ZHRC hails national coronavirus fight

THE Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission ( ZHRC) has commended Government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak including the provision of social safety nets to the vulnerable and conducting nationwide public awareness campaigns.

In a statement, ZHRC called on authorities to adopt human rights-based approaches in implementing measures to quell the spread of coronavirus.

“It is evident that Covid-19 is a pandemic with far reaching human rights implications,” said ZHRC.

“It affects the right to life, health, education and other socio-economic rights of the people.

“As such, the commission applauds the measures that Government has put in place, first and foremost to protect the right to life through enforcing a number of measures, including the lockdown.

“The Commission welcomes the various programmes that have been put in place to mitigate the effects of the lockdown on vulnerable communities.

“This is against the background of the economic downturn being experienced in the country, consequently increasing the number of vulnerable households.

The commission urged Government to speed up the disbursement of assistance to underprivileged households.

Quarantine centres set up by Government, said the commission, all meet basic human rights standards.

“The ZHRC monitored some of the centres and noted they were satisfactory in terms of meeting some basic human rights standards including the right to dignity, food and water and the provision of shelter,” further read the statement.

It also noted the improvement in electricity and water supply in most residential areas.

ZHRC expressed concern over commuters failing to access transport to and from work.