With the announcement from the Movement for Democratic Change yesterday in Zimbabwe that opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai will pull out of the presidential runoff vote, YWCA Canada urges the international community and African countries to protect the rights of women and children as they work to resolve the escalating violence in the wake of the country’s electoral crisis.

The order from Zimbabwe’s Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare to suspend the field operations of all non-governmental and private voluntary organisations (NGOs and PVOs) has resulted in the total cessation of local service provision to millions of Zimbabweans, leaving women and girls in particular at risk of gross sexual warfare.

“The reality of the current situation in Zimbabwe, where many women and children have left their homes to hide with relatives or in the bushes for fear of being tortured is deplorable,” said Paulette Senior, YWCA Canada Chief Executive Officer. “We call upon the United Nations and African Union to protect women and girls on the ground from this senseless violence.”

African Heads of State under the collective leadership of the African Union and SADC continue to ignore the link between the suspension of social services and upsurge in political violence, including unlawful killings, sexual assaults and torture, abductions and arbitrary arrests of opposition supporters, labour leaders, lawyers, journalists and other human rights defenders. Private citizens continue to be beaten, killed and have their homes burnt to the ground, leaving women and children homeless with nothing to eat or wear.

YWCA Canada implores all political leaders in the democratic world to condemn the shutdown of NGOs and PVOs in Zimbabwe and decry the accompanying systemic human rights violations that continue to escalate with each passing day.