Zimbabwean Journalist Hopewell Chinono Schools Zambians On Passports

Zimbabwean Journalist Hopewell Chinono Schools Zambians On Passports I have seen many uneducated or ignorant Zambians saying that a passport is not a human right but a political privilege. Access to a passport is part of exercising a human right, rather than a political privilege granted for good behaviour or loyalty to a government Article […]

Zimbabwean Journalist Hopewell Chinono Schools  Zambians On Passports

I have seen many uneducated or ignorant Zambians saying that a passport is not a human right but a political privilege.

Access to a passport is part of exercising a human right, rather than a political privilege granted for good behaviour or loyalty to a government

Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights protects everyone’s right to leave any country, including their own, and prohibits arbitrary deprivation of the right to enter their own country. Find the details here; https://2covenants.ohchr.org/About-ICCPR.html

The UN Human Rights Committee explains in General Comment No. 27, paragraph 9, that the right to leave a country includes the right to obtain the necessary travel documents, normally a passport. Find the details here; https://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=Kp8jq1gjGDCNYl6YF%2FWUSXXCtILteaVJWQfRU32X8OuDMF2JIq8WOcTGbbtZDvDxvmRnkwupTTjJgR6%2BqMt6sT8kJSU5NrEgWPWLVOIvsOs%3D

Restrictions must have a legal basis, serve a permitted purpose, and be necessary and proportionate. Merely putting a restriction into domestic law does not make it consistent with human rights.

Withdrawing someone’s passport simply because they criticise the president or government as happened with Dr Sishuwa Sishuwa violates those principles. The Committee specifically states that restrictions based on political opinion violate the Covenant. It is clearly stated here; https://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=Kp8jq1gjGDCNYl6YF%2FWUSXXCtILteaVJWQfRU32X8OuDMF2JIq8WOcTGbbtZDvDxvmRnkwupTTjJgR6%2BqMt6sT8kJSU5NrEgWPWLVOIvsOs%3D

Only uneducated, ignorant, cadres or uninformed citizens will say otherwise!