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BY MIRIAM MANGWAYA THE Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights) has filed an urgent chamber application at the High Court seeking an order to compel government to provide a COVID-19 national vaccination roll-out plan. In papers filed at the High Court, ZimRights, represented by Tendai Biti of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, wants the government to present the budget for COVID-19 vaccine before Parliament. Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga who is the Health minister, Finance minister Mthuli Ncube and President Emmerson Mnangagwa were cited as respondents. ZimRights wants the government to provide the COVID-19 national vaccination deployment plan within seven days of the High Court order. In his founding affidavit filed at the courts, ZimRights national director Dzikamai Bere stated that section 29 of the Constitution obliges the government to take all practical measures to ensure the provision of basic accessible and adequate health services throughout Zimbabwe. In the face of a ravaging pandemic that has claimed lives of over two million people globally and over 1 200 in Zimbabwe, ZimRights is calling for government to act timeously and save lives from the pandemic. “Section 29(3), in particular, obliges the state to take all preventive measures within the limits of resources available to it, including education and public awareness programmes against the spread of diseases. Section 76 obliges the State to take reasonable legislative and other measures, within the limits of the resources available to it, to achieve the progressive realisation of the right to healthcare,” Bere said. He also urged government to take a cue from other countries and take the necessary steps and a human rights-centred approach to fight coronavirus. “We are simply asking the government to lead, and save lives.” ZimRights said. “We don’t understand how anyone can fail to agree with us given the far-reaching consequences of inaction.” The World Health Organisation is urging governments to avail factual information on COVID-19 to the public. In its efforts to combat the spread of the deadly virus, ZimRights provided urgent humanitarian support to marginalised communities and institutions reaching out to over 17 000 people and 26 institutions that include rural clinics, schools, quarantine centres and correctional facilities. Follow Miriam on Twitter@FloMangwaya
A November 26 letter from the presidency asked the head of Uganda's national drug authority to 'work out a mechanism' to clear the importation of the vaccines.
China has about five COVID-19 vaccine candidates at different levels of trials. It was not clear what vaccine was being imported into Uganda.
One of the frontrunners is the Sinopharm vaccine developed by the Beijing Institute of Biological Product, a unit of Sinopharm’s China National Biotec Group (CNBG).
On Wednesday, the United Arab Emirates said the vaccine has 86% efficacy, citing an interim analysis of late-stage clinical trials.
China has used the drug to vaccinate up to a million people under its emergency use program.
On Tuesday, Morocco said it was ordering up to 10 million doses of the vaccine.
Record cases
Uganda on Monday registered 701 new COVID-19 cases, the highest-ever daily increase, bringing its national count to 23,200.
The new cases were out of the 5,578 samples tested for the novel coronavirus over the past 24 hours, the country's health ministry said in a statement.
Tuesday's tally was 606, the second-highest ever number of new infections, bringing the cumulative number of confirmed cases in the east African country to 23,860.
Health authorities have blamed ongoing election campaigns which have drawn huge crowds for the rise in infections.
The court set aside the report, but the cost order has been dismissed.
The Constitutional Court has given former Public Protector COO Basani Baloyi the go-ahead to have her case against Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane heard anew.
A digital COVID-19 vaccination passport might be required by airlines, stadiums, workplaces and other establishments.
As part of its defence in the case of the Haitian nationals currently before the High Court the state has presented evidence that some of the migrants might be involved in the smuggling of children.
The article Some Haitian nationals may be smuggling children appeared first on Stabroek News.
Jamaica is expected to begin administering the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine in February, two months ahead of the scheduled April roll-out announced late last year. The development was revealed late Monday evening by Health and Wellness Minister...
[Monitor] The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) has raised a red flag over the rising human rights violation cases in Uganda ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections slated for January 14.
On May 18, 1893, Anna Julia Cooper delivered an address at the Worlds Congress of Representative Women then meeting in Chicago. Cooper’s speech to this predominately white audience described the progress of African American women since slavery. Cooper in many ways epitomized that progress. Born into slavery in North Carolina in 1858, she earned B.A. and M.A. degrees at Oberlin and in 1925 at that age of 67 she received a Ph.D. at the Sorbonne in Paris. Cooper spent much of her career at an instructor of Latin and mathematics at M Street (later Dunbar) High School in Washington, D.C. She died in 1964. Cooper’s speech appears below.
