Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
Thursday, October 23, 2008
All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2008.
Mohamed Fofanah
FREETOWN, Oct 23 (IPS) – ”Eight years ago my husband threw his haversack on his back and bade us goodbye. My two kids and I came out of the house and watched him leave. Water was dripping from our eyes uncontrollably; it was as if we were already mourning his death. He was bound for the war front.”
Fatmata Kallon, a tall, rail-thin woman in her early 40s is seated on the front porch of her shack at Sorie Town, located at the hill top in the west end of Freetown, a fast-growing settlement of tin houses, with no running water.
”About three weeks after he left, we were informed that he was killed in an ambush at the Bo-Kenema highway by the rebels. Osman Kallon, my husband had been the nerve centre of the family. Since his demise things have been hell for us.”
Kallon is among the large group of women described as war widows — their total number is still unknown.
A Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was set up in 2002 to investigate the causes of Sierra Leone’s 11-year civil war, a brutal conflict during which all factions were accused of committing gross human rights violations.
The TRC specifically recognised the effects of violence on women and the family structure. War widows — in the words of the TRC’s report, ”women whose husbands were killed as a consequence of any abuse or violation and who, as a result, have become the primary breadwinners for their families” — such women were designated as a privileged categories for reparations, notes the chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone, Jamesina King.
The TRC recommended the provision of skills training and micro-credit schemes for these women, defined in its final report as to help equip and empower them to provide for their families.
But the National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA), the body that will be implementing the reparations, has no immediate plans to begin these projects.
”Because skills training and micro-credit schemes for these women needs a lot of planning and the money that we have now will be insufficient to take this venture on board, when we have more funding we will consider that recommendation,” the Reparations Program Manager, Amadu Bangura, told IPS.
NaCSA instead has chosen to give priority to the implementation of a housing project, providing housing to only three other categories affected by the war: adult war wounded, adult amputees and adult victims of sexual violence. The housing project which was not a reparation recommendation by the TRC.
”I feel so deprived and the loss of my husband during the war will be more painful to me and my family if the reparations recommendations set out by TRC will not be followed strictly by NaCSA for whatever reasons,” Kallon appealed.
Bangura maintains that the housing project was is in line with the recommendations of the Reparations Steering Committee after analysing the TRC report and finding that 49 percent of victims called for the provision of housing.
He stated that when they did their assessment they found out of the 960 amputees and war wounded had been registered by the Amputee and War wounded Association, 500 of them have already been provided with housing by international NGOs.
”We want to continue with what has been started and finish off the 460 beneficiaries that remain. We intend to start off with 50 houses for amputees and 25 for war-wounded beneficiaries,” Bangura pointed out.
Bangura said that the whole reparations programme is expected to start next year, as soon as the verification process of beneficiaries is concluded. It is expected to last for six years.
Each house will cost $6,500 dollars, taken from the present reparations budget total of three million dollars.
”Housing is the best reparations and I support NaCSA to include housing,” says Jusu Jarka, the chairman of an association of amputees and war wounded who stand to benefit from the housing project. Jarka is the only active representative of beneficiaries in the reparations committee.
”I agree that housing is very good, but if the TRC in their wisdom expressly did not recommend it, they must have taken into consideration many factors like limited budget for the reparations,” said Jariatu Kamara, a war widow. ”So I do not see any justification in providing housing for one set of people and excluding the skills training and micro credit schemes that were directly proposed for us in the report. It is unacceptable.”
Jamesina King said that the TRC Report makes provisions for amendment of the reparations recommendations by the implementing body, but only with the unanimous consent of the members of the Advisory Board to the proposed amendment.
”The HRCSL was not aware that such directions had been followed before the housing decision was taken and at what level.”
She told IPS that they have done a letter to NaCSA to request an explanation and justifications for making the amendments to the TRC reparation recommendation.
$2.3 million is expected to be expended on reparations for amputees, war wounded, sexually violated and children victims in the project’s first year.
Amadu said that the Reparations Committee was expecting funding from the government which is still not forthcoming.
In addition, he said that the committee has developed a five-year strategic funding plan to attract international donors and if they have the funds they will implement all the TRC recommendations before the end of the six year Reparations Programme.
”We have suffered greatly during the war and up till now we are suffering. We are helplessly looking at NaCSA to help us get our lives back. Whatever decision they will be taking on reparations, we hope will be selfless and should be in the spirit of the TRC report that has made provision for us,” Kallon pleaded.
The TRC Report stated that they were enjoined by statute to give special attention to the needs of women and girls because while the majority of victims were adult males, perpetrators singled out women and children for some of the most brutal violations of human rights recorded in any conflict.
