This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 HARARE 000638 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR G, OES/IHA, OES/PCI, DHRL, AF/S, AF/EPS, IO 
WHITE HOUSE FOR ONAP 
USAID FOR AFR/AA/AIDW AND BUREAU FOR GLOBAL HEALTH 
DHHS FOR OFFICE OF GLOBAL HEALTH AFFAIRS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM SOCI KHIV ZI HIV AIDS
SUBJECT: HIV/AIDS, ECONOMY EXACTING TOLL ON CHILDREN 
 
 
 ------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) Almost one-tenth of Zimbabwe,s population consists 
of AIDS orphans-having lost one or both parents to the 
disease.  Most try to carry on living as they had before, 
although some do take to the streets of the major cities to 
hustle for a living and/or turn to commercial sex work to 
make ends meet.  During March 2004, poloff met with local 
NGOs in Harare, Bulawayo, and rural areas in Matabeleland 
North and Mashonaland East, UNICEF, and the Ministries of 
Home Affairs and Public Service, Labor, and Social Welfare to 
discuss the effect both HIV/AIDS and the deteriorating 
economic situation has had on children; the link between HIV 
orphans, prostitution, and street kids; and government 
responses and initiatives to address these problems.  The 
survey confirms conclusions from the most recent Human Rights 
Report that the GOZ commitment to children's rights and 
welfare has deteriorated over the last few years in spite of 
legislation that protects children.  The survey also revealed 
that HIV/AIDS is exacting a heavy toll on children often 
thrust into adult roles who suffer poor nutrition and abuse 
and abandon their education, particularly in commercial farm 
communities.  The interviews did not necessarily support the 
hypothesis that the increase in HIV/AIDS orphans has led to 
the growing phenomena of street children or child 
prostitution, which appear to be more a function of 
Zimbabwe's deteriorating economic situation. End Summary. 
 
------------------------------------- 
Effect of HIV and Economy on Children 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) The combination of the HIV/AIDS and humanitarian 
crises has resulted in a growing number of orphans and 
vulnerable children (OVC).  With formal unemployment 
estimated at 70 percent and destitution on the rise, the 
coping strategies, especially within extended families, to 
look after orphans are quickly being eroded.  In addition, 
orphaned children are often denied access to basic health and 
educational services and are at increased risk of being 
abused and contracting HIV. 
 
Situation on Commercial Farms 
----------------------------- 
¶3. (U) The Farm Orphan Support Trust (FOST), a local NGO 
established by the Commercial Farmers Union in the early 
1990s to address the rising AIDS orphan problem on commercial 
farms, told poloff that the land redistribution program had 
eroded the ability of many farm communities to care for 
non-related children orphaned or vulnerable as a result of 
HIV/AIDS because of disruptions to employment.  The number of 
orphans on commercial farms in Chipinge in Manicaland and 
Mashonaland Central jumped from 17 per farm in October 2002 
to 25 per farm in October 2003.  FOST also recorded an 
increase in both marriages between young teenage girls and 
older men and teen births. 
 
¶4. (U) FOST carried out a baseline survey of OVC on 95 farms 
in three districts in Mashonaland Central during October 
¶2003.  The results of the survey showed that 12.29 percent of 
households (1722) were classified as vulnerable (having a 
single parent, elderly, or young primary caregiver).  Within 
the vulnerable cohort, 80.49 percent were female headed, 
22.14 percent elderly headed, 8.6 percent headed by someone 
aged 17-24, and 1.1 percent headed by someone younger than 
¶17.  Almost 22 percent (21.66) of all children younger than 
17 years of age on the farms were classified as 
orphaned--having lost at least one parent--or 
vulnerable--living with a chronically ill parent or 
caregiver.  Two-thirds of the children were younger than 13 
years of age. 
 
¶5. (U) The survey also identified problems these OVC face, 
including access to schools, health services, and birth 
certificates.  The survey showed that 5,887 children, 43 or 
49 percent of the youth population depending on the reference 
group, did not have birth certificates.  A 2000 enumeration 
in Mashonaland Central showed more than 40 percent of 
orphaned children as not having birth certificates. 
 
