POLICE in Bulawayo yesterday crushed an anti-child rape demonstration and briefly detained several protesters, including opposition MDC’s Bulawayo Metropolitan MP Jasmine Toffa, on allegations of participating in an illegal march.
BY STAFF REPORTERS
The demonstration had been organised by the Progressive Women’s Group following the alleged rape of a 14-year-old city girl by her mother’s suspected boyfriend.
The activists were taken to Western Commonage Police Station and later released without charge.
MDC women’s assembly chairperson Thandiwe Mlilo rapped the police for their heavy-handedness.
“Such attitudes, as demonstrated by the police, promote the increase in rape cases in the country,” Mlilo said.
The police action came as Zimbabwe’s child rights record is set to go under the spotlight next week when the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) meets to review the country’s performance in that area.
Zimbabwe is one of the countries battling an increasing number of child rights abuses, including rape, forced early marriages, child labour, lack of education and health care, among others.
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The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), in a statement yesterday, said the review sessions would be webcast live on Tuesday next week from Geneva, Switzerland.
Zimbabwe is one of the 196 States that have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child and so is required to undergo regular examinations of its record by a committee of 18 independent experts.
The CRC members will hold discussions with a delegation from the Zimbabwean government on how the Convention is being implemented.
The committee will base its evaluation on the delegation’s replies, as well as information from civil society groups, with the results to be publicised on February 4.
The review process will focus on issues of the proportion of the national budget allocated to children, high level of discrimination faced by children with disabilities, children in street situations, children living in rural areas, children born out of wedlock, orphans and children living in foster care and children affected or infected by HIV and Aids, high prevalence of sexual exploitation and abuse against girls, child and forced marriage, high rate of child poverty, high prevalence of child labour, use of corporal punishment and low minimum age of criminal responsibility.
CRC said it would hold a news conference to discuss its findings on Zimbabwe and other countries under review.
These include Senegal, Iran, Oman, Latvia, France, Ireland, Haiti, Peru, Maldives, Zambia, Benin, Brunei and Kenya, among many others.
