Maseru – A peaceful prayer meeting ended in sweat and tears when armed units of police opened fire at a group of street vendors in Maseru on Monday, 26 November 2007.

The police fired teargas and pellets in the midst of the crowd sending the street vendors across the streets and up the Maseru hill to take cover and save their lives.

The police were abusive, swearing at the crowds as they fired at the crowds.

The prayer meeting had been organised by Khathang-Tema Baitšukuli, an organisation of more than 300 street vendors across Lesotho.

The organisation’s chairperson, Tšolo Lebitsa said they learned earlier that the Maseru City Council was planning an eviction of certain hawkers from the streets, especially from the main Kingsway Street.

Lebitsa said they did not know the reason for the planned eviction, because City Council refused on many occasions to meet with organisation, claiming that they (City Council) did not recognise them (Khathang-Tema Baitšukuli).

“It is our greatest concern that the City Council is shutting us out, only dialoguing with a committee purported to be representing the entire street vendors in the country,” he said.

He said another concern is on the apparent discrimination in the issuing of hawkers licence. The City Council is alleged to be issuing licences to certain individuals while denying others, who are at the same level.

On what measure they have taken so far, Lebitsa said they have written to the Ombudsman, asking for his intervention on the matter between his organisation and the Maseru City Council.

He said they have also sought solidarity from the taxi operators associations, factory workers unions and other workers. “We are contemplating a stay away to force the Maseru City Council into dialogue.

Lebitsa called on international solidarity and support from other street vendors and hawkers organisations.

In a brief statement at the press conference on Monday 26 November 2007, the Maseru City Council said the operation to remove street vendors and hawkers from the Kingsway Street targeted those street vendors and hawkers who were operating without licences.

Please contact Mr Lebitsa for more information on +266 58803194

Messages of support can be sent to the TRC wfj@trc.org.ls  for Khatang Tema Baitsukuli

24 October 2007: MESSAGE OF SUPPORT

We hereby extend our support to the street vendors of Korea in the face of the crackdown by the South Korean Government against street vendors.

We further extend our condolences to the family of Lee Geun-Jae, whose desperation forced him to take his own life on the 12^th October 2007. We call on the Government of South Korea to institute effective employment policies instead of the policies which are resulting in more and more martyrs like Lee Geun-Jae.  We urge the Government, and the municipal authorities, to engage the Korean Street Vendors’ Confederation KOSC and other democratic organisations of informal economy workers and put in place employment policies which will secure the incomes and livelihoods of workers in the informal economy, as a matter of urgency.

Yours in international solidarity 

Pat Horn  (International Co-ordinator)

23rd October: South Korea: Street vendor takes his life during crackdown by hired goons

StreetNet International condemns in the strongest terms the crackdown by South Korean municipalities on street vendors with the use of paid gangs (goons)  to do their dirty work of evicting street vendors. Instead of negotiating with street vendors for the alternatives places where they can continue to earn a living they have again used unnecessary violence. During the brutal attack on street vendors StreetNet affiliate KOSC reports that  on October 12^th Oct. Lee Geunjae, 48 years, a street vendor in the city of Goyang, Kyeonggi province, took his life in desperation. 

“At 2 p.m. Oct. 11, about 200 men with angry looks, black caps, black vests and combat boots got off from trucks suddenly and attacked approximately 30 street stalls including Mr.Lee and his wife's one," Kosc reports. 

On Oct. 12, the day following the crackdown, Geunjae, a street trader in Goyang for more than 10 years, was found dead. He had hung himself from a tree.  Geunjae, and his wife had earned a living by selling street food in Goyang.

KOSC reports that crackdowns by municipalities on street vendors and the destruction of their stalls has been continuing since April.

Send messages of solidarity to KOSC -   e-mail kosc_inter@hotmail.com  

Durban’s street wars

 STREETNET INTERNATIONAL CALLS  on  ETHEKWINI  METRO to NEGOTIATE IN GOOD FAITH with STREET VENDORS

25th June 2007: Durban South Africa. StreetNet International calls on the Durban Metropolitan Council to take the opportunity which has been offered to them by street vendors’ organisations. A Platform of Demands was submitted to Acting Head of the Business Support Unit, Philip Sithole, at a meeting on the 4^th June 2007 – but has this far been ignored, resulting in violent confrontations on the streets.  The intention of the Platform of Demands is to resolve the problems of regulation of street trade through negotiation and social dialogue, and to avoid further bloody street wars such as those which took place on the 18^th and 19^th June in Warwick Avenue and outside the Magistrate’s Court. 

