ActionAid Zimbabwe (AAZ) joins the rest of the world in commemorating the World
Humanitarian Day, themed #theHumanRace marking the global challenge for climate action in solidarity
with people who need it most.
In a press statement, AAZ said on this day, they urge the Government of Zimbabwe (GoZ) to finalise the Disaster Risk Management and Civil Protection Bill (DRMCP) to promote disaster management structures that have fully devolved powers, competences, responsibilities, and resources to subnational levels.
“With an
inclusive new and robust disaster risk reduction policy framework, Zimbabwe could greatly reduce the
number of people who require humanitarian assistance every year”, said AAZ.
Celebrated on 19 August each year, the World Humanitarian Day is an international day dedicated to
humanitarian workers and those who have lost their lives working for humanitarian causes.
It was designated
by the United Nations General Assembly as part of Swedish-sponsored General Assembly Resolution
A/63/L.49 on strengthening of the Coordination of Emergency Assistance of the UN.
Like world over, Zimbabwe has been grappling with the impact of the climate change and its related
humanitarian consequences. Climatic shocks, economic challenges and the COVID-19 pandemic have been
driving humanitarian needs in Zimbabwe.
Statistics show that the number of people in need of humanitarian
assistance has been steadily ballooning in the past five years, from 2.8 million people in 2016 (Zimbabwe
Vulnerability Assessment Committee Report 2016) to 7.9 million in 2021 (Zimbabwe Humanitarian Response
Plan 2021). Of these people in need of humanitarian assistance about 75% of them are women, girls, and
children because these sections of the population always bear the brunt of most disasters.
Women and girls
face numerous challenges during humanitarian situations such as increased sexual and gender-based violence
cases, psychosocial trauma, early and forced marriages, trafficking, forced migration, increased poverty,
changes in self-perception, among other effects. Yet women are conspicuously invisible in most countries’
disaster risk reduction legislations, policies, structures, and systems.
“Thus, as we commemorate this Humanitarian Day, we are reminded of the deficiencies associated with the
disaster risk reduction policy framework in Zimbabwe. Despite the increasing humanitarian situation in the
country, Zimbabwe has been very slow to revise and enact a robust disaster risk reduction policy framework
butstill clings to the old Civil Protection Act of 1989″, added AAZ
Furthermore, the country does not have a comprehensive
National Policy on Disaster Risk Management, a situation of great concern in the face of rising climate change
related disasters. Although the Cabinet approved the principles of the DRMCP on 7 June 2022, the nation is
likely to see a stagnation of the process going forward due to the GoZ’s lack of political will to finalise the
DRMCP into law. This bill has been in the pipeline for more than a decade, despite the growing threat from
the surging disasters in the past years.
AAZ therefore urges GoZ, as it works on the Disaster Risk Management and Civil Protection Bill, to ensure
that:
- The new law incorporates women, youth, and people with disabilities in the disaster risk management
structures and decision-making process in terms of Sections 17, 20 and 22 of the Constitution of
Zimbabwe. - The new law promotes a culture of disaster preparedness and investment in Disaster Risk Reduction
(DRR) measures and places emphasis on disaster prevention and mitigation rather than on humanitarian
response. - The new law promotes disaster management structures that have full devolution powers, competences,
- It prioritises the finalisation of the Disaster Risk Management and Civil Protection Bill into law.
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