The higher fruits of civilization can not be extemporized, neither can they be developed normally, in the brief space of thirty years. It requires the long and painful growth of generations. Yet all through the darkest pe¬riod of the colored womens oppression in this country her yet unwritten history is full of heroic struggle, a struggle against fearful and overwhelming odds, that often ended in a horrible death, to maintain and protect that which woman holds dearer than life. The painful, patient, and silent toil of mothers to gain a free simple title to the bodies of their daughters, the de¬spairing fight, as of an entrapped tigress, to keep hallowed their own persons, would furnish material for epics. That more went down under the flood than stemmed the current is not extraordinary. The majority of our women are not heroines but I do not know that a majority of any race of women are heroines. It is enough for me to know that while in the eyes of the highest tribunal in America she was deemed no more than a chattel, an irresponsible thing, a dull block, to be drawn hither or thither at the volition of an owner, the Afro American woman maintained ideals of womanhood unshamed by any ever conceived. Resting or fermenting in untutored minds, such ideals could not claim a hearing at the bar of the nation. The white woman could least plead for her own emancipation; the black woman,
Malawi's Homeland Security Minister, Richard Banda, has signed extradition papers for fugitive pastor Shepherd Bushiri and his wife, Mary, local media report. This follows an extradition request from neighbouring South Africa where the couple is wanted to face charges of money laundering and fraud. The couple has denied any wrongdoing. A high court in Malawi is set to decide on their arrest after they were released unconditionally by a magistrates court that said there was no formal extradition request from South Africa. The court will determine the case on 22 December, according to the Daily Times newspaper. The Bushiris escaped from South Africa last month, defying bail conditions that barred them from leaving the country. Pastor Bushiri at the time said his life was in danger hence the decision to leave the country. The Malawian and South African governments had to issue statements on the escape after Malawi's President Lazarus Chakwera - who was on a state visit to South Africa - was accused of aiding the pastor's escape.- BBC
BY HARRIET CHIKANDIWA PROSECUTOR Tapiwa Kasema (45), who is facing allegations of criminal abuse of office, will spend another night in custody after Harare Magistrate Ngoni Nduna set his bail ruling for Wednesday. Kasema was arrested for consenting to bail in a case involving four armed serial robbers. He works at the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) as a principal law officer. It is alleged that on August 24, armed robbers Musa Taj Abdul, Tapiwa Rudolf, Godfrey Mupanhanga and accomplices were arrested in Beitbridge over a spate of murders and armed robbery cases committed in and around Zimbabwe. On August 25, they were taken to court facing 53 counts of armed robbery, where they were denied bail and remanded in custody. Sometime this month, Abdul applied for bail and the NPA assigned Kasema together with two other officers to oppose the application. On December 8, Kasema allegedly consented to the granting of bail without following laid down procedures. The court heard that the offence came to light after the CID Homicide queried the release of the accused on bail by the High Court on December 11, 2020, and it came out that Kasema had unlawfully consented to the release of the applicants. A report was then made to the police leading to the arrest of Kasema. He will spend another night in custody after Nduna postponed the hearing to tomorrow.
[263Chat] Opposition MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa has condemned the 'heartless and cruel' demolition of houses in Harare urging those responsible to halt the operation.
Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ), founded in 1990, is one of the earliest and highly regarded LGBTI (Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender-Intersex) advocacy organizations in Southern Africa. GALZ is the country’s only gay rights group and the first one in the nation to start HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns. The organization also promotes gay rights in the Southern African region and encourages emerging LGBTI groups in other countries.
GALZ was originally a small social club of mostly middle class professionas drawn from the active urban social scene in Harare, the nations capital, which flourished after Zimbabwean independence in 1980. GALZ launched in 1990 with seventy members, grew to approximately 500 in 2000, but had about 300 members by 2012. The drop in membership was caused mainly by its members seeking asylum in other nations. Whites or mixed race persons were the early members, but most GALZ members today are LGBTI people from the nation’s urban black communities. The involvement of lesbians increased dramatically with the establishment of the Gender Department in 2002. With its national headquarters in the capital of Harare, as of 2012 GALZ had ten centers throughout Zimbabwe.
The mission of GALZ is to serve the needs of LGBTI persons in Zimbabwe, advance social tolerance of sexual minorities, and repeal homophobic laws. A 1995 incident propelled GALZ into the national and international spotlight. The Zimbabwe International Book Fair (ZIBF), with that year’s theme of “Human Rights and Justice,” banned GALZ from participating. The rejection attracted local and regional news coverage. In response, regional and international organizations such as Amnesty International began to recognize homosexuality as a human rights issue and international groups also began to fund GALZ.
GALZ offers a wide variety of services. They began providing HIV/AIDS awareness at a time when their nation’s political leadership and many citizens remained in denial of the dangers and risks of the disease. This program has evolved
… – very profitably – into the African American community.
Psychiatrists, psychologists, and … – guidelines that ensure that Black Americans are informed about psychiatric drugs … rates of abnormality among African Americans or other minorities.”
