@js re non refoulement: This is all just so shocking. I’m an arts/humanities academic in the uk and do quite a lot of research and teaching about gender theory. I understand that what they call the “weighted binary” (like white/black, man/woman) linguistically responsible for the kind of marginalisation we’re concerned with re refugee status run along vastly different lines, rooted in different things. But nobody, NOBODY disputes that it is the same mechanism at work (and a massively potent one, important to take into consideration alongside physical vulnerability), and I am astounded, absolutely astounded that UK Asylum law should not recognise gender vulnerability.
That said, technically, the AU actually draws this definition differently altogether: The AU focuses on the state of a person’s ‘place of habituation’, not on the person’s identity, as I understand it. Practically, this seems to make things even more difficult. I can imagine (and can see on the news) that women are still terribly, terribly vulnerable under this.
js, thank you. I’ve sent some emails to try and find somewhere to volunteer. I’m an immigrant and a woman and while I’d heard of some of these problems, it had never really viscerally sunk in. It has now.

One last thing - you say they have stopped forced deportations. Do you know how this applies to Simon ‘Dreadman’ Mudekwa and co?

Oh by the way Tara, thanks for the Ghandi. And Scotchcart, thanks for being the rather splendid you - we’re getting more effective all the time. Yes your points about openness, politeness and even gratitude on the phone are noted - it works an absolute treat doesn’t it!!

FW: Attack - Wednesday

wayne munroe farmer in nymandlovhu has been under siege since early this morning. his property was encircled by in excess of 100 warvets 15:28

he phoned the police in nyama to inform them of the prob and was on the phone to them when 4 warvets entered his office. he immediately told the member in charge that they were there and a 303 was being pointed at his chest. he was forced to hang up. 15:30

a tussle ensued, munroe was injured on the hand with the head of an axe blade and he sprayed the attackers with pepper spray enabling him to escape. he was fired at 4 times, but they missed and munroe managed to get to the farm house where his mother and grandmother live. 15:31

the vets moved into the compound outsed the perimeter fence and are busy right now beating the workers. munroe’s wife and 2 children aged 4 and 5 are holed up in their own house some 100m away.

one of the workers managed to escape the beating at the compound (which is outside the perimeter fence of both farm houoses) and managed to get to munroe. he told mun that after they finished beating the workers, they were coming for the farm houses.

ursula managed to phone out that she was going to attempt getting to her husband but has failed because more armed vets have moved in. she is currently there now.

david coltart has repeatedly called chief inspector munyira at nymandlovhu to go and assist the munroes. coltart was told by the police they would send a detail out. at 3.10pm one ONE police officer arrived at the gate of the farm and then left. 16:01

to add to the sinister nature of the situation. this morning the regular member in charge and various other officers were replaced at nyamand police station. this points to the fact that the police were not trusted to carry out this brutal assault.

Obert Mpofu is the local ZanuPF MP who has probably ordered this. He needs to be contacted immediately to be asked why this is happening. 263 - 11 - 865601

yesterday munroe was warned that there had been a meeting at stops camp in byo where the decision to invade had been made. 16:06

this is not very encouraging is it

here in the UK there are a number of women who are survivors of rape, at the hands of police, military, and/or militias who are being denied asylum. In most cases the women have been targets of rape largely because of their husbands’ political involvement.

Shockingly, according to the immigration judges in the UK:
– being a women does not count as being a member of a particular social group.
– being a victim of rape at the hands of police, military, militias because of their own or their partners’ political activities (whether woman or man) does not constitute either a sufficiently compelling reason to flee, nor torture.

In the case of Zimbabwean refugee status was routinely being denied and folks were being sent back to Zim right up until just a short time before the elections. I understand that forced deportations are currently on hold.

However, the immigration directorate and the immigration judges continue making decisions about Zimbabweans’ applications for asylum all the time.

sad reflection of our country!

This has been interesting. I have learnt that, rather than being something arcane and esoteric, these basic international human rights laws are something which every citizen of the world should learn about, and that I want to make sure that my children have a basic confidence to refer to them in their relationship with the world.

