BY SILAS NKALA
THE Matabeleland Institute for Human Rights (MIHR) is lobbying government to put in place measures to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse at Covid-19 quarantine centres.
In a petition dated May 4, MIHR general secretary Benedict Sibasa said the country was witnessing an increasing number of diaspora returnees including nearly 3 000 from South Africa, who include women, children and youth that were expected last week.
“Critically for children, the state is mandated by sections 19 and 81 of the constitution to ensure that ‘when removed from their family environment, they are protected from maltreatment, neglect or any form of abuse,” Sibasa said.
“These returnees, some of whom have been out of employment and without income for the past six to eight weeks, will be coming back without all their belongings and thus they may find themselves desperate for a plethora of human needs.
“This exposes them to sexual exploitation and abuse.”
He said due to the harsh economic environment facing the country and the inadequate services and commodities, the returnees could find themselves exposed to sexual exploitation and abuse in order to receive better services and supplies from aid workers.
“These measures and protocols should not only cover the citizens admitted at quarantine centres, but also be there to protect volunteers and aid workers working as frontline workers in the centres as they also find themselves open to sexual exploitation and abuse from their senior supervisors,” Sibasa said.
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He said their plea was not motivated by any specific case of sexual exploitation and abuse reported in any quarantine centre, but was guided by the need to protect rights violations from happening.
Information deputy minister Energy Mutodi said the petition was yet to reach government and referred more questions to Social Welfare minister Paul Mavima.
“On our part as the ministry of Information, we can confirm there are various quarantine facilities that have been created across the country especially in major entry towns like Beitbridge, Harare and Bulawayo, among other centres,” he said.
“The ministry of Labour and Social Welfare has provided suitable conditions for human habitation in those centres and has provided condoms for use by the quarantined people.”
Mutodi also said they had not received any reports of any kind of sexual harassment or abuse from such centres.
“It might be that some organisations want to create some relevance by developing petitions without any basis,” he said.
“We also don’t deny that sexual trade in those centres can happen of course because of a wide mixture of people in quarantine centres.”
Mavima and his deputy Lovemore Matuke could not be reached for comment.
Thousands of Zimbabweans have been trooping back from countries such as South Africa, Botswana and Namibia as lockdowns to control the spread of coronavirus in those counties have left them without any sources of income.
The returnees have to stay at quarantine centres for up to 21 days before they are cleared to go to their homes.