They …
BY STAFF REPORTER A MAN from Mangwe district in Plumtree, who allegedly killed his parents in cold blood and set their bodies on fire inside a hut, on Wednesday appeared at the Plumtree Magistrates’ Court charged with murder. Lisani Nleya (45) was not asked to plead to the charge when he appeared before Plumtree magistrate Vivian Ndlovu for initial remand. The court appearance took place after he went with the police to his parents’ homestead for indications on Tuesday where he remorselessly told them that his parents deserved to die. He killed his parents in Empandeni, Mangwe district, in Matabeleland South province on September 1, 2020. He was remanded in custody to February 17 for routine remand pending the transfer of the matter to the High Court. Willbrought Muleya prosecuted. Nleya was arrested in Bulawayo at a prophet’s house after he sneaked into the country from South Africa. During interrogation, he allegedly confessed to killing his parents. He did not attend their funeral. Nleya reportedly told them that his parents, Nicholas Nleya (83), who had partially lost his sight, and his wife Margaret (78), who walked with the aid of a stick, had bewitched him and, therefore, deserved to die. He also told the police that he killed them while alone. Allegations are that while he attacked his parents, their workers fled when they heard the mother begging for his mercy. Their bodies were burnt beyond recognition and remnants of petrol bombs and dynamite were found in the room where their charred remains were discovered. The Nleyas were both retired teachers who taught at the nearby Roman Catholic-run Empandeni Primary School, and were devout Christians. National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi on Monday said the suspect, who was based in South Africa, sneaked into the country and was arrested after a tip-off. “The suspect came from South Africa and following a tip-off that he was at a certain prophet’s house to collect his belongings, police pounced on him and arrested him. He confessed to having killed his parents,” Nyathi said. A villager said Nleya had deserted the army and was different from his siblings “who had made it in life”. It is alleged that on a number of occasions, he threatened his parents with unspecified action, accusing them of bewitching him. After murdering his parents, it is alleged that Nleya set the hut on fire to destroy evidence. He reportedly told the police that when he entered his parents’ bedroom hut, he demanded money and was given R200 by his mother, which he said was too little. Forensic evidence and a post-mortem indicate that they may have been axed or stabbed to death before being set on fire. Nleya then cycled for about 90km to Figtree before getting a lift to Bulawayo. He took his parents’ cellphones, and sold one of them in South Africa. The other phone is said to be at his rented place in South Africa. Follow us on Twitter @NewsDayZimbabwe
By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has dismissed as premature a challenge to President Donald Trump's plan to exclude people living in the country illegally from the population count used to allot states seats in the House of Representatives. But the court's decision Friday is not a final ruling on the matter and it's not clear whether Trump will receive final numbers from the Census Bureau before he leaves office next month. The high court said it was too soon to rule on the legality of Trump's plan because it's not yet clear how many […]
The post High court rules challenge to Trump census plan is premature appeared first on Black News Channel.
Maurice Tomlinson is one of the most well-known gay rights activists in the world. He is an attorney-at-law, law lecturer, journalist, and HIV/AIDS and LGBTI (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgendered Intersexual) activist in Jamaica and the Caribbean.
Tomlinson was born on April 9, 1971 in Montego Bay, St. James, Jamaica to George Cornel Tomlinson and Carmen Victoria Campbell Tomlinson. He has two brothers, Kurt and Rhoan. Tomlinson’s education includes studies at The University of the West Indies (2003), Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica (2005), University of Turin Law School in Italy (2006), and Mona School of Business (2007). Friends provided the catalyst for his interest in social justice. Before finishing his law degree, he worked as a flight attendant for Air Jamaica. In this period, he became aware that AIDS affected everyone and could impact anybody. Studying law exposed him to the idea of human rights and the possibility to change discriminatory laws and practices.
In 2009, Tomlinson became legal advisor of marginalized groups for the well-known, respected, international advocacy organization, AIDS-Free World. One area of his advocacy education is the link between Jamaica’s anti-gay laws and the spread of HIV. In his country, 32% of gay men have HIV compared to 1.6% in the general population. AIDS-Free World works in partnership with JFLAG (Jamaica Forum of Lesbians, All-Sexuals, and Gays), Representatives of Jamaicans for Justice, Families Against State Terrorism, and other human rights allies.
For two years, Tomlinson collected victim reports as part of a legal challenge against his nation. Since the new Jamaican Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms does not allow domestic challenges, his team engaged in an unprecedented legal challenge to Jamaica’s anti-sodomy laws. Their complaint filed with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in 2011 became the first regional challenge in the world of an AIDS-related issue. While IACHR can only release a recommendation to the Jamaican
