Partnerships for Development Initiatives (PDI) has urged the government of Zimbabwe to domesticate the Kampala Convention on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
PDI Director Simon Mukwaya made the call on the sidelines of an all stakeholders’ engagement towards the ratification of the Kampala Convention.
He said this was an oversight on the government’s part as the domestication of the convention will translate to better protection and enjoyment of civil, economic, social, and political rights.
Mukwaya said, ‘We want to bring urgency to this issue of IDP. This is a thorny issue that continues to affect local citizens and communities.
‘We take this issue of domestication of the Kampala Convention as a process. We have gone to the communities and spoken to them, we captured community voices’.
The African University (AU) Institute of Peace Leadership and Governance, Philosophy of Doctorate (Ph.D.) students noted that the domestication was dogged by bureaucratic red tape and lethargic approach by national institutions.
It is understood that IDPs are victims of violence, human rights violations, natural disasters.
The Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention) is the world’s first continental instrument legally binding governments to protect the rights and well-being of people forced to flee their homes by conflict, violence, disasters.
Locally, there are no laws that specifically deal with IDPs in the country, despite the ratification and signing of the Kampala Convention in 2013.
PDI is part of a CSO consortium working under the Organisation for Inter Migration (IOM) and Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC).
Source: 263 Chat
Photo source: Paul Kagame
