HARARE, 2 November 2010 (IRIN) – Getting a passport can be vital for making a living but mounting hidden costs are making it tougher to access one, despite the government recently slashing passport fees. Fees have been reduced from US$140 to $50, but the document can cost up to $120 or even $300, as Theresa Makone, the joint minister of home affairs, discovered on an impromptu visit to the Harare office which issues passports. Makone, whose visit to the office had been prompted by allegations of corruption, acknowledged that police and officials at the Registrar General’s office were asking for... Continue Reading
By Own Correspondent – Arusha (-AP, UN NEWS SERVICE) -Rwanda’s former businessman accused of supervising the massacre of some 2,000 Rwandan Tutsi civilians taking shelter in a church was on Monday convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison by the United Nations tribunal set up to deal with the 1994 genocide. Gaspard Kanyarukiga, who was arrested in South Africa in July 2004, was found guilty of genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity, according to a press release by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Handing down the sentence, the court’s Trial Chamber II announced it was... Continue Reading
By Own Correspondents – The African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS), in collaboration with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), would organise the Forum on the Participation of NGOs in the 48th ordinary session of the ACHPR and the 22nd African Human Rights Book Fair. The event, which is expected to attract over 100 human rights activists from Africa and beyond, will be held from 7th to 9th November 2010 at the Kairaba Beach Hotel. The objective of the forum, which will precede the 48th ordinary session of the African Commission, also to be... Continue Reading
By Nangayi Guyson – Zimbabwean government denied claims that it was planning mass evictions from a shantytown outside Harare. The denial comes after Amnesty International said the government had threatened about 20 000 residents of Hatcliffe Extension with eviction if they failed to pay a $140 “lease renewal fee” – an unaffordable sum for the shantytown’s impoverished residents. In a statement , housing minister Giles Mutseyekwa said, according to the state-run news agency, New Ziana that ,”I wish to categorically state that no such thing, and I repeat no such thing or action has been planned or is being planned.”... Continue Reading
By Own Correspondent – An Independent Human Rights Organisation (ARTICLE 19) is seriously concerned about ongoing violations of press freedom in the context of the upcoming general elections in Tanzania, set to take place on October 31st. Key concerns include political parties harassing and intimidating journalists and election opinion pollsters, the state media not allocating a fair and equitable air time to all political candidates and the National Electoral Commission’s failure to enforce electoral laws, including those which protect freedom of expression. “For the coming elections to be credible and democratic, the National Electoral Commission must ensure that all the... Continue Reading