Matabeleland North 
------------------ 
¶6. (U) In Matabeleland North, Poloff met with Bekezela, a 
local NGO helping AIDS orphans located in the mining 
community of Inyathi, Bubi district, and the Matabeleland 
AIDS Council (MAC) and Masiye Camp in Bulawayo to discuss the 
orphan situation.  The director of Bekezela commented that 
the number of deaths among people aged 17 to 40 was high and 
that the orphans were often discriminated against.  Forms of 
discrimination included denial of access to school (boys 
often herd cattle instead) or adequate clothing, sexual 
abuse, and overburdening with chores.  The director also 
commented that she had noticed an increase in early marriage 
of girls aged 14 and 15 to older men, in which presumably 
orphanhood was a factor.  These men are typically members of 
groups with high HIV risks (gold panners and miners who 
frequent sex workers), thereby increasing the girls, risk of 
contracting HIV/AIDS.  At one mine in the community, 90 
percent of those tested were HIV positive. 
 
¶7. (U) MAC has been working with Matabeleland companies to 
develop workplace HIV/AIDS policies but this initiative has 
not had much success with the area's mining companies, 
according to Bekezela's observations.  When asked if they had 
seen an increase in child rapes, MAC said they had not. 
(Note: Many people still believe that having sex with a 
virgin will cure them of HIV.  End Note.) In fact, they said 
the Traditional Healers Association (THA) had embarked on an 
HIV training campaign to discourage the membership from 
encouraging sex with virgins as a cure for AIDS.  THA is also 
teaching safer blood practices to its membership. 
 
Mashonaland 
----------- 
¶8. (U) In Mashonaland East, poloff met with Uzumba Orphan 
Trust (UOT) in Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe district and Mother of 
Peace Orphanage in Murehwa.  The director of UOT estimated 
that 75 percent of the orphans in the area were AIDS orphans. 
 UOT said that inheritance practice was a big challenge for 
many of the children since local custom permits the 
children's paternal relations to take everything from the 
deceased relative's home, leaving the children destitute. UOT 
has been working to sensitize local headmen and communities 
to the plight of AIDS orphans and to encourage support for 
them.  Neither UOT nor Mother of Peace Orphanage noticed an 
increasing trend of AIDS orphans migrating to growth points 
or cities. 
 
------------------------------ 
Street Kids: A Growing Problem 
------------------------------ 
 
¶9. (U) Street kids have grabbed the headlines over the last 
six months because of recent criminal acts perpetrated by 
homeless people, as well as government roundups of the 
homeless.  The media and lawmakers have blamed street kids 
for these crimes, but they often define a street kid or youth 
as someone as old as 25 to 34 years.  Most of the crimes 
reported in the press were committed by men 18 years and 
older. 
 
¶10. (U) In Harare, poloff met with Streets Ahead and Child 
Protection Society (CPS), Harare-based NGOs that work with 
street children, and UNICEF to discuss the situation. 
Streets Ahead and UNICEF indicated that many of the children 
in the streets are not homeless and live in Harare's 
high-density suburbs (Epworth, Mbare, Hatfield) but are sent 
to the city center to &work.8  Of those children who do 
live on the streets, the reasons for this phenomenom range 
from being HIV/AIDS orphans, poverty, and unemployment to 
step-parent abuse and displacement due to land resettlement. 
Streets Ahead noted that one sees few girls on the streets 
during the daytime because they are sleeping in preparation 
for their nighttime commercial sex work.  Last year, Streets 
Ahead wanted to hold a series of community education meetings 
to discourage parents from sending their children to the 
cities to work but were banned from holding the meetings 
under the repressive Public Order and Security Act that has 
been used to thwart public demonstrations since its 
implementation in 2002.  CPS noted that even border towns, 
like Beitbridge at the South African border, are experiencing 
an increase in street kids, many of whom often engage in 
prostitution.  A formal study to quantify the number of 
street kids has not been conducted since 2000, when UNICEF 
estimated Zimbabwe had 12,000. 
 
