THE Zimbabwean government has reportedly clamped down on foreign gays and lesbians
attending the International Conference on Aids and STI’s in Africa (ICASA) in Harare and seized their workshop material at Harare International
Airport , NewsDay has
learnt.
*President Robert Mugabe and his wife, Grace
This came as suspected State
security agents yesterday pulled down an exhibition stand mounted by the group
to display and house its members and sex workers at the conference venue.
The exhibitors were later allowed to display their wares, following
massive protests and lobbying by local and international human rights groups.
Addressing a pre-conference workshop for key people, Kene Esom, the
executive director of African Men for Sexual Health and Rights (AMSHeR), said
the confiscation of most of their material by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority
(Zimra) had disrupted the group’s programmes.
“The material is still held because the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority is still
conducting an assessment on them. The challenge is that we have attended many
conferences of this nature and we have never been required to pay duty on such
conference material, especially when you had bid to host the conference,” Esom
said.
“As you can see, it has impacted on the quality of the pre-conference
because we have agenda material and information material for interaction, which
we haven’t gotten.”
Esom said when Zimbabwe
won the bid to host the conference, his organisation made an effort to lobby
Health and Tourism ministers, as well as the National Aids Council (NAC), among
other stakeholders, to guarantee the non-discrimination of key populations such
as transgender people.
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