×
NewsDay

AMH is an independent media house free from political ties or outside influence. We have four newspapers: The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and Southern and NewsDay, our daily newspapers. Each has an online edition.

‘Women biggest victims of statelessness’

News
THE Sadc Parliamentary Forum (PF) Women’s Regional Caucus, which is currently in session in Harare, yesterday urged its affiliate 14 member States to look at the issue of statelessness with a gender lens as it impacted more on women and children.

THE Sadc Parliamentary Forum (PF) Women’s Regional Caucus, which is currently in session in Harare, yesterday urged its affiliate 14 member States to look at the issue of statelessness with a gender lens as it impacted more on women and children.

BY VENERANDA LANGA

Sadc Women’s Parliamentary Caucus chairperson Jessie Kabwila from Malawi (left) and vice-chair Monica Mutsvangwa (Zimbabwe) chat after the meeting
Sadc Women’s Parliamentary Caucus chairperson Jessie Kabwila from Malawi (left) and vice-chair Monica Mutsvangwa (Zimbabwe) chat after the meeting

Chairperson of the Sadc PF Women’s Caucus Jessie Kabwila, who is an MP representing the Malawi Congress Party in the National Assembly, yesterday told NewsDay in an interview that women in the region experienced statelessness both physically and emotionally in the sense that they were being denied participation in national issues.

Kabwila said women experienced statelessness physically due to human trafficking, xenophobia, civil unrests and economic challenges, which have caused migration to other countries where people then seek refugee status.

According to the United Nations, stateless people are those that are displaced, are refugees and have no citizenship in any country.

“As female MPs in the region, we should ensure that laws passed in our Parliaments serve the interests of the poor and stateless persons, including women and children, because we cannot be spectators while women are marginalised,” she said.

“Statelessness must be looked at with a gender glance because even inside our own countries women suffer from statelessness because they are not enjoying any benefits such as leadership positions and the right to vote as we are painfully outnumbered,” she said.

She said early child marriages must end because no country could develop without women.

“We (women’s caucus) are also concerned about issues of health, water, sanitation, education and several issues affecting women that we need to tackle as a region,” she said.

United Nations data classifies Zimbabwe in category C in terms of countries affected by statelessness, which means that it is not in the worst category, but has recorded several cases of statelessness.

Approximately 1,5 million persons in Zimbabwe have links to Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique as well as approximately 12 000 Zimbabweans are of Indian origins.

Vice-chairperson of the Sadc PF Regional Women’s Caucus Senator Monica Mutsvangwa said it was critical for the region to come up with a definition of statelessness because it was difficult to understand why Zimbabwe was categorised under the C category when everyone had rights to a birth certificate.

She said the women’s caucus must deal with issues of ensuring that female MPs would be retained in Parliament after the proportional representation quota expires in 2023.

“If we have strong regional groupings like Sadc PF, we can easily make sure we come up with laws that can be enforced by all countries to end poverty, ensure there is accountability and empower women,” she said.