The Siyagunda Association, Phoenix Plaza Street Traders’ Association and The Eye Traders’ Association are concerned about draconian moves against street vendors intensifying in preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, with disastrous consequences for the livelihoods of street vendors and their families. 

The demands of the street vendors are to:

-       put in place a transparent system of regulation which is inclusive (i.e. does not criminalise the majority of the city’s 25 000 street vendors by refusing them trading permits);

-       enforce the Recommendations of a Review of Durban’s Informal Economy Policy undertaken in 2006 (which proposes that the system of regulation must cater for all street vendors, and avoid police action except as a last resort);

-      establish an independent Commission of Enquiry into all facets of corruption around the issue of street trade permits;

-   reform the Ethekwini Informal Economy Forum (EMIEF) to function as a proper negotiation forum where all stakeholders have equal rights to advance their positions – not a one-way conveyor belt for municipal officials to issue commands and instructions to street vendors.

Eviction from “Santa Anita” Wholesale Market in Peru

29 May 2007: 21 detentions, 12 injured after explosion of a bomb by the police. Injured people are with nervous breakdowns and with multiple wounds (fractures, burns, etc.). Also children and women had been frightened and trying to escape.

President Alan Garcia said that with this action (“Recovering the Wholesale Market”) the people would know that the government is going to set and respect the law and Constitution, no tolerance for invasions of private property.

One of the leaders, Fernandino Nieto, had been arrested but nobody knows his whereabouts.

The eviction, a clean-up operation, was extremely violent with an overwhelming use of force (more or less 7,000 policemen surrounding the market).

Government said they followed a Supreme Court Order for eviction and also that policemen had found different firearms in the market. Sources: Newspaper: El Comercio, TV Channel: Canal N, America TV, TV Peru

Fedeval calls for support for families and children of vendors who have occupied the Wholesale Market of Santa Anita, Peru, and who face the wrath of police and troops who have been instructed by Government to force them to evacuate the market. The market is being cleared to make way for a supermarket. Children , women and the elderly have been left in the market because they are too weak to leave.  The Association of Producers  and Vendors of Santa Anita occupied the market owned by the municipality and turned it into a centre of supplies in 2002. Last night, about thirty police vehicles arrived at the market where the eviction was going to take place. 

There is widespread concern that there will be unnecessary violence in the eviction. Send message of support to  FEDEVAL  ambulantesfedeval@hotmail.com (Translated from news reports Wednesday 23/25 May 2007)

Vendors’ Friday 13^th in South Africa – one court victory, and one Court  victory  Report by StreetNet International Friday 13^th April 2007  

The eThekwini Municipality was today ordered by the High Court of South Africa (Durban & Coast Local Division) to forthwith restore possession of the following goods to Roshan Singh, Acting Chairperson of the Phoenix Plaza Street Traders Association (PPSTA):

a.   Toothbrushes (6)

b.   Pins (5 packs)

c.   Beads (28 packs)

d.   AG 13 Batteries (6 packs)

e.   Penlight batteries (8)

f.   Laser lights (2)

g.   Ear buds (11 packs)

h.   Locks (8)

i.    Cigar light (42)

j.   Toothpicks (12 packs)

k.   Batteries (187 packs)

l.    Nail clippers (49)

m.  Toy phones (15)

n.   Superglue (8).

On 10 April 2007, members of the Metro Police confiscated the abovementioned goods inside the Phoenix Post Office, which are private premises.  In his affidavit, Singh states: “As I was counting my stock in preparation for the day’s trading, armed members of the Metro Police entered, nay, invaded the said premises and seized the said stock in trade and proceeded to remove it from the premises, despite my protests and those of the Postmaster.  No authority to search or seize the goods was produced or displayed.”  In recognition of the fact that “this case illustrates a flagrant example of the Metro Police taking the law into their own hands” the High Court judge ordered the eThekwini Municipality to return the goods.

This is a victory not only for Singh, but for the entire PPSTA whose leaders have been consistently harassed ever since lodging a constitutional challenge in the High Court of South Africa (Durban & Coast Local Division) in November 2005 against the provisions of the bylaws allowing for the confiscation of street vendors’ goods without a Court Order.  Metro Police have singled out the leaders of this Association repeatedly in their apparent attempts to get them to withdraw the case.  On the 10^th April they finally took these actions to the illegal extreme which resulted in today’s Court Order to return Roshan Singh’s goods.  Although the members of the PPSTA know that the harassment is likely to continue, they are determined to push ahead with their constitutional challenge in the High Court.

