Statement on the Launch of the: Youth Pushing Back Campaign #YouthCivicSpaceZW #LeaveNoYouthBehind

National Association of Youth Organizations (NAYO): Statement on the Launch of the: Youth Pushing Back Campaign #YouthCivicSpaceZW, HARARE, Zimbabwe, 09 June 2020

The National Association of Youth Organizations (NAYO) is a youth umbrella body for youth organizations working in Zimbabwe, the National Youth Sector Chair for NANGO, a member of Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC), Special Interest Groups representing youth and member of Civicus. Its work seeks to redress the challenges that youth are facing and contribute towards their active participation in developmental processes through: Coordination, Advocacy, Mobilization, Capacity Building and Information Sharing Initiatives through the Youth Development Model (YDM).

Today, NAYO in partnership with CIVICUS officially launches the Youth Pushing Back Campaign #YouthCivicSpaceZW which seeks to defend the freedoms to association and assembly which are guaranteed for all by the Constitution of Zimbabwe in Chapter 4 - Bill of Rights.

The Youth Pushing Back Campaign which is coordinated under #LeaveNoYouthBehind is designed at the backdrop of a National Outreach that NAYO undertook in October 2019 that established key issues pertaining to how youth actors are organizing at the community level, coordinating their civic efforts and structuring their interventions in the wake of the crackdown on civil society organizations by the Government.

Youth across the provinces highlighted the lack of freedoms to assembly, association and expression concurring with the End of Mission Statement to Zimbabwe, of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, Mr. Clément Nyaletsossi Voule. Furthermore, youth noted increasing intimidation, threats, ban to activities, unlawful arrests and continued targeting of youth by the Government agencies, which militates against the constitution.

The campaign therefore seeks to engage authorities, bring to attention issues around youth exercise of the freedoms to association and assembly, to protect youth agency which are critical to the realization of broader rights and social change in Zimbabwe.

We also invite you to follow Civic Space Articles, Stories and Statements under this Campaign at: https://civicspacezw.blogspot.com

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The NAYO Secretariat at nayozim@gmail.com;

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www.nayoafrica.org  #LeaveNoYouthBehind