A CIVIC organisation, Community Youth Development Trust (CYDT), has engaged stakeholders in an awareness campaign on the necessity of acquiring national identity documents among youths in Gwanda.
Running under the theme, Transforming communities through the youth empowerment, CYDT seeks to ensure that every youth has access to documentation.
CYDT noted that in Matabeleland South province, access to documentation was a critical problem that has blocked the enjoyment of fundamental human rights, especially among young people.
In a statement posted on X formerly Twitter, CYDT said it is a right for citizens to have proper documentation.
“Being documented in Zimbabwe comes with various benefits and rights, for example the right to live in a country, the right to work, right to vote, right to own property, right to access to education and right to movement,” the statement read.
“This means that those that have no access to birth certificates, identity cards and passports cannot enjoy the socio-economic services being offered in their respective communities such as health and educational services.”
Young people that participated in the inception meeting of the project in Gwanda noted that the initiative provided an opportunity for them to have access to IDs as guaranteed by the Zimbabwe constitution.
“The project had the potential to be the cornerstone of helping youths enjoy their fundamental human rights such as getting jobs and being accepted in schools and health institutions,” one youth said.
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Representatives from the Ministry of Youth unpacked the youth policy to the participants. Matabeleland South is one of the provinces in the region that was seriously affected by Gukurahundi between 1982 and 1987 when the Zanu PF government unleashed the North Korean trained fifth brigade to deal with dissidents but ended up killing innocent civilians.
This resulted in many families losing their parents and as a result, children could not acquire birth certificates.
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