NGO calls for focus on growing number of IDPs

A western human rights group on Tuesday called on the Zimbabwean government and NGOs to step up assistance to the growing number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the country, saying that although information was lacking on exactly how many people were on the move, aid to IDPs should not be delayed.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) suggested that IDPs should immediately be targeted with food aid with particular attention paid to displaced orphans and female-headed homes.

The UN's World Food Programme and Food and Agricultural Organisation estimate that about six million Zimbabweans require food aid as a consequence of drought and the government's land reform programme.

UN Development Programme (UNDP) Officer, George Olesh told IRIN: "There is currently an ongoing independent assessment of the number and situation of food security-related IDPs in the country. The current lack of accurate figures on the number of IDPs in need of aid has definitely complicated a coordinated humanitarian response."

An assessment in May by the IDP Unit of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) called attention to the urgent need to fill "important information gaps". The report is the most recent attempt to locate and quantify the number of people who have been from their homes because of political violence or economic hardship.

While the May assessment identified only two categories of displaced persons; farm workers and victims of violence, UNDP now says that it needs to include miners and skilled labourers who have had to move around the country in search of employment.

A third category, the survey suggested, were those who were encouraged to invade farms in the early stages of the land reform programme but who are now being evicted from these farms as the newly designated owners take possession.

Olesh said: "We still need to define what exactly constitutes an IDP in the Zimbabwean context given the complex nature of the current situation."

The Commercial Farmer's Union (CFU) and the Ministry of Public Service said there were about 322,000 farm workers on large-scale commercial farms in 1999, before the fast-track land reform began.

The CFU estimated that at the end of 2001 as many as 70,000 farmworkers had been affected by land occupations.

However, there is no comprehensive or corroborated data on exact numbers of those forcibly displaced, nor any precise information on where the displaced have gone.

But the IDP situation in Zimbabwe differs in that most farm workers have been able to remain on the farms, however, an increasing proportion have lost their ability to sustain themselves, the report noted.

"In addition, the looming food crisis will impact enormously on farm workers as some 85 percent of their food consumption came from cash purchases. Hence, even if able to remain on farms, their inability to feed themselves because farm operations are severely curtailed will induce many to move in search of other employment or support," the report said.

The most reliable data on displacement has been provided by a sample survey undertaken by the Farm Community Trust of Zimbabwe (FCTZ). FCTZ undertook a sample survey of 235 large-scale commercial farms, representing 10 percent of all farms in the provinces of Mashonaland West, Central and East as well as Manicaland Province. It was established that 26,693 permanent and seasonal farm workers still reside on the farms as of 16 May. On the other hand, the report said, some 52,000 people had left.

Victims of violence were even more difficult to define and enumerate than the displaced farmers.

Amani Trust, a human rights NGO in Zimbabwe, is quoted in the report as saying: "Because such displacees fear repression and further violence, they seek to remain 'underground', which makes their enumeration and location very tenuous."

Consequently, their numbers are variously estimated among the NGO and human rights community at anywhere from 20,000 to 50,000.

The report also highlighted the plight of the substantial orphan population that has been generated by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

The Farm Orphan Support Trust has estimated that there were on average 12 orphans per commercial farm in the three Mashonaland provinces and Manicaland. A consequence of this is that there is a significant increase in child-headed households living in acute poverty. Also many of the elderly are now required to support their grandchildren.

One of the factors hampering assistance to those in need is that a large number of IDPs are in areas of the country where the UN has never had any need for a presence, namely in the large-scale commercial farming areas.

The report suggested that the UN broaden its geographical boundaries of food aid to ensure that all needy people have improved access to basic services.