Tragic injury of station vendor

On Thursday 12^th April an informal vendor at Park Station, Johannesburg, was shot by a member of the private contract service hired by Metro Rail to clear informal traders off Park Station in Johannesburg.  Today we have received news that he is in a coma.

Details of this story can be obtained from Cheche Selepe, The Developer media co-operative, tel.073 864 5424 – who has been following the story closely during the 12^th and 13^th April, and accompanied the members of the S.A. Railway Hawkers’ Association to a public protest on this matter at the SABC in Auckland Park. 

Benin-Our comrade Françoise Codjovi

"It is with sadness that we have received the news of the passing of our comrade Françoise Codjovi on March 2nd.  She was our friend, and well known by us since 1996 as a veteran in the informal economy trade union movement. 

We offer our condolences to her family, to her colleagues in the Dantokpa Market and all her comrades in SYNAVAMAB.  We join the Secretary General of UNSTB in wishing peace to her soul." (March 11th, 2007)

Guinee- 10th January CNTG/USTB calls for renewed general strike following the breach of ILO Convention (No 87 and No 98) which guarantee the independence of trade union organizations of employers and workers vis-à-vis the State, and  the deteriorating economy and rising cost of living. 

"Considering that the last strike of June 2006 is just suspended; The Inter Central CNTG-USTG, has no longer a credible speaker on the Government side as well as on the side of the Employer, for the correct and complete application of the last tripartite agreements on 3rd March and 16th June 2006 between the Government, Employer, and Trade Union,

Decide to begin a general strike, unlimited, all over the national territory, to commence from Wednesday 10th Jan 2007 until to the restoration of the National Order.

The Inter Central CNTG-USTG, whose fundamental mission is the defense of morals and material interests of workers of all public sectors, mixed, private, informal and the pensioners of Guinee, launches the call to labouring workers of Guinee to observe this call to strike until the final victory.

Together let us mobilize for the victory!

Conakry, 2 January 2007

FOR THE INTER CENTRAL

Secretary General of CNTG   

Hadja Rabiatou Sera DIALLO 

Secretary General of USTG

Dr. Elhadj Ibrahima FOFANA

2006

Africa

Guinea

Trade union leaders under threat in Guinea

Kenya

Nairobi - Persecution of street traders

Malawi

Government threatens to use the army and police  to remove street vendors by  April 15th deadline

Malawi street traders seek dialogue: Letter from Davis Chimombo, MUFIS (Malawi Union for the Informal Sector)

Street vendors face forced eviction

Zimbabwe

ZCTU leaders arrested in mass protest against poverty

StreetNet International Co-ordinator deported from Zimbabwe

Asia

India

NASVI marks May 11th 2006 as National Vendors' Martyr Day

ZCTU leaders arrested in mass protest against poverty

Zimbabwe 14th September 2006: Elijah Mutemeri, member of the leadership of StreetNet affiliate ZCIEA (Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations) is among the many (ZCTU) Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union leaders arrested on 12th and 13th September.  

ZCIEA Reports 14th September "there is heavy police presence and many people have been assaulted by police: "The ZCTU Leadership has been beaten heavily and have been denied access to medical attention. Last night were at the cells up to 10 PM pleading with police to allow us to give them food. Which was denied and that they get medical attention. When finally they agreed we discovered they could not walk to come and eat."

ZCTU leaders have been held for questioning and there is a heavy police presence in  many towns. In Chitungwiza 55 people were arrested, Bulawayo : 20 people arrested, including regional Chairperson, Secretary, and Organiser. Mutare : 20 people arrested, 8 Police Officers surrounding the Mutare ZCTU Office with button sticks and canisters.  Ordinary citizens being beaten up and and situation tense. Chinhoyi: 15 Workers arrested , Regional chairperson taken for 4hours interrogation. Regional Officer and three others arrested yesterday and still in detention, including one who had brought food. Gweru: 16 arrested. one arrested yesterday morning, released but recalled today. Chegutu: 15 arrested, two were picked for interrogation yesterday. Shurugwi, Kwekwe and Gokwe: Executive members taken for interrogation.

Send Message of support to ZCTU zctuinformal@hms.co.zw

Nairobi - Persecution of street traders

Here in Kenya we are facing severe persecutions of street vendors and hawkers in Nairobi. Last week one hawker died after being tortured by Nairobi city council police. There was a peaceful demonstration by angry hawkers carrying his coffin. 

