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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Government suspension of NGO field operations - Index of articles
Ban
on NGOs and implications on the work on HIV and AIDS
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
June 20, 2008
The recent
suspension
of NGOs involved in field operations in Zimbabwe has greatly affected
the responses of AIDS Service Organizations (ASOs) in communities
and has also worsened the plight of PLWHAs. Although the purported
ban/suspension was consequently
lifted, it caused confusion and unnecessary anxiety that caused
long term dislocation of interventions by ASOs in Zimbabwean communities.
It is our considered view that the implications of the purported
ban/suspension are grave and will present unforeseen circumstances
that will paralyse efforts on prevention and treatment at the micro
and country levels. The ban comes at a time when Zimbabwe is preparing
to submit another proposal to the Global fund.
The Global Fund is very important in the provision of treatment
in Zimbabwe and NGOs occupy critical space in its implementation.
The unforeseen dimension here is that of a country that bans/suspends
NGOs and yet applies for funding under the Global Fund thereby putting
the latter in a difficult position of handling a proposal from a
country that has banned/suspended NGOs or where the very existence
of key implementers is not guaranteed. The implications are therefore
too ghastly to contemplate.
NGOs that has been providing access to treatment and nutrition should
be understood as providing a health and social service to communities
whose lives depend on them and as such they need to be allowed to
operate without hindrance and in terms of the law. ZLHR through
its HIV/AIDS, Human Rights and Law project calls upon the government
to consider the plight of the PLWHA and the affected by facilitating
policies that promote and protect their rights than those which
take them away.
Visit the ZLHR
fact
sheet
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