP SWEEPING EVERYTHING UNDER THE CARPET- U CANNOT BLAME THE BLITISH AFTER SO MANY YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE!!! NO ONE IN THEIR SANE MIND CAN SAY"BROWNS CHOLERA!! YOU ALL NEED HELP!
Chokora misses the point totally. First and foremost the the article states that the experts (yes experts) state that both the Zimbabwe government and the international community should do more... why then go into a rant about the experts not recognizing 'that an embargo or economic sanctions ...'? That is not what the experts are addressing here - they are looking at health delivery services and not politics. And they clear state that everyone involved should do more (primary school comprehension would help). Furthermore these are UN experts and not US gvt or EU experts (the targeted sanctions… [Read Full Text]
" .. Four independent United Nations human rights experts today called on the Government of Zimbabwe and the international community to do more to rebuild the country .. "
Not surprising: Four 'experts' and all of them hypocrites or probably fools. Is it really possible that 'experts' cannot discern that an embargo or economic sanctions imposed on a country leads to considerable difficulties for its citizens? Are economic sanctions meant to make a country prosperous? These 'experts' have no idea and they don't wish to find out. DIM.
Do these foreigners still… [Read Full Text]