Welcome Comments at Launch of Human Rights Week and 60th Anniversary of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Trinity Church 8 December 2008. Alice Mogwe BOCISCOZ.

On behalf of both The Botswana Civil Society Solidarity Coalition for Zimbabwe (BOCISCOZ) and Amnesty International, we wish to welcome you most warmly to this, the launch of our Human Rights week and Commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

BOCISCOZ was formed in 2006. It is a coalition of civil society groupings comprising The Botswana Council of Churches (BCC), The Botswana Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (BOCONGO), The Botswana Secondary Teachers Trade Union (BOSETU), DITSHWANELO – The Botswana Centre for Human Rights, The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Botswana Chapter, The Concerned Africans Association (CAA), The People to People Coalition of Zimbabwe (PPCZ), Amnesty International Botswana, The International Socialists Botswana, The Disability HIV/AIDS Trust (DHAT), The Botswana Congress Party (BCP), The Botswana National Front Youth League (BNFYL), The Bible Society of Botswana, Kgolagano Theological College, The Lutheran Church, Tirisanyo Catholic Commission, The Dutch Reformed Church, The Evangelical Fellowship of Botswana, The Kweneng Rural Development Association (KRDA), Lifeline Botswana, The Botswana Community Based Organisations Network (BOCOBONET), The Botswana Network on Law, HIV and AIDS (BONELA), The Botswana Unified Local Government Service Association (BULGASA), The Botswana Teachers Union (BTU), Habitat for Humanity Botswana, CORDE, and The Botswana Scouts Association.

Amnesty International is a global movement of 2.2. million people in more than 150 countries. Its members campaign to end grave abuses of human rights. It is independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion. It is funded mainly by its members and through public donations.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Defenders’ Exhibition is an initiative of Amnesty International and its partners around the world. It comprises photography, film and theatre. As part of this exhibition, there is a DVD about the Human Rights Defenders which is being screened here. The People’s Voice (Our Song) is a play about the crisis in Zimbabwe and how it affects both Zimbabweans and Batswana. This will be performed at Maitisong on Wednesday 10 December (International Human Rights Day) at 7 p.m. for 7.30 p.m.

The aim of the exhibition is to share with the public, images of the experiences of those who believe in the tenets of the UDHR. The Human Rights Defenders in Zimbabwe comprise lawyers, teachers, journalists, workers, students and ordinary citizens who are trying to live their lives in the full light of human rights. You will see haunting images of what life can be like in Zimbabwe. We have also made this experience as participatory as possible ... conscious space has been given to you to express your opinions about what you see tonight. The booklets attached to the wire are there for you to write your own messages to the Human Rights Defenders after you have heard them tell you their story in their own words. We also invite you to ‘balance the sometimes competing needs’ of Batswana and Zimbabweans, as they share a common space.  The enclosed space which is ‘not for sensitive viewers’ shares a few graphic images of the pain experienced by many in Zimbabwe.  Our Basket of Opinions is to be given to our Government next year …it will hold woven opinions written by you about the position of The Government of Botswana on  Zimbabwe and the crisis of governance. Our Donations Box is ready to receive your contributions as you support our ‘Fight Cholera’ campaign. Due to the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe (from which almost 600 people have already died), we are to purchase water purification tablets to give to Zimbabwean citizens returning home for the Christmas holidays. Your action can help to save lives.

We wish to warmly welcome one of the Human Rights Defenders featured in our ‘spiral of wire’ … Ms Beatrice Mtetwa. Beatrice has been a friend of Botswana civil society for some time now. She is always ready to lend us a hand when we need guidance about how best we can offer appropriate solidarity to the peoples of Zimbabwe.

In 2007, BOCISCOZ joined hands with Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition and produced a play entitled ‘Our Song’ about the experiences of Zimbabweans and Batswana living in Botswana. This year, we are pleased to have the same cast, comprising Batswana and Zimbabweans re-looking at issues affecting their lives. Who is a human rights defender? Is it the ordinary Zimbabwean trying to eke out a living and is forced to seek greener pastures in Botswana? What does the ordinary Motswana think about the human rights situation of Zimbabweans? How does one balance the rights and responsibilities of a Government towards it own people and towards an immigrant population?

We meet today amidst the practice of the latest method of intimidation in Zimbabwe – that of abductions or disappearances. Since the signing of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) on 15 September 2008, approximately thirty-two (32) people have ‘been disappeared’, without trace. In the early hours of 3 December, Ms Jestina Mukoko, the Director of Zimbabwe Peace Project (with whom BOCISCOZ has worked), was taken at gun-point from her home by a group of plain-clothes men.  This latest form of intimidation mirrors the forms of abductions, torture and harassment which were documented in the period leading up to the Presidential run-off elections of 27 June 2008.

For such an event to actually happen requires a lot of hard work from several people. We would like to thank our donors, UNICEF, EED, The European Union, The National Museum and Art Gallery and The Trinity Church. Thank you for continuing to believe in the value of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Thank you to our team of volunteers and staff members, especially Goetz Berger and his group, who spent countless hours sawing plywood, hammering nails and hanging precariously from ladders.  We thank our poets – a team of a Motswana (Boipelo Seleke) and a Zimbabwean (Innocent Ncube) for sharing their creative energy with us.  Last but not least we would like to thank Dr Barbara Reynolds, the Head of UNICEF, for accepting our invitation to her to officially launch our Human Rights Week 2008.