Getting yourTrinity Audioplayer ready…Blantina Ndou and Ropafadzai J MudzvitiZimbabwe has experienced various forms of internal displacement primarily due to natural disasters such as cyclones and droughts, as well as socio-political issues. These factors have led to significant population movement within the country, often leaving individuals and families vulnerable and in need of assistance.Thousands of people have been registered as IDPs by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC). Zimbabwe suffered a cyclone (Cyclone Idai) in 2019, which affected the Manicaland region.The Zimbabwean government, through its Civil Protection Unit (CPU), which is a department under the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works, was tasked with leading the humanitarian response and addressing the immediate and long-term needs of the displaced population. The CPU intervened promptly by providing emergency assistance, ensuring the safety and security of the displaced people, plus facilitating their integration into host communities.The CPU in Zimbabwe has shifted its focus to long-term projects that can help integrate internally displaced people. This includes granting land rights to IDPs in the host communities.These land rights will help in restoring the livelihood of people, because they will be able to provide for themselves instead of depending on the government. These land rights may also include giving rights to IDPs to start a home in the host communities.For example, instead of living in temporary emergency shelters, people can just build a home that will help them survive until they can return to their original home. Land rights can also help those who are into agriculture and business; it not only helps IDPs, but it can also help in developing host communities.When one is granted a piece of land for farming, outcomes can also be of great use to the community, like when a person is a maize farmer, it can be taken to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), and this can also help the economy.To add on, land rights also give IDPs a sense of belonging, which can limit any chances of eviction, discrimination, and marginalization in society. For example, when a Shona person who is displaced to the Ndebele society is given land rights, there will be no room for that person to be discriminated against because they also have rights in the society.Land rights are crucial in integrating IDPS because they show that a person has been accepted in the host community, and now a person can restore what he or she lost in their home of origin. Land rights grant security in society. For example, it gives IDPs assurance that they are secure where they are and there is no need to flee.When a land user has clear rights, they are more likely to manage it sustainably. For example, when one has rights to the land, they are accountable for any damage to the land because it’s now their responsibility to protect the land.Land rights are often linked to human rights. For example, the right to shelter, food, and property. Land rights employ IDPS because now internally displaced people have the same rights as those already in the society. The IDPs will now have the right to be employed in the community, and it won’t be considered exploitation.This can help financially IDPs because they won’t have to depend on government aid. Land rights provide justice to IDPs because they have lost their own documented land. It can only be just if those who lost their properties due to disasters get land rights so that they can recover what they lost, and this can bring comfort and hope of getting back on their feet after a downfall.Land rights are crucial in rethinking the integration of internally displaced people because they provide a long-term, durable solution. This solution can be considered for how to integrate internally displaced people of Chimanimani and Chipinge.
Getting yourTrinity Audioplayer ready…
Blantina Ndou and Ropafadzai J Mudzviti
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