3. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT Hundreds of thousands of migrant workers from neighbouring countries and their descendants who settled or were born in Zimbabwe before independence in 1980 face barriers to acquiring citizenship and have effectively been rendered stateless. In addition, generations of ethnic Ndebele people, regarded as minority and largely settled in the Matebeleland and Midlands provinces, whose families were killed or disappeared during the Gukurahundi massacres, are also affected by statelessness. Gukurahundi, a Shona language term which loosely translates to “the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains”, was a series of violent episodes perpetrated in the early 1980s2 by the Zimbabwe National Army against Ndebele civilians and opposing Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) dissidents who were perceived as not supporting the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) government. In the ensuing violence after Korean-trained Fifth Brigade forces were sent into Matabeleland and the Midlands in the early 1980s to eliminate the perceived dissidents, more than 20,000 people were killed. As a consequence, these two groups of the population have been pushed to the margins of society. Their lack of identification documentation along with a succession of discriminatory nationality laws has rendered them stateless and forced them into daily struggles just to live their lives. Countless citizens are restricted from participating in the economy, accessing jobs, opening a bank account, buying a house, opening their own businesses or entering into legally recognizable marriages or family unions. Stateless people are poor, marginalized, discriminated against, disenfranchised and politically excluded. This population group has over the years been negatively affected by multiple changes to the nationality laws in Zimbabwe, especially in the period between 1963 and 2003. According to UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, approximately 300,000 people are currently at risk of statelessness in Zimbabwe.3 Lack of official data means that the exact number is unknown. They include migrants from Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia who were brought in by colonial authorities to work on farms and mines around the country. While the Zimbabwean authorities have never acknowledged that statelessness is a consequence both of the Gukurahundi massacres and the arbitrary changes to laws that have affected migrants, some positive steps have been taken which suggest an official awareness of the problem. They include the establishment of a government task force to document stateless people in the country and an acceleration of birth registration. 4 2 Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni and Wendy Willems. (2009). Journal of Southern African Studies, December 2009, Vol. 35, No. 4 (December 2009), pp. 945-965. “Making Sense of Cultural Nationalism and the Politics of Commemoration under the Third Chimurenga in Zimbabwe” 3 Submission by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Compilation Report Universal Periodic Review: 2nd Cycle, 26th Session ZIMBABWE http://www.veritaszim.net/sites/veritas_d/files/Constitution%20of%20Zimbabwe%20Amendment%20%28No.%2020%29.pdf 4 Sunday Times (2019). Task force established to start counting undocumented people in Zimbabwe https://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/news/2019-11-17-task-force-established-to-start-counting-undocumented-people-in-zim/ WE ARE LIKE “STRAY ANIMALS” THOUSANDS LIVING ON THE MARGINS DUE TO STATELESSNESS IN ZIMBABWE Amnesty International 8