A major international conference called Africities for African mayors with over 7000 delegates is about to be held from 18-24 this month of September in Nairobi. I would really appreciate if  you could relay this information to other affiliates of StreetNet for support since the Nairobi mayor Cllr Dick Wathika has declared Nairobi CBD a no-hawker zone.

Simon  Sangale Nasieku
chairman KENASVIT.  

Send messages of support to  simonnasieku@yahoo.com and kenasvit2005@yahoo.com

ICFTU OnLine - Trade union leaders under threat in Guinea

Brussels, 12 June 2006 - The ICFTU and the World Confederation of Labour are deeply concerned at the deteriorating situation in Guinea with serious violations of trade union rights taking place, including death threats against union leaders. Threats have been levelled against the trade union leaders of the two most representative labour  confed- erations in Guinea (CNTG and USTG), namely:  Hadja Serah Rabiatou DIALLO, general secretary of the CNTG and a  member of the ILO Governing Body; Ibrahima FOFANA, general secretary of the USTG; Ahmadou DIALLO, first assistant general secretary of the CNTG, and Louis Mbemba SOUMAH, first assistant general secretary of the USTG and general secretary of the Free Trade Union of Teachers and Researchers of Guinea (SLECG).
Read the full report on the ICFTU website click here

INDIA

NASVI marks May 11th 2006 as National Vendors' Martyr Day

It is an alarming fact that today the urban poor are taking their own lives in despair at their economic situation. The Government of India has created the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission to make our cities “economically productive, efficient, equitable and responsive”, but from the point of view of the poor—of the street vendor—the cities are creating economic deprivation and becoming more inequitable.

The Government of India had adopted the National policy for Street vendors in 2004, which was then endorsed by the UPA Government in 2005.  The National Policy on Street Vendors is the means by which the livelihood of the ten million street vendors is to be protected and enhanced.

Unfortunately, there has been no implementation of the National Policy for Street Vendors. Instead, the urban poor are facing circumstances more desperate than ever before. So difficult is their plight that they have begun taking their own lives. Gopal Krishna Kashyap, the leader of a group  selling parathas in Patiala died in January in flames, with over 200 people and a TV camera watching him. He had been displaced to “beautify” the city during the Indo-Pak games in 2004. He and his group had been promised, but never given, alternative sites. Abdul Rafeeq Khan burnt himself to death in the premises of the Lucknow Municipality in May 2005, after many street vendors were displaced to accommodate a contractor. Pappu Rathore burnt himself to death on the Gwalior streets in January 2006, a year after he had been removed and could find no alternative employment.

The situation is getting worse, with several Courts ordering “clearing” of all streets. For this reason NASVI is calling for May 11th to be marked as National Vendors' Martyr Day.

NASVI is calling on the Central Government to give teeth to the National Policy by enacting suitable legislation, in consultation with genuine organizations and representatives of street vendors.

The Development Authorities and the Municipal Corporations should work on an emergency footing to demonstrate their ability to chalk out and implement a plan for `legalizing’ the vending operations by creating hawker zones to accommodate all genuine vendors in the city in cooperation with  organisations, who have demonstrated workable role models for hawker/ vendor markets. (From: NASVI Draft Resolution)

14th April: BBC NEWS Africa Reports that on Monday 14th, the day before the April 15th date for street vendors' forced removal, police fired tear gas on street vendors who attended an 'unauthorised prayer meeting'. The report stated that the Government claims that it is restoring order to the streets. Street vendors' organisations attempted to negotiate and tried unsucessfully to bring a court order to stop the Government evictions of  vendors. (Source: e-mail from War on Want)18th April. 

Would you please write letters of protest against the use force and instead accept to convene a meeting with MUFIS soon where a peaceful and lasting solution could be reached. The protest letters should be addressed to the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development:  

MALAWI

Malawi street traders seek dialogue: Letter from Davis Chimombo, MUFIS (Malawi Union for the Informal Sector)

StreetNet International Co-ordinator deported from Zimbabwe
 
Pat Horn, StreetNet International Co-ordinator and guest of  the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions who had flown to Harare to attend the ZCTU Silver School of Labour in Harare yesterday, was forced by Zimbabwean immigration officials and security police to spend a night in the Harare Airport police station charge office and to catch a plane back to Johannesburg first thing this morning. StreetNet is an international federation of 20 street vendor organisations in 18 countries, with its head office in Durban, South Africa.
 
Ms Horn was invited by StreetNet affiliate the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations (ZCIEA) and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) to facilitate a session at the ZCTU Silver School of Labour on the ILO perspective of "a decent work agenda in the informal economy" in Harare. The School, commenced from 27th of February was to launch a colloquium for formal and informal workers in Zimbabwe as part of the ZCTU's celebration of 25th years of existence.
 
