Languages
Thank you for signing the petition - Hear Us, Stand With Us: Women in Zimbabwe Rise Against Sexual Violence
By: Priscila Néri
Posted: Sep 8 09
Witnessed: 2036 veces
Regions: Africa, Zimbabwe
Issues: Justice, Rape and sexual abuse, Violence against women
Tags: accountability, Elections, impunity, RAU, robert mugabe, SADC, Southern African Development Community, zanu-pf
In August, we asked you to join us in the Hear Us, Stand With Us campaign and support the women of Zimbabwe in their call for justice and accountability.
Your support has been truly amazing - in just two weeks, thousands of people added their voices to the campaign on Facebook and the Hub, more than 1600 people signed the petition and twitition, and hundreds of tweets and retweets on Twitter reached over 90,000 people across the world.
The message to the Zimbabwean government and to the members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) was loud and clear: stop politically motivated sexual violence against women, end impunity, and provide assistance to the women who have survived this type of violence.
Last week, WITNESS' Bukeni Waruzi traveled to South Africa to meet with Memory - a Zimbabwean woman who shared her testimony in the video Hear Us - and with representatives from WITNESS partner Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU) and the Institute for Democracy in Africa (IDASA).
Together, they delivered the petitions, held press conferences, and met with key members of SADC. For a full update of the week's activities, watch this Dispatch from South Africa recorded by Kuda from our partner RAU.
In this video, Bukeni thanks all of the people who joined the campaign and added their voices to the call for justice.
Stay tuned for more news as the campaign develops. In the meantime, THANK YOU for standing with us!
________________
BACKGROUND: In 2008, political violence erupted throughout Zimbabwe as a result of highly contested national elections. Between May and July alone, local organizations estimate that state-sanctioned groups abducted, raped, tortured, and beat over 2,000 women and girls due to their political affiliations. Local police have ignored these women's pleas for protection, justice, and accountability, and national leaders have been equally unresponsive. Hear Us - a video co-produced by Zimbabwean RAU and WITNESS - features four of these women who have come forward to demand justice from the Zimbabwean government and the SADC. The 2009 SADC summit was held in Kinshasa, DR Congo, from September 2-8 2009 and your messages of support were delivered to key SADC members in the lead-up to the meeting.
In the meantime, the campaign will go on and we'll conitnue posting new updates here as they become available. You can still show your support for the women of Zimbabwe by helping spread the word about this campaign and leaving a comment in the fields below.
Related Media
Hear Us, Stand With Us at SADC
Jenni Wolfson, deputy director at WITNESS, explains why, in partnership with the Regions: Global, Zimbabwe
Issues: Impunity, Justice, Violence against women
Related Groups
Bulatlat
Bulatlat is the Philippines's top alternative online publication....
Regions: Philippines
Issues: Armed conflict, Child labor, Children's rights
SIlence Speaks
Silence Speaks is an international digital storytelling initiative that provides survivors and witnesses of violence and other forms of trauma with a safe, supportive environment in which to tell thei...
Regions: Global
Issues: Child soldiers, Rape and sexual abuse, Violence against women
Genocide Intervention Network
The Genocide Intervention Network is most actively focused on the ongoing genocide in Darfur, Sudan.
Regions: Global
Issues: Genocide, Rape and sexual abuse, War crimes
Plight of Internally Displaced Tamils in Sri Lanka
The humanitarian crisis of the Tamil IDPs has been exacerbated further by the continuous downpour....
Regions: Sri Lanka
Issues: Armed conflict, Internally displaced persons, Justice
American Friends Service committee
The American Friends Service Committee carries out service, development, social justice, and peace programs throughout the world....