From the time Zimbabwe adopted the Vision 2030 development agenda in September 2018 to-date over 73 524 rural Zimbabwean citizens from across the different provinces of the country either are being actually displaced or risk evictions and displacements by mining, agriculture, urbanization and development initiatives and more than 23 440 hectares of peasant farmers' land is being taken away by international investors.

These development-based evictions and displacements are resulting in gross violation of fundamental social, economic, cultural, environmental and political human rights and freedoms of the affected communities. 

THE PLEA

We therefore urge the UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL RAPPORTER ON THE RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT and the Zimbabwe UN RESIDENT COORDINATOR to:

1. ENTREAT the Zimbabwean Government to adopt and implement the UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on Development - based Evictions and Displacements; the Free, Prior and Informed Consent Principles; the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights; and the Zimbabwe National Human Settlements Policy - to develop a human rights based development-based evictions/displacements mechanism;

2. APPEAL to Harare to immediately domesticate the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (The Kampala Convention) which came into force in December 2012;

3. BESEECH Zimbabwe to respect the ideals of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas; the UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities; and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples - when negotiating international investments contracts and when considering development based evictions/displacements.

4. IMPLORE the Zimbabwe independent constitutional human rights bodies (the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission and the Zimbabwe Gender Commission) to develop a joint and stakeholder inclusive development - based evictions/displacements monitoring mechanism.

PETITION made by the Following Zimbabwean organizations: MIHR, MYDI, LUYD, GWRT, WUMBA, BPRRADT, KLCDA, BDRA, KREDA CNRC, TIKOBANE and TURECT