StreetNet with the ZCTU condemns the interference in trade union organisation and the Zimbabwean Government's violation of freedom of Association and movement.  The ZCIEA, which is an affiliate of the ZCTU, has been organising under conditions which can only be described as horrific. Thousands of informal traders saw their shelters and homes destroyed in the Mugabe Government's Operation Marambatsvina last year. Now Zimbabwe informal economy workers are trying to put their livelihoods on a more secure footing and are doing so by exercising their right to organise and to solve the problems that they to face in order to earn a living in Zimbabwe.  "COSATU and now StreetNet have been rudely told they are not welcome in Zimbabwe - however we will not give up the struggle for decent work for informal economy workers," Ms Horn said.
 
The ZCTU in a press statement issued from Harare said that police had tried to stop the Silver School from commencing on the first day and claimed that they had information that the ZCTU was hosting visitors from COSATU. "Police had insisted on sitting through the activities but officials from the ZCTU denied them that chance. They spent the whole day seated outside the Silver School venue," ZCTU information officer Mlameli Sibanda said. ZCTU said that the deportation of Ms Horn was similar to the action carried out on a delegation from COSATU in February 2005. ( Press Statement Issued by StreetNet 2nd March 2006)  

MALAWI

Malawi: Street vendors face forced eviction

Lilongwe: 15th February - The United Nations news Agency IRIN reports that President Bingu wa Mutharika has said street vendors have until the 15th April to vacate the streets in a government drive to clear the streets. The previous week street vendors fought a running battle with police. Police opened fire injurying one street vendor and 40 street vendors were arrested.

Vendors' spokesman, Grant Phiri, among those arrested, said that street vendors had not been consulted on the 'clean-up'. He  accused the government of failing to listen to their grievances.

According to the IRIN report, the government plans to move street vendors to flea markets in Lilongwe, the capital, Blantyre and Mzuzu, a town in the north.

Vendors say that there is not enough room in the markets because of overcrowding and that new markets must be built.

Several thousand vendors are affected in the country. More than 5 million are reported to be in need of food aid in Malawi after the drought last year. (Source: IRIN report 15th February)

h/01/2006

2005

Africa

South Africa

• Eviction of Durban Street vendors will add 18 000 to jobless

Zimbabwe

• Zimbabwe Government targets street vendors and informal workers' organisation
• Zimbabwe: government crackdown on informal traders
• Canadian Labour Congress message to President Mugabe

Asia

South Korea

• StreetNet International president under arrest - call for his release

Sri Lanka

• Street vendors and informal economy workers appeal for assistance to cope with destruction of tidal waves (Tsunami)

Latin America

Brazil

• Street vendors confront military police in Sao Paulo

Nepal

• Union leader seized
• Women's Day celebration calls for return to democracy and peace

Peru

• Lima: Young vendor dies at the hands of municipal police

 

StreetNet International president under arrest - call for his release:   

15 June 2005 

TO: Government of South Korea 

RE: Arrest of StreetNet International President Kim Heung-Hyun

We would like to protest in the strongest terms against the arrest of Kim Heung-Hyun, President of the Korean Street Vendors Confederation (KOSC) and International president of our organisation StreetNet International. As far as we are aware, Kim Heung-Hyun has been arrested for the role of KOSC in defending the right of street vendors in Korea to earn their livelihoods on the streets because there are no jobs for them in the formal economy. This is the legitimate function of a democratic, representative organisation of street vendors – and we find it unacceptable that the President of the organisation should be personally victimised for this legitimate activity.

StreetNet International represents close on 200 000 street vendors in 19 organisations in 17 different countries in different regions of the world. Street vendors throughout the world will be watching what happens to Kim Heung-Hyun and awaiting his early release. 

We urge the government to instead adopt an approach of social dialogue with KOSC to discuss the future of the street vendors of Korea so that they are not denied their right to earn a livelihood by such arbitrary actions. 

Yours faithfully,

Ms Pat Horn International Co-ordinator

16th June - President Released: Message from Heechul, KOSC: Just now, Mr. Kim Heung-hyun was released thanks to your solidarity. We've delivered your protest letters and the protest letter written in the International Council meeting of StreetNet held in Zambia .