The report states that ”it is only when the legal and socio-political system treats women as equals to men, giving them full access to economic opportunities and enabling them to participate freely in both public and private life, that they will realize their full potential.”
ZIMBABWE: Time To Do The Right Thing
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
Thursday, October 16, 2008
All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2008.
Ephraim Nsingo
HARARE, Oct 17 (IPS) – At least 5,000 people are expected to gather in Chitungwiza today to demand improved access to water, sanitation and health services as part of the Stand Up, Take Action Against Poverty campaign.
The event in this sprawling satellite town about 30 kilometres south of Harare is under the auspices of the National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO), which brings together all humanitarian and civil society organisations registered in Zimbabwe.
Because of the political polarisation in Zimbabwe, this year the Campaign has chosen to reach out to the population through a seemingly neutral agenda — environmental sustainability. Hundreds of schools and corporate organisations have already been recruited to take part in tree planting events.
This campaign, coordinated worldwide by the Global Coalition Against Poverty, has long been active in Zimbabwe. The results on the ground have however not been so encouraging. Poverty continues to ravage the southern African nation, once referred to as the breadbasket of Africa. Close to half of Zimbabwe’s 12 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.
Set to feature prominently in this year’s activities is the water situation, which has deteriorated unabated in Harare and other major centres. The ever-worsening humanitarian conditions, the country’s world-record inflation of 231 million percent, and the plight of orphaned and vulnerable children will also be under the spotlight.
”Zimbabwe is no exception to the scandalous condition of poverty in an opulent world. At the event, we will stand in unity with the rest of the world sending a message to our leaders that we can no longer tolerate the injustice of poverty,” said Fambai Ngirande, who is coordinating the Stand Up and Take Action Against Poverty Campaign. He is also the advocacy and public policy manager for NANGO.
”Our main focus would be on the water situation in urban areas, where years of neglect by the authorities have resulted in millions of people failing to get safe drinking water. We are calling on the government to do the right thing by providing safe drinking water to residents, and improving the provision of all social services.”
This year’s event will feature free open-air performances by three celebrated Zimbabwean musicians — Victor Kunonga, Stanley ”Pastor G” Gwanzura and Fungisai Zvakavapano-Mashavave. The musicians are well known not only for their clean cut mass public appeal, but for lyrics that reflects an interest in social issues.
”It is remarkable that these iconic artists have chosen to volunteer their talents to spread the message of the fight against poverty” noted Ngirande, ”The plight of the poor has so often been ignored, but I am sure that the powerful voices of these three superstars will resonate throughout the country as a rallying call for all Zimbabweans to Speak Out and Take Action Against Poverty.”
Kunonga, who has performed at previous Stand Up and Speak Out events, said it was a good opportunity for musicians to contribute to the emancipation of the communities that nurture and support them.
”As musicians, we owe a lot to the people who have always been with us through difficult and good times. The event allows us to plough back to the communities, and contribute to their empowerment,” said Kunonga.
A concert alone, noted Ngirande, can however not resolve the humanitarian crisis,
”It is clear that the resolution of the complex humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe will take more than a concert, however the sheer significance of thousands of citizens mobilised under one common cause is a bright light in a very dark situation,” he said.
Ngirande said, ”There has never been a more opportune time to mobilise people to demand greater action for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals than now. Our people are suffering.”
Faced with the reality of a population that is increasingly disempowered and distracted by the struggle for daily survival from effectively taking part in such mobilisations as the Stand Up and Take Action Against Poverty, Ngirande lamented the restrictive conditions in Zimbabwe, which are not permissive of social action.
”While it would be important to mobilise our people in their millions to peacefully and symbolically stand up to send a powerful message to leaders to do more to fight poverty, the highly politicised and volatile environment has ingrained a fear and helplessness in our people,” decried Ngirande.
Taking the campaign beyond the event, could be another hassles for NGOs, as there are still remarkable barriers in accessing certain constituencies like the rural areas. NGOs are also censored from the state media.
There are others who do not seem to get the theme of the commemorations clearly. One such is Clever Mutukwa, a war veteran who is also a senior civil servant in Chitungwiza.
”The government has always been doing the right thing, but most efforts have been in vain because of sanctions imposed on us by western countries. If you take a closer look at the trend, you will notice that the crisis is directly linked to the imposition of sanctions. Although I am not saying the government has done everything possible, they have tried under the circumstances.”
Instead of calling on the government to do the right thing, Mutukwa said it is the NGOs ”and their allies in the opposition who should do the right thing and call for the lifting of sanctions.”