A Critical Analysis of the Women\u27s Constitutional and Legal Rights in Zimbabwe in Relation to the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) comprehensively outlines the international standards on the rights of women that are to be pursued by State Parties to the Convention. Adopted by the General Assembly in 1979, it entered into force in 1981 and set the scene for a comprehensive approach to the human rights of women by State Parties that have ratified the Convention. The underlying spirit of the Convention is that discrimination against women violates principles of equality and respect for human dignity and presents obstacles to the advancement of women in the political, social, economic, and cultural spheres. The Convention recognizes in its preamble that the complete development of any country and the furtherance of world peace requires the maximum participation of women on equal terms with men in all fields. Zimbabwe ratified the Women\u27s Convention on the 13th of May 1991 without reservations, thereby agreeing to pursue active measures to eliminate discrimination against women by both State and non-state actors. The protection of human rights at the national level is fashioned by the normative and institutional frameworks that exist in a particular country. The major thrust of this paper is to examine the progress, as well as the gaps, from a legislative viewpoint in advancing the rights of women in Zimbabwe. A country-specific analysis allows for a clear understanding of the nature of the constitutional and legal framework under which human rights instruments are expected to materialize. In Zimbabwe the Constitution is the highest law of the land and any law inconsistent with the Constitution is void to the extent of that inconsistency. As such, under the Constitution, international instruments do not automatically form part of the law unless approved by Parliament or have been incorporated into the law by an Act of Parliament. The Constitution therefore provides the barometer with which to measure all other laws in the country

An Analysis of a Grassroots Perspective on Violence Against Women In Zimbabwe in the Context of the General Discourse on Violence

A ZLRev. article on gender violence in Zimbabwe.In Africa where the majority of the population lives in the rural areas, legal literacy and legal aid are issues of concern as most people cannot afford lawyers and the latter, by and large, operate only in the cities. Taking the law to the people through the training of paralegals and legal literacy workers are some of the strategies which have evolved to try and deal with the situation. In Zimbabwe, an organisation which has taken on the task of bridging the gap between the law and the people is the Legal Resources Foundation.* 1 One of the most important projects undertaken by the Foundation is the Paralegal Scheme which has a legal literacy component in which emphasis is placed on educating people about their rights. Under the legal literacy scheme, community based men and women have received training on various aspects of the law and they in turn pass on the information to the community at large. To assist the legal literacy workers in imparting legal information, pamphlets on topical issues have been produced by the Centre with the assistance of interested lawyers in town who are deemed to have the expertise on particular issues. Some of the topics which have been covered in pamphlets include rape, accident damages, marriage and the law, the legal system of Zimbabwe, the Legal Age of Majority Act, and violence against women. This article examines the topic of violence against women, drawing particularly on the reactions of people to the pamphlet on violence against women.2 The pamphlet dealt with what is generally called domestic violence and was written by a lawyer and women’s activist with victims of domestic violence as a specific target group. The pamphlet was however used to educate the community at large in line with the Foundation’s policy of targeting both men and women. The responses to the pamphlet will be analysed in the context of the present discourse on violence against women, which cover its various aspects ranging from manifestations, effects, causes, responses of the legal system, the health, welfare and community sectors as well as strategics for better action

Un nouvel outil d'évaluation environnementale à l'appui des politiques de développement durable des collectivités : appropriation de l'Analyse du Cycle de Vie par les services d'assainissement

National audienceAmong the broad range of environmental assessment tools available, life cycle analysis (LCA) is shown to be the only scientific method that quantifies environmental impacts and pollution transfers. The LCA 4E tool developed for public sanitation services, has been tested in pilot cities and a research intervention was conducted in order to observe to appropriation of this new tool.In our paper, we show that the LCA 4E tool has aroused the interest of local actors but interpreting and analyzing LCA results is still difficult for non-experts.Moreover, in a context where technical choices are dominated by traditional decision criteria (regulatory, technical and economical), LCA impact on environment conceptions and strategic decision is a challenge in itself. Nevertheless, in water policy governance contexts where there is a leader actor for sustainable development and where the size of the organization helps manage new tools, LCA gives weight to environmental arguments. It also can be used to argue for certain technical choices with external partners.Parmi les nombreux outils d'évaluation environnementale qui existent, l'Analyse du cycle de vie (ACV) est présentée comme la seule méthode qui fournit une quantification scientifiquement étayée des impacts environnementaux et des transferts de pollutions. L'outil ACV 4E développé dans ce sens pour les services publics d'assainissement a fait l'objet d'un test expérimental au sein de collectivités locales pilotes et une recherche-intervention a été conduite pour observer l'appropriation de ce nouvel outil par les acteurs. C'est ce qu'aborde notre papier qui montre que si l'intérêt des acteurs pour cette nouvelle méthode d'évaluation environnementale est réel, l'interprétation et l'analyse des résultats d'une ACV restent difficiles pour des non-spécialistes. Dans un contexte par ailleurs où les choix techniques sont dominés par les critères classiques de décision (réglementaires, techniques et financiers), l'impact de l'ACV sur les conceptions de l'environnement et la prise de décision stratégique reste un défi. Néanmoins, dans les contextes de gouvernance des politiques de l'eau faisant intervenir des acteurs porteurs du développement durable et dans les collectivités locales où la taille facilite la prise en charge d'outils nouveaux, l'ACV donne plus de poids aux arguments environnementaux. Elle pourrait aussi servir à argumenter certains choix vis-à-vis des partenaires externes