Street vendors confront military police in Sao Paulo: Street vendors in Sao Paulo, Brazil confronted the city’s Metro Guarda Civil (military police) in a battle that lasted three and half hours on Friday 20th of May. The confrontation was triggered by confiscation of 300 street vendors’ goods in the city centre by inspectors at around 19hoo hours

The MGC, called in to reinforce police, used tear gas and stun grenades, eventually themselves calling for political leaders to defuse the situation. Four military police were reported injured and three street vendors were arrested in the battle. The MGC was called on to withdraw from the square because their presence there was a provocation to vendors. 

This is the second confrontation between street vendors and the city’s police and military this month. On May 6th, six people were reported injured. 

Twenty-nine year-old vendor Sidnei told media that the trouble was provoked by the inspectors’ seizure of vendor’s goods. "Friday team is the worst. They confiscate goods and do not give receipts so that they can be reclaimed. They say that the goods are 'falsificada' - assuming that they are fake brand names." (Source: SINTEIN and press reports)

 

Eviction of Durban Street vendors will add 18 000 to jobless

By Pat Horn, StreetNet International Co-ordinator

  

In Durban’s Berea Mail 20 May 2005 (“Time running out for illegal traders”) a plan is announced to put a stop to “illegal, unlicensed street trading”.  Fifty armed constables, euphemistically named “peace officers”, are being deployed by the Public Realm Management Project (PRMP) for this purpose. The Council has issued 350 permits in the CBD, 122 in Pinetown, and another 300 are mentioned – i.e. a total of 872.

 

Already in 1998, a survey done for the Durban Metro showed that there were   19 000 street vendors in the whole Metro, approximately 7000 working in the center of Durban. The Council apparently regards all vendors without permits as illegal, and intends to act against them in terms of the PRMP. This would have the effect of putting over 18 000 vendors (over 6000 in the city centre alone) out of work.  Most street vendors (the majority of whom are women supporting large families) are doing this work for lack of employment in the formal economy – it is one of the few non-criminal means available to them to eke out a livelihood, albeit only a basic subsistence.

 

The Council says “we want to break the cycle of survivalism, where people find themselves trapped in a secondary economy”. This is indeed admirable. StreetNet’s first question, then, to the Durban Metro is: what alternatives are being offered to the 6000 street vendors in the city center and the other  12 000 in the rest of the Durban Metro to whom you are not going to give permits to trade? We are in touch with bona fide street vendors wishing to regularise their position and pay fees, who are being told repeatedly by Council officials that it is impossible for them to apply for permits.

 

StreetNet’s second question is to the City Manager, Mike Sutcliffe: when you proposed the adoption of this first stage of the PRMP to the Council ExCo in November 2004, were you aware that it contradicts the provisions of Durban’s Informal Economy Policy both in spirit and the letter? Were you deliberately authorizing Council officials to bypass Durban’s internationally- acclaimed Informal Economy Policy with its carefully-crafted framework for more sustainable methods of regulation and support of ALL the street vendors and informal traders who operate in the Durban Metro?

 

StreetNet International is an international federation formed to promote and protect the rights of street vendors worldwide, with 19 affiliates representing nearly 200 000 street vendors in 17 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.  Experience has shown us that “quick-fix” street vendor evictions as envisaged by the PRMP can rarely be sustained for more than a few months – at best a couple of years – before the vendors are back, often in ever greater numbers. The loss of incomes to the families and communities of street vendors has disastrous social consequences. Poverty and crime levels in the wider society are exacerbated, the very opposite result that the Metro City believes it will achieve.

 

Zimbabwe Government targets street vendors and informal workers' organisation: The latest crackdown target of the Zimbabwe government is the newly-formed Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations (ZCIEA). ZCIEA represents 4404 members from 80 informal trade organizations which have joined together to form the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations. The government has apparently taken exception to the fact that informal workers are now organizing themselves to defend their livelihoods, and that they have been given office space by the ZCTU (Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions). ZCIEA consists of informal economy associations from across the whole country, and has up until now been successful in negotiating with some municipalities on their members’ behalf. 

Elijah Mutemeri, ZCIEA organizer, reports that “Zimbabwean municipal police have once again come on the throats of the poor vendors who are trying to eke living from selling their wares, after serious harrassment of ZCTU and accusing the labour center of organising the informal economy. This is clear evidence that they are also pouring their venom on innocent vendors. The destruction is so bad.  Some of the people had used their very last few dollars to order some wares to sell. This exercise by police has spread into other small towns as well.  They are trying to send a message that everything which associated to ZCTU must be destroyed to the roots. Government is trying to make it difficult for us to continue organising. But what they are doing is actually strengthening the association.”

