By Bustop TV
Government’s restrictions of the civil society in Zimbabwe will undermine their contribution to the country’s sustainable development, the National Association of Youth Organisations in Zimbabwe has said.
This comes after the government gazetted the Private Voluntary Organisations Amendment Bill in November last year and is pushing to sign it into law.
The PVO bill through its provisions will restrict operations of civil society organisations (CSOs) thereby threatening the civic and democratic space.
NAYO, a youth umbrella body for several youth organizations in Zimbabwe, has been making calls for President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration to dump the repressive bill.
The youths organisation said signing the bill into law will jeopardise the sustainable development of Zimbabwe’s civil society sector.
“The Private Voluntary Organizations (PVO) Amendment Bill if promulgated into law will further shrink the civic space in Zimbabwe making it difficult for CSOs/NGOs to operate.
“Today, Civil Society is under significant pressure. This is undermining inclusive sustainable development. Action is needed to protect, promote and expand this environment.”
On Tuesday NAYO hosted The Call to Action Webinar, Defending Civic Space looking into threats faced by civic space.
The biggest threat noted was that of “laws banning foreign funding which many human rights activists rely on and imposing unjustified restrictions on the operations of civil society groups”.
The PVO Amendment Bill further requires that PVOs disclose their source of funding which violates the right to freedom of association.
This article was produced with financial support of the Content Creators Network ZW.
