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The plight of refugees in Zimbabwe
Patrick Sinolila, Amnesty International-Zimbabwe
Extracted from The Activist, September 2004
October 14, 2004

Life is increasingly becoming unbearable for refugees and asylum seekers residing in Zimbabwe. They are continuously complaining of insecurity, poor standard of living, unlawful arrests and detentions by security agents and generally the failure by the government of Zimbabwe and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to protect them.

"In many cases, security agents are demanding foreign currency from us (refugees and asylum seekers) in exchange for freedom and favours to move freely in the country. Many of us lost valuables such as cell-phones and watches to security agents and immigration officials" says a highly placed source.

The allegations leveled against UNHCR and the government comes hard in the heels of a demonstration by refugees and asylum seekers in April 2003. The refugees were forced to demonstrate against authorities at Tongogara Camp following the failure or negligence by the authorities to address their plight. Resultantly, six families from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were expelled by the government on allegations of having conducted what they called an unlawful demonstration in protest of deplorable accommodation and food conditions at the camp. Around March 2004, three families were resettled in Norway and Sweden.

In another shocking case a family of five comprising the mother, two girls and two boys from Angola, ended up being removed from Tongogara refugee camp when the two girls fell victim to a sexual scandal that rocked the camp in 2003. The two girls were sexually molested by Refugee Camp officials. The refugee officials were demanding sex in exchange for food, education and other basic needs. The matter became known when one of the victims presented a paper in Swaziland at a seminar. The saga was investigated and the perpetrators were arrested and dismissed from work. The family was moved to Harare for security reasons and papers are currently being processed so that they can be resettled to other countries.

As if that is not enough, refugees and asylum seekers from different countries are being arrested and held in incommunicado on allegation of committing criminal activities. The latest case involves asylum seekers from Eritrea and refugees from DRC who were arrested in Harare in September 2004 for unknown reasons. Amnesty International Zimbabwe was later reliably advised that the victims are held at Harare Central remand prison.

Amnesty International Zimbabwe reaffirms its position that, refugees and asylum seekers are also human rights. The Refugee Convention and other international human rights treaties spell out that they have rights to protection from discrimination, freedom of religion, identity and travel documents, work, housing and relief, protection from penalties for illegal entry, freedom of movement and other rights enshrined in human rights instruments. Amnesty International Zimbabwe calls upon the UNHCR and the government of Zimbabwe to address the problems faced by refugees and asylum seekers since they are also human beings.

Visit the Amnesty International Zimbabwe fact sheet

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