Zimbabwe joins world commemorate IHRD, amid human rights violations

Today Zimbabwe joins the rest of the world celebrate International Human Rights Day (IHRD) which is observed every year on 10 December.

The day was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, with the coming on board of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

The UDHR is a milestone document that proclaims the inalienable rights which everyone is entitled to as a human being – regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

This year’s Human Rights Day theme relates to the COVID-19 pandemic and focuses on the need to build back better by ensuring Human Rights are central to recovery efforts.

The main focus is to reach common global goals which only come if nations are able to create equal opportunities for all, address the failures exposed and exploited by COVID-19, and apply human rights standards to tackle entrenched, systematic, and intergenerational inequalities, exclusion and discrimination.

As stated by the UN, 10 December is an opportunity to reaffirm the importance of human rights in re-building the ideal world, the need for global solidarity as well as interconnectedness and shared humanity.

Under UN Human Rights’ generic call to action “Stand Up for Human rights”, this aims to engage the general public, partners and the UN family to bolster transformative action and showcase practical and inspirational examples that can contribute to recovering better and fostering more resilient and just societies.

Meanwhile, as Zimbabwe joins the family of nations mark the day, it comes at the time there has been rampant human rights violations.

As the coronavirus pandemic brought with it discomfort, the government has used it to shield human rights violations.

The country’s security forces have been caught red handed administering human rights violations under the disguise of enforcing coronavirus regulations.

The measures put in place to curb the spread of coronavirus such as lockdowns and curfews have seen people being attacked by the security forces.

Government has used Covid-19 as convenient cover to violate rights, says the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights on International Human Rights Day.

ZADH says citizens are denied good healthcare and 700 health professionals tested Covid-19 positive due to official negligence.

-Zwnews