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Zimbabwe: Power and hunger - violations of the right to food
Amnesty International
October 21, 2004

http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAFR460262004?open&of=ENG-ZWE

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Introduction
Amnesty International has documented the deterioration in the human rights situation in Zimbabwe in numerous reports. Since 2000 the government has used its supporters and state agents to pursue a campaign of repression, aimed at eliminating opposition and silencing dissent. State-sponsored intimidation, arbitrary arrest, torture and attacks on supporters of the political opposition, human rights defenders and the independent media have escalated sharply. Laws have been introduced which restrict the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly, and prevent scrutiny of the government's actions.

The escalation in human rights violations has taken place against a backdrop of severe economic decline and acute food insecurity. Since 2002 millions of people in Zimbabwe have been dependent on local and international aid programmes for their access to food; tens of thousands, however, are reported to have gone hungry, unable to gain access to food for a variety of reasons. The change in Zimbabwe's food security situation has been dramatic. Until 2000 the country regularly produced surplus grain for export (much of this to the rest of the region). At this time the World Food Programme's (WFP) only operation in Zimbabwe was a procurement office from where it purchased Zimbabwean grain for food aid programmes elsewhere in Africa.

While climatic factors, the HIV/AIDS pandemic and economic decline have all contributed to the magnitude of food insecurity experienced in Zimbabwe, food security experts, including the WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), have stated that government policies and practices have also been a factor in the food crisis. The way in which the government's "fast-track land reform programme" has been implemented is a significant factor affecting domestic food production and the ability of millions of people in Zimbabwe to access adequate food. The fast-track land reform programme was launched shortly after the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) government - which has been in power since independence in 1980 - experienced it first major political defeat in a national referendum to change the constitution.

The government responded to the food security crisis in Zimbabwe with a range of policy measures, including requesting food aid from the international community and establishing controls on basic food items. Reports from organizations involved in monitoring food security and human rights in Zimbabwe claim that the response to the food crisis has been manipulated by the government for political gain. The state-controlled Grain Marketing Board (GMB) dominates the trade in and distribution of maize (the staple food) in Zimbabwe; its near monopoly on imports and its poor distribution system have been criticized for undermining the availability of maize throughout the current food crisis. Discrimination in access to GMB grain has been very widely reported.

In May 2004 the government of Zimbabwe stated that the food crisis was over and told the United Nations (UN) and international donors that Zimbabwe no longer needed general food aid. Almost all independent monitors - and even some of the government's own agencies - dispute the claim that Zimbabwe's 2004 harvest is sufficient to meet the country's needs. Local and international human rights groups, as well as organizations involved in monitoring food security in Zimbabwe, believe the government's claims are part of a strategy to manipulate people through fear of hunger ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for March 2005.

The government of Zimbabwe has a human rights obligation to respect, protect and fulfil the right to adequate food for all persons under its jurisdiction. This report examines the extent to which the government has fulfilled its obligations over the past four years. It examines a range of government policies, including the impact of the implementation of the fast-track land reform programme, and the government's management of the food crisis. Recommendations are made on how to ensure the effective and full realization of the right to adequate food in Zimbabwe.

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