The previous day, Mutemeri alerted StreetNet to the fact that “ZCTU offices were raided by police the Friday the 13 -05-2005. The police turned everything upside down in all ZCTU offices including my office. They are actually trying to say the informal economy association is a political part. This is baseless. The government thinks that since we were able to organise in the rural areas this means to say we are trying to counter the ruling party – yet ours is really to make sure that the informal economy has structures and have a voice in the issues that concerns them in terms of policy and legislation.  We are real under siege as workers here in Zimbabwe.  The  Secretary General of ZCTU Mr W Chibebe and (myself) the coordinator of the informal economy project were in hiding because police are hunting us down. …..  Tell you what they came at my home and actually harrassed my kids.  They are saying case or no case ZCTU must be dealt with once and for all. Now they have targeted me and Chibebe. It’s very frightening to be at home but there is nowhere I can go because that’s my only home.”

StreetNet International, representing nearly 200 000 street vendors in 19 affiliates in 17 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, condemns in the strongest terms this harassment of street vendors and informal traders in Zimbabwe. Many of them have been forced to create their own work in the informal economy after losing their employment in the formal economy – only to be persecuted there too, once organizing themselves to secure their livelihoods and rights as workers in the informal economy.

Please send solidarity messages to the ZCIEA to the following e-mail address cwealthtuczim@hms.co.zw

Zimbabwe: government crackdown on informal traders: HARARE, 23 May (IRIN) - The United Nations humanitarian news network IRIN reports that police officers last week arrested and detained unlicensed street-vendors, accusing them of dealing in foreign currency. Urban centres like Gweru, Bulawayo and Harare, the capital, were hit hardest. 

A total of 9,653 people have reportedly been arrested so far in the Govt "clean-up operation". 

IRIN reports that the government has defended the clampdown, by arguing that illegal trade was contributing to crime.

The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) has met with representatives of the street traders to help them challenge the police action in court.

The leader of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change, Morgan Tsvangirai, said "It is unfortunate that a government that claims to have been legitimately elected by the people can descend on its own citizens with such brutal force - it does not make sense to shut down the informal industry, because that is the main form of trade left in the country: the economy has been mauled," Tsvangirai told IRIN.

For more information e-mail Mail@IRINnews.org 

Canadian Labour Congress message to President Mugabe: Concern over the human rights of informal economy workers and inhabitants of informal settlements (PDF File)

Nepal - Union leader seized: March 27 GEFONT reported that National Executive Committee Member and leader in the transport sector, Dharmanand Pant, was arrested at midnight from his residence following a GEFONT zonal conference in Mahakali. Permission had been obtained to hold the conference under the State of Emergency regulations. GEFONT Secretary General Binod Shrestha  condemned the attempts by the government to stop trade union activities. (Source e-mail from GEFONT)

Nepal - Street vendors face confiscation of goods:  March 10: GEFONT reported that that trade union activists in local levels are being harassed. Street vendors are being pressed to leave the union otherwise their commodities will be confiscated. Trade union meetings have to get the clearance of the authorities. A joint statement issued by top intellectuals and constitutionalists, called for the withdrawal of the Royal Proclamation which has dissolved the democratically elected government in order to start a process for return to constitutional and representative rule of law and to end the current state of emergency. 

Hundreds of people have been arrested and detained. Among those detained are central level leaders, former ministers, former MPs, women’s wing leaders students and youth of the five political parties. (Source e-mail from GEFONT) Left: Keshav Badal, leader of CPN-UML being arrested (Photo from Kantipur).

NEPAL- Women's Day celebration calls for return to democracy and peace: March 8th An International Women’s Day demonstration in Kathmandu in Nepal hosted by the Trade Union Committee for Gender Equality and Promotion (TUC-GEP), formed by the three national trade union federations GEFONT, NTUC and DECONT, was cancelled at the last minute. Permission under the State of Emergency regulations was withdrawn on the evening of the 7^th of March and women were threatened. A seminar on “Women’s Rights: Equality & Decent Employment” was attended by representatives and leaders of the trade unions and the ILO country director. Speakers focussed on the restoration of Democracy and Peace in the country. On March 8^th the joint movement to demand the restoration of full democracy was begun. GEFONT reports that 226 leaders and cadres were arrested countrywide.

On February 23^rd GEFONT called on foreign government and the international labour movement to protest the attack on democratic rights and constitutional rights of the people of Nepal after the February 1 seizure of power by the Royal Army under a Royal Proclamation. All organisational activities have been restricted and communications severely hampered and the media placed under the control of the monarchy. The king has announced a new cabinet under his own chairmanship, violating the norms of multiparty democracy.