¶11. (U) Masiye Camp, a Bulawayo-based NGO that provides 
psychosocial support and life skills to AIDS orphans, noted 
an increase in the number of orphans on the street in 
Bulawayo. Masiye Camp said the children were in the streets 
for a number of reasons but most had homes to which they 
could return.  Others had run away from institutions.  More 
than 80 percent of the street kids in Bulawayo are boys, 
according to Masiye Camp.  The director commented that there 
had also been an increase in prostitution and drug 
trafficking among minors. 
 
¶12. (U) The Government has responded to the street kid 
problem by authorizing the Zimbabwe Republic Police to round 
them up and take them outside of the city limits.  The 
Ministry of Home Affairs and Department of Social Welfare in 
the Ministry of Public Service, Labor, and Social Welfare 
maintain that the children aged 16 years and below have been 
sent to institutions and children's homes and that families 
have not been separated.  The Ministry of Home Affairs was 
silent on what happens to those over the age of 17 but UNICEF 
believes them to have been sent to farms to work, unless the 
Department of Social Welfare assessed them to be criminals. 
Both Streets Ahead and UNICEF reported hearing credible 
stories from children of being rounded up and dropped off in 
the rural areas with no food or water. 
 
-------------------------------------- 
Birth Certificates Difficult to Obtain 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶13. (U) The GOZ and NGOs recognize that the current system of 
birth registries is inadequate and in need of an overhaul. 
According to UNICEF, 30 percent of children nationwide did 
not have birth certificates but the situation varied widely 
from district to district.  For example, in Chipinge South in 
Manicaland 60 percent of children did not have birth 
certificates while in Rusape, just outside of Harare, 15 
percent of children did not have birth certificates. Without 
a birth certificate, a child cannot proceed beyond grade 7 in 
school, cannot access available social services, and would 
not be able to register to vote upon reaching age 18. FOST 
and Streets Ahead hypothesized that birth registrations were 
not happening because of an inherent mistrust of foreigners 
(many farm workers are foreign born) and the idea that farm 
workers are anti-government (in the case of farm worker 
families) and that orphans would become opposition voters 
once they get older. 
 
¶14. (U) Poloff met with Deputy Minister of Home Affairs 
Shadreck Chipanga to discuss the issue of birth certificates. 
 Chipanga is also the MP for Makoni East, a district in 
Manicaland with a high proportion of farm workers who trace 
their roots to neighboring countries and who do not own 
identity cards.  Chipanga denied the theory that the GOZ was 
not interested in getting farm worker families and orphans 
registered for fear that they would become opposition party 
supporters.  He lamented the fact that in his own district, 
lots of people did not have birth certificates or identity 
cards so they could not register to vote or vote for him. 
(Note: The identity card issue has a long history in the 
commercial farming sector.  Commercial farm workers typically 
came from Mozambique, Zambia, and Malawi and did not need 
identification cards to work.  Several had no identification 
from their native countries so they couldn't obtain identity 
documents from Zimbabwe either.  Because the parents need to 
have identity cards or birth certificates to register their 
children, these immigrants, children were also not 
registered.  Commercial farmers didn't facilitate obtaining 
birth certificates for farm worker children because the 
children then could go to school beyond grade 7 and would 
more likely leave the cheap farm labor pool. End Note.) 
Chipanga identified recent legislation (the Citizenship of 
Zimbabwe Amendment Act) and initiatives (sub-offices in 
clinics and hospitals to record births immediately) that 
would facilitate birth registries and obtaining Zimbabwean 
identification cards. 
 
------------------- 
Government Response 
------------------- 
 
¶15. (U) True to GOZ statements of late, the Director of the 
Department of Social Welfare in the Ministry of Public 
Service, Labor, and Social Welfare expressed a certain 
mistrust and disdain for the NGO community working on the 
problems of AIDS orphans and street kids.  In a meeting with 
poloff, the director lamented the lack of coordination 
between the NGOs and government and among the NGOs 
themselves.  He also asserted that the NGOs have an interest 
in not helping the children fully and in trying to keep 
children on the streets or otherwise dependent on NGO 
services.  Despite this disdain, the Ministry has worked with 
the NGO community on a number of initiatives to address the 
burgeoning problem of OVC and street kids. 
 
