U.S. experience can enhance rights of women in Zimbabwe’, says Hubert Humphrey Alumnus

"Call to step up awareness on trafficking in persons”

September 18th, 2006

Sylvia Chirawu

Harare: The current campaign to promote laws on domestic violence legislation and women’s rights in Zimbabwe can benefit from lessons gained by the women’s movement in the U.S., says Sylvia Chirawu, an alumnus of the prestigious Hubert Humphrey Fellowship Program and coordinator of the Women and Law in Southern Africa (WILSA).

Chirawu presented a paper on “Women’s Rights in the U.S.– Lessons for Zimbabwe” to 35 participants representing various sectors of the human rights movement in Zimbabwe at a public meeting organized by the U.S. Embassy Public Affairs Section.

Zimbabwe’s legislature is currently considering a law to contain domestic violence, a move that is in line with the country’s ratification of the UN’s Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

So far, according to Chirawu’s observations, the proposed law on domestic violence in Zimbabwe is similar to that contained in U.S. statutes because it defines the term domestic violence broadly.
“The proposed Zim law seems to be modeled on U.S. law. It defines domestic violence widely to include actual or attempted assault, stalking, kidnapping, reckless endangerment, child abuse, theft, trespass, harassment, terrorist threatening, arson, sexual offences, burglary, extortion and coercion, murder, molestation, battering, verbal and written abuse etc..”

As in Zimbabwe, domestic violence is a subject under discussion in the U.S.
“Domestic violence is also a huge problem in the U.S. and the number one source of injury to women. It causes more injuries than rape, auto accidents and muggings combined”, said Chirawu.

However, the level of open discussion about the subject is different in the two countries.

She noted that U.S. law also provides for both criminal and civil remedies for domestic violence and the U.S. government has committed adequate resources to ensure that provisions of such legislation are implemented.

“U.S. Federal law on domestic violence provides for creation of safe houses, full faith and credit to protection orders issued by another state, collection of data on domestic violence and technical assistance offered to the state. In addition, it provides for the creation of a toll free national domestic violence hotline 24 hours a day, seven days a week in 139 languages”, said Chirawu.

“Domestic violence law in the U.S. has been successfully implemented in part because of the comprehensiveness of the remedies sought and order given by the court”, said Chirawu.

She also called on human rights organizations to step up awareness campaigns on trafficking in persons.

“The challenge for Zimbabwe is that not much is known about trafficking in persons. Limited studies have been done but not much awareness conducted on protecting victims and prosecuting offenders” said Chirawu.

WLSA has started a campaign on promoting awareness of trafficking in persons which included a summary of the 2000 UN protocol on trafficking for wider distribution, she said.

Chirawu also noted that U.S. women exhibited a lot of volunteerism and a willingness to donate towards social causes.

“There is a lot of it in the USA- women are involved in many different ways  – examples such as serving soup in the domestic violence shelter or donating clothing for domestic violence victims trying to start their lives over.

The Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program brings accomplished professionals from designated countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Europe and Eurasia to the United States at a midpoint in their careers for a year of study and related professional experiences.

The Program provides a basis for establishing long-lasting productive partnerships and relationships between citizens of the United States and their professional counterparts in other countries, fostering an exchange of knowledge and mutual understanding throughout the world.
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