The National Transitional Justice Working Group (NTJWG) has roped in top Columbian reparations expert, Paula Gaviria, to deliberate at the third edition of the Reparations dialogue slated for next week in the capital.
Gaviria served as the Director of Colombia’s Reparations Programme in the Office of President Juan Manuel Santos in 2012.
During her tenure, the Colombian reparations programme documented over 6 million victims of the Colombian conflicts and provided reparations to hundreds of thousands of victims in what Harvard University called the most comprehensive and ambitious reparations programme in history, works which won the Colombian President a Nobel Peace Price in 2016.
In a statement, NTJWG Chairperson Alec Muchadehama said it is high time Zimbabwe starts having serious conversations on reparations especially having witnessed high levels of violence over the years hence the need to have experts on board.
He noted that the much talked about national healing process risks becoming more rhetoric if it does not repair the damage done and restore the dignity of the survivors and victims.
“Having gone through several episodes of violence, Zimbabwe must have a conversation on how its reparations program must look like in order to bring healing to victims and survivors,” he stated.
Dzikamai Bere, transitional justice expert also noted that Zimbabwe should take valuable lessons from Gaviria.
“She has valuable lessons for Zimbabwe to learn We are planning for her to share those lessons with our policymakers and other stakeholders. A Policy Brief will be produced after the meetings and will be shared with all relevant offices. Our NPRC can also learn a lot,” Bere added.
Just after independence Zimbabwe passed the War Victims Compensation Act which created the War Victims Compensation Fund but the funds vanished under unclear circumstances.