My amateurish and possibly tragi-comical observations are these:

1.That the 1951 Refugee Convention only applies to persons who fear persecution on the basis of their ‘race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion’. The OAU definition, which is broader suggests that the term “refugee” shall also apply to every person who, owing to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events seriously disturbing public order in either part or the whole of his country of origin or nationality, is compelled to leave his place of habitual residence in order to seek refuge in another place outside his country of origin or nationality.
2.In cases of torture, no exceptions are permitted to the prohibition against refoulement.
3.“There is substantial, if not conclusive authority that the principle is binding on all states, independently of specific assent” and the UNHCR has even suggested that it is a jus cogens law. It has however been argued that when a state justifies of qualifies its expulsion - ‘we cannot accept these refugees because…’ [of internal special circumstances’, - they are implicitly acknowledging their breech of international law.
4.That non-refoulement has been breached increasingly frequently, but that it has not formally lost its status in international law. In contrast, human rights laws in general are often perceived to be increasingly adhered to.
5.That international pressure to heed non-refoulement has, historically, been effective in protecting refugees, until the host country starts facing its own problems at least.
6.That retrospective criticism of countries who violated non-refoulement has been harsh and stained the human rights image of the countries to some extent. And I don’t think that South Africa wants to damage their valuable ‘brand’.
7.That countries who violate non-refoulement are legally regarded as complicit in the crimes committed upon refugees on their return, but that no-one is ever prosecuted.
8.That refugees in breach of the security laws of the host country don’t stand a chance, either in spite of or because of ill-defined definition of ‘threat to national security’.

Outline of the consensus reached on “The Principle of Non-Refoulement”

http://www.unhcr.bg/global_consult/principe_non_refoulement_en.pdf

The UNHCR-funded ‘Refugee Law Reader’, a ‘model curriculum for the study of refugee law’

Anyway, thank you!

CC This is admittedly a difficult question. On a personal level because I hope that Zimbabwe has not come to a state of war. Am I in denial about this - probably. The consequences of war are just unfathomable. At the same time I am extremely concerned and alarmed at what is taking place in Zimbabwe at the moment. Moving away from the personal, war for me requires belligerents and at the moment we have one belligerent who has unleashed the full force of the illegitimate state apparatus and all its appendages on innocent civilians. On the otherhand peoples experiences especially after being attacked or having a loved one attacked by a group of “militia” might tell a different story - and it feels like war in that case.

I hope the Security Council does not get sidetracked with definitional issues though. What we know is that human rights in zimbabwe are being seriously and massively violated on multiple levels - this has grave consequences for the people of Zimbabwe, this should be taken seriously and steps taken to remedy the situation.

I think though non refoulement has also been used in situations were there is no war but there are massive and serious human rights violations taking place. This is the situation as it is in Zimbabwe.

I am wondering how you are doing with your research on non refoulement?

(By the way, I wanted to clarify that the single post by CC above - responding to Larry the Racist - is not by me, the author of all the the other CC comments. It’s not particularly important, just wanted to clarify as I don’t necessarily want someone else’s experiences to be conflated with my own.
Hey it’s a valid enough point in some respects, just one I hadn’t thought of!)

P.S. Larry the Racist, go play in traffic..

P.P.S. HURRAY!!!!!!

I support Sally Ds idea of volunteer peace monitors - it is because Zanu Pf and co. think no one is watching that they are so brazenly abusing peoples rights. This can certainly go some way to reducing the level of violence. And so far civil society has been very instrumental in helping out much more than neighbouring governments. We would of course need to prepare them because i think non of them will be expecting what they will find when they arrive.

I would also suggest pushing for cvilian trained peace keepers from the UN and AU. I would stress civilians and not military peace keepers.

About the status of Zimbabwean refugees and asylum seekers abroad. I agree, this matter should be taken up seriously because this is not the time to be repatriating people in flight. So far, as far as I can see, most people have treated Zimbabwean asylum seekers as economic migrants, few have taken the uniqueness of the eonomic situation seriously because when your population is starving, can’t access medical care and treatment etc that is a silent war against the people of Zimbabwe in my view. But I would suggest for anyone who finds themselves in this situation get in touch with a good refugee lawyer who can at least give you some advise and a preliminary assessment of your individual case. Also it usually helps when you hand yourself to authorities if there is someone who knows you exist and can follow up on your case just in case. It will also help you understand what you would need to provide should you seek asylum and the process as it applies in that country as these can differ widely. It also helps you know your rights because immigration officials are seldom willing to explain those to you. These lawyers usually work without charging you a consultation fee but this may differ depending on the country. If you can’t get to a lawyer for some reason at least make sure that someone knows you have gone to the authorities for asylum - this way at least someone is there to follow up your case. I would say assert your right to asylum and be prepared for a difficult process.

