Press Release

Prioritization of available resources is key to the enjoyment of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights – reveals Parallel Report

22 APRIL 2005

A new major report on human rights in Zambia has argued that “severe poverty, hunger and malnutrition, high levels of illiteracy, poor working conditions, extreme unemployment levels, bad conditions of housing, medical care, unsafe water and sanitation in Zambia” are a result of poor prioritizations of the country’s available resources.

This finding is contained in Civil Society Organizations’ “Parallel Report on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Zambia.”  Compiled by the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) in cooperation with nine major civil society groups, the report has been submitted to the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UNCESCR) in Geneva, Switzerland. It will be formally presented to this UN Committee during the last week of April, at the same time the Government of Zambia offers its own State Report on how it has fulfilled the international agreements on rights that it has signed.   

This procedure whereby a “parallel report” from civil society is expected to accompany the Government’s official report is part of the UN protocol to guarantee adequate documentation of human rights situations in countries that have ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).  Zambia ratified this Covenant in 1984 and is thereby expected to fulfill rights such as health, access to safe water and sanitation, education and employment. 

In order to review the implementation of Economic, Social and Cultural (ESC) rights in Zambia, the JCTR commissioned in November 2004 the preparation of a parallel report to accompany the Zambia State Report.  Civil society organizations that were involved in the elaboration of the report included PELUM Association, AFRONET, CCJDP, Women’s Lobby, CSPR, ECAZ, WILSA and NGOCC.  These organizations will be represented before the UNCESCR by Mr. Simson Mwale of the JCTR and Mrs. Matrine Chuulu of Women and Law in Southern Africa (WILSA). The two representatives leave for Geneva on 23 April 2005.

The main objective of the Parallel Report is to provide an independent evaluation of realization and/or violation of ESC rights in Zambia.  The Report is a product of the research, service provision, advocacy, and fieldwork efforts of CSOs from all across Zambia that relate to ESC rights. The Report pulls together a variety of CSO studies and Government documents related to ESC rights, including those on women, health, education, housing, land, food security and employment. 

While understanding the problems Government faces because of serious economic problems both internal and external, the Report challenges the priorities and political will that have too often ignored the suffering of the majority of Zambians and the country’s development pontential, thereby violating their human rights.

For example, the Report reveals that education is gradually becoming a privilege of those who can manage the associated expenses, despite Government’s commitment to provide “free primary education.” In the health sector, the Report has called on the Government to adequately equip existing health facilities with medical personnel and supplies, especially in rural areas. 

In addition, the Report observes that women especially have continued to be denied equitable access to ESC rights. Therefore it recommends that the new Constitution should adequately and effectively enshrine ESC rights within the Bill of Rights and should clearly be gender sensitive.

According to the report, Government has been contradicting International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions that it has signed by perpetuating poor conditions of service for the public service employees and by delaying payments of salaries and retirement packages.

Although land in Zambia is still one of the major food productive resources and a major means of subsistence, the Report shows that Zambians still face problems with land tenure security, including land alienation with little or no compensation, corrupt or exploitative administrative practices and the 1995 Lands Act that rarely protects the poor from maintaining their customary land. The Report further observes that the lack of security of land tenure and deprivation of land are often causes for hunger and malnutrition and contribute to violations of the right to food especially of rural poor.

An average of 46% of Zambian households are facing serious food insecurity, especially widows, orphans, children, the physically handicapped, the unemployed and the working poor. Sadly, people in food insecure households engage in various activities such as skipping meals or taking turns to have meals in order to cope with the situation. The Report further demonstrates that structural reforms, poor salaries, high cost of living and poor rural infrastructure are some major causes of food insecurity in Zambia.

A very significant feature of the Parallel Report is its emphasis on the negative impact on Zambian’s enjoyment of ESC rights of the structural reform policies enforced by the International Financing Institutions (IFIs) such as the World Bank and the IMF.  The Report urges that debt sustainability analysis under HIPC arrangements should take account of Government’s specific financial needs if it is to be able to successfully implement the Poverty Reduction Strategy Programmes (PRPs) and reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

In finalizing the Report, the JCTR notes that Zambia faces a clear conflict between debt servicing and ESC rights obligations.  Debt servicing diminishes Government’s resource capacity to provide basic social services while the ESC rights obligations demand an increase in such funding. Even with the so-called “relief” coming from the HIPC completion point, the Zambian Government is constitutionally bound to annual budget payments of over US $100 million for external debt servicing, while it is not constitutionally bound to budget for health, education, provision of clean water and other social services.

The Parallel Report concludes that Zambia’s failure to live up to its ESC rights obligations despite its commitment to United Nations covenants to provide an adequate standard of living to all citizens has been due to three factors:

Zambia’s civil society organizations have therefore called for explicit inclusion of ESC rights in the new Bill of Rights, more effective pro-poor budgeting and implementation, 100% debt cancellation and removal of restrictive and inequitable IFIs conditionalities.

Commenting on the significance of the Parallel Report, Simson Mwale of the JCTR and principal author of the Report, says: “In our lobbying and advocating efforts, we have come to realize that having policies and laws is not all it takes to cross the road to socio-economic independence and prosperity. Just as there are good policies and laws, equally there are bad ones. Even when good laws and policies are developed, the implementation process may be poor because of corruption, mismanagement of national resources and lack of good strategic planning. Civil society’s Parallel Report therefore is an opportunity that can be used to confront laws and policies that do not promote an adequate standard of living, thereby denying Zambians their basic human rights.” 

[For more information, contact Simson Mwale, Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection, P.O. Box 37774, Lusaka, Zambia; 260-1-290410

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