¶16. (U) In June 2003, the Government, non-governmental 
organizations, community-based organizations (CBO), 
faith-based organizations (FBO) and children met at a 
national stakeholders conference in Harare to widen the 
consultative process and secure broad-based support for a 
National Plan of Action for Orphans and other Vulnerable 
Children (NPA).  The Plan seeks to ensure that OVC are able 
to access education, food and health services, birth 
registration, and protection from abuse and exploitation 
through coordinated efforts by government and civil society. 
The Plan is currently under government review. 
 
¶17. (U) Prior to the NPA, Zimbabwe had two key national 
policies and a legal framework specifically geared to support 
children.  Legislation pertinent to children included the 
Child Protection and Adoption Act, the Guardianship of Minors 
Act, the Maintenance Act, and the Child Abduction Act. 
National policies included the National Orphan Care Policy 
and the National AIDS Policy, both adopted in 1999, which 
reflected traditional ways of doing things and promoted 
collaboration between government and civil society.  The 
government also adopted a number of programs to assist OVC 
such as: 
      --The Basic Education Assistance Module (a tuition fee, 
levy and examination fee assistance provided to OVC); 
      --Public Assistance, Drought Relief and Assisted 
Medical Treatment Programs for vulnerable families; 
      --A three-percent tax levy to support the National 
HIV/AIDS Policy; 
      --The National Strategy on Children in Difficult 
Circumstances; 
      --OVC programs implemented in partnership with CBOs, 
FBOs, and NGOs. 
 
¶18. (U) The Government, NGO, CBO, and FBO community also 
formed two task forces last year to address the problem of 
street kids.  The Harare Street Children Task Force comprised 
local NGOs and the Ministry of Public Service, Labor and 
Social Welfare.  According to UNICEF, it met a few times and 
then fizzled out.  The National Task Force on Children in 
Difficult Circumstances held a workshop in December 2003 in 
which street children took part.  The results of the workshop 
are not yet available. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶19. (SBU) Poloff's meetings with NGO and government 
representatives were both disconcerting and encouraging.  It 
was troubling to discover that there are nearly one million 
AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe and that the support systems 
available to them are haphazard.  The mere existence of 
legislation that purports to safeguard the rights of the 
orphan child are rendered meaningless if the general 
population is ignorant of the laws, the laws are not 
implemented or enforced, or the general population chooses to 
adopt traditional methods of handling the orphans that are 
detrimental to the child.  It was encouraging, however, to 
discover that government ministries are aware and concerned 
about the problem and seem to be actively seeking solutions, 
often in collaboration with NGOs.  Unfortunately, the number 
of AIDS orphans is so large that it will be difficult for 
government to manage the problem effectively and to preserve 
and build human capital without both an improvement in the 
economic conditions in the country and an infusion of 
assistance from the international community. 
 
¶20. (SBU) The dimensions of Zimbabwe's problem may not have 
reached the scale of other countries, but with no relief to 
the economy's implosion in sight, the challenges posed by 
Zimbabwe's street kid population can be expected to grow. 
The GOZ,s handling of street kids (rounding them up and 
shipping them out) is inadequate and myopic, since it does 
not address the root causes for the children's migration. 
Perhaps with outside support, the existing task forces on 
street kids can come up with viable solutions to prevent the 
problem from rising to the level of that seen in other 
countries like Kenya.  Until then, children will take to the 
streets to hustle for a living, either through begging, 
prostitution, or criminal activities, instead of attending 
school and becoming productive members of society.  The 
growing problem will not only increasingly stress the GOZ's 
already overextended social services, but also lead to a 
generational human resources deficit that can potentially 
constrain the country for many years to come.  End Comment. 
SULLIVAN