I would suggest that people add contacts from their countries of contact persons for refugee issues aswell. Perhaps it is also an idea to raise the profile of and maybe highlight conditions of Zimbabwean asylum or illegal immigrants and campaign hard to make sure that states place a moratorium on the deportation of these refugees - also that they provide them with asylum because one thing states do not want to be seen to be doing is going against their international obligations. So I would suggest linking this action to the right against non refoulement.

I hope this helps and stimulates discussion around these issues.

Reading this site has made me even more proud to be a Zimbabwean. Thank you Sokwanele.

yo goin 2 zimbabwe 2day wldnt change anything much,wel atleast it wil change e fact that we wil be adressing u as THE LATE…..

I dont no but I wld lyk 2 believe thz coming from elsewhere are e targeted now ,eTHEY WIL PROBABALY DETAIN n COL U ONE OF THOZ JOUNALISTS.Thet can even forge papers to show u are a journalist.the best we can do is continue to send appeals to e U.N while we pray and wait for the Lord to hear us.

http://thezimbabwetimes.com/page1042.htm

Commonwealth Secretariat,
Marlborough House, Pall Mall,
London SW1Y 5HX, UK
Phone: +44 (0)20 7747 6500
Fax: +44 (0)20 7930 0827

Official Spokesperson and Director of Communications
Eduardo del Buey
Tel: +44 (0)774 045 0901
Email: e.delbuey@commonwealth.int

Deputy Spokesperson
Manoah Esipisu
Tel: +44 789 446 2021
Email: m.esipisu@commonwealth.int

Media & Public Affairs Enquiries

J Mucunguzi, Africa
Tel: +44 (0) 789 459 3517
Email: j.mucunguzi@commonwealth.int

G Goh, Asia Pacific
Tel: +44 (0)20 7747 6535
Mobile: +44 (0) 7894 593518
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7839 9081
Email: g.goh@commonwealth.int

Y Chin, Caribbean
Tel: +44 (0) 791 246 3750
Email: y.chin@commonwealth.int

Don McKinnon, former Secretary-General
And Deputy Secretaries-General
Mrs Florence Mugasha, Uganda
Mr Ransford Smith, Jamaica
C/o
Official Spokesperson and Director of Communications
Eduardo del Buey
Tel:+44(0)20 7747 6380
Email: e.delbuey@commonwealth.int

ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly
Chair
Glenys Kinnock, MEP
Labour European Office, Transport House, 1 Cathedral Road, Cardiff CF11 9SD
Tel: +44 029 2022 7654
Fax: +44 029 2022 4725
Email: glenys.kinnock@europarl.europa.eu
Email: contact@welshlabourmeps.org.uk
Secretary - debbie@welshlabourmeps.org.uk
Researcher - ruth@welshlabourmeps.org.uk
Press Officer - lisa@welshlabourmeps.org.uk

Vice-chair: michael.gahler@europarl.europa.eu
Members: astrid.lulling@europarl.europa.eu
jim.allister@europarl.europa.eu

other ACP-EU contacts at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/expert/otherBodies/search.do?body=1558&partNumber=1&language=EN

General Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP Group)
Av. Georges Henri, 451
B-1200 Brussels
Belgium
email: info@acpsec.org
website: http://www.acpsec.org
Tel: +32 2 743 06 00
Fax: +32 2 735 55 73

What time is needed??? As you say precedents do exist and Hope and others have the plan for blocking the militias and soldiers with ‘non-violence’.

The peace project could be organised 10-14 days at the latest.

1)Instead of just lobbying the same do nothing groups like the UN etc…emails of those willing to go to Zim can be collected and a list of the ‘willing to go’ made by FRIDAY.

2)Funds can be sourced for the tickets in the interim period from all the thousands and millions of global Sokwanele supports…’peace activists headed for Zim need funds’ will be a excellent campaign…put Scotch Cart onto it.

3) The money raised can be placed in a bank account for the project…for tickets, accomodation and supplies.

4) Peaceful non-violent advocates can fly to Zimbabwe..go to the rural areas and begin working on the ground….(I am sure people like Hope, Mike, Chimurenga 4 etc will demand a seat on that plane…)