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Zim Wire
Amnesty International Zimbabwe
April 29, 2009

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AI launches the Demand Dignity Campaign

On the 28th of May 2009 Amnesty International will launch the Demand Dignity Campaign. Poverty is caused by human beings - it results from decisions made by governments, companies, institutions and others who hold the power to change people's lives for the better. It is possible to break the vicious cycle of poverty and exclusion by combating the human rights violations that drive and perpetuate them. Yet, those in power do not take full responsibility for the impact of their actions on the human rights of people living in poverty. Not all human rights are legally enforceable, and this is particularly true of the violations at the heart of poverty. It is still difficult to hold to account those who undermine human rights and drive people into poverty.

Governments deny responsibility for the impact of their policies on human rights of people beyond their borders; companies often seek to avoid responsibility for the impact of their activities on human rights of people at home and abroad.

Behind the bald statistics of poverty are individual and usually untold stories of discrimination, neglect and abuse. Poverty results from negligence and discrimination by governments and others in power, and from an unwillingness to change the status quo. Yet those responsible for the violations that create poverty are not held accountable, and those affected are denied the knowledge and power to shape their future.

Millions of people worldwide live in intolerable slum conditions, without access to minimum essential levels of clean water, sanitation, health care, security or education. When people establish their own housing solutions they are often torn from their homes and left homeless. Since 2000, at least three million people have been forcibly evicted in Africa alone. In many places women are denied equal rights to their homes and land, and Indigenous peoples' land rights are ignored in favour of big business. This campaign will focus on forced evictions, the right to adequate housing for all, gender discrimination in rights to own housing and land, and Indigenous peoples' land rights.

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