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Statement on International Human Rights Day
Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ)
December 15, 2010

While Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) joins the people of Zimbabwe and the rest of the world in commemorating International Human Rights Day, there is very little for the organisation to celebrate.

Increased hate speech and discrimination by political, religious and traditional leaders has undermined the integrity and dignity of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender men and women in Zimbabwe resulting in cases of harassment and abuse that go unreported.

Our rights to peacefully gather and associate are being trampled on and efforts are being made to silence our voices and erase our existence as evident in the recent raid of our offices and subsequent arrest of our two employees.

We also deprecate state sponsored homophobia characterised by homophobic utterances by the two main Principals in the GNU and other public officials calling for discrimination against LGBTI people. These actions only serve to reinforce our call for constitutional protection of sexual minorities that has been met with state sponsored homophobia of alarming levels.

Opposition by the State to recognise human rights violations on LGBTI people highlights how important it is that these violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity be explicitly addressed. In so saying we recognise that the promotion and protection of human rights for all does not only fall to the State, but also to Zimbabweans at large.

We call on the Government to take all necessary measures to ensure the protection of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any forms of violence, hate speech, threats and discrimination.

Visit the GALZ fact sheet

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