A joint delegation of the three national trade union centres – GEFONT, NTUC and DECONT,  held a meeting with the Ministry of Labour to discuss the surveillance and arrests of trade unionists and to call for those held in custody to be released. The ‘undeclared’ suspension of workers’ rights was condemned and it was demanded that the registration and renewal of trade unions be continued without hindrance. The ILO conventions’ guarantee that trade unions be free to carry out their day to organisational activities was being broken because permission is required from the authorities in advance for all meetings. (Source emails from GEFONT)

Lima:Peru - Young vendor dies at the hands of municipal police: Street vendor organisations in Peru have called for public national and international protest over the death of Freddy Venancio Huapaya, a 22 year-old street vendor, who died as a result of the aggression of "municipal police officers" of the district of San Isidro.

Police confiscated the goods that he was selling in the Ave Javier Prado, and then fatally assaulted him.  The ten “municipal police officers” that perpetrated the crime have been called to explain their actions to the National Police after Freddy Venancio's relatives and hawkers demanded an immediate explanation from the municipality of San Isidro. A statement issued on 5th of January by  Central de Comerciantes de Lima Norte (Ambulantes y Mercados) Y de Federación Distrital de Vendedores Ambulantes de SMP, and the Asociación de Trab. Amb. 20 de Junio La Victoria and Red Metropolitana de Mujeres Trabajadoras Ambulantes y Mercados states:" "The fatal beating of Freddy Venancio is a clear expression of the brutal way that street and market vendors are treated in Peru and in different parts of the world. The authorities lack adequate policy to regulate street vending even though street and market vendors contribute to development and citizens' welfare. Furthermore, in Peru where unemployment is increasing, it is poverty which forces hundreds of thousands of people to earn a living as  street vendors. We call upon all the organisations of street and market vendors of Peru and international organisations, to redouble the efforts to achieve laws and public policies that recognise and respect the social and economic rights of informal vendors and that permit the appropriate integration of the sector into the processes of national and local development." 

Lima: Peru - Young vendor dies at the hands of municipal police: Street vendor organisations in Peru have called for public national and international protest over the death of Freddy Venancio Huapaya, a 22 year-old street vendor, who died as a result of the aggression of "municipal police officers" of the district of San Isidro.

Police confiscated the goods that he was selling in the Ave Javier Prado, and then fatally assaulted him. The ten “municipal police officers” that perpetrated the crime have been called to explain their actions to the National Police after Freddy Venancio's relatives and hawkers demanded an immediate explanation from the municipality of San Isidro. A statement issued on 5th of January by Central de Comerciantes de Lima Norte (Ambulantes y Mercados) Y de Federación Distrital de Vendedores Ambulantes de SMP, and the Asociación de Trab. Amb. 20 de Junio La Victoria and Red Metropolitana de Mujeres Trabajadoras Ambulantes y Mercados states:" "The fatal beating of Freddy Venancio is a clear expression of the brutal way that street and market vendors are treated in Peru and in different parts of the world. The authorities lack adequate policy to regulate street vending even though street and market vendors contribute to development and citizens' welfare. Furthermore, in Peru where unemployment is increasing, it is poverty which forces hundreds of thousands of people to earn a living as street vendors. We call upon all the organisations of street and market vendors of Peru and international organisations, to redouble the efforts to achieve laws and public policies that recognise and respect the social and economic rights of informal vendors and that permit the appropriate integration of the sector into the processes of national and local development." Click here for the full Statement.   E-mail: ambulantesymercados@hotmail.com

Street vendors and informal economy workers appeal for assistance to cope with destruction of tidal waves (Tsunami) Our affiliate, Sri-Lanka StreetNet Alliance requests aid in the form of clothes, food and medicine for people in the coastal regions where thousands of people are destitute, without food, shelter or clothing. Fax: + 94 112 821111. e-mail Mrs A.M. Gunathilaka loib@sltnet.lk address: 133/11 St Anthony's Mw, Colombo-03 Sri Lanka. Kala Peiris, of Siyath Foundation in Sri-Lanka, an organisation of informal economy home workers and one of HomeNet South Asia's member organisations, writes about her attempts to deal with the devastation in the wake of the Tsunami Tides.

Kala Peiris, of Siyath Foundation in Sri-Lanka, an organisation of informal economy  home workers and one of HomeNet South Asia's member organisations, writes about her attempts to deal with the devastation in the wake of the Tsunami Tides. Click here to read Kala's letter.

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