“We are worried that despite positive reforms undertaken by the Government of Zambia, the delays in sovereign debt restructuring compromise its ability to mobilise and maximise resources for the full realisation of human rights, as per its obligations under international human rights law,” the experts said. In August 2022, Zambia secured a 38-month Extended Credit Facility of USD 1.3 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). At the end of its first review of this programme on 6 April 2023, the IMF Mission recognised the country’s progress as a result of robust structural fiscal and other reforms. However, continued delays on debt restructuring pose real risks for retrogression, including with respect to the country’s economic transformation agenda and aspirations for a better standard of living for its people. The experts said that while social spending had increased, the economic dividends of sustained reforms and debt relief will go much further in creating the conditions and opportunities on which Zambia’s population can capitalise. As per a 2022 UNDP report, more than 54 low-and middle-income countries are under critical debt distress and need urgent relief. Debt burden and prioritisation of debt servicing leads to austerity driven policies contravening international human rights obligations of States including their right to restructure sovereign debt. The experts urged the Official Creditor Committee for Zambia to aim for and share a concrete timeframe for the conclusion of its deliberations. “One of the major reasons for this delay in debt restructuring is the lack of a globally coordinated multilateral sovereign debt mechanism that places traditional and private lenders at an equal footing,” the experts said. “Despite the proactive steps taken by Zambia, undoubtedly the delay will affect the efficacy of the credit facility programme. There is a window of opportunity in 2023 to enable Zambia and its people to consolidate recent successes and all of Zambia’s partners must step-up,” they said. The experts called for a multilateral sovereign debt mechanism under the UN guided by existing human rights frameworks and principles to ensure a rights-aligned recovery for countries suffering from debt distress and a reduced fiscal space. The experts are in dialogue with relevant stakeholders, including private lenders, concerning the impact of the unsustainable sovereign debt level on the country’s ability to ensure the realisation of human rights of its population. ENDS *The experts: Ms Attiya Waris, Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights; Mr. Saad Alfarargi, Special Rapporteur on the right to development; Mr. Olivier de Schutter, Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights For more information and media requests, please contact the mandate of the Independent Expert on Foreign Debt at hrc-ie-foreigndebt@un.org For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts, please contact Maya Derouaz (maya.derouaz@un.org) or Dharisha Indraguptha (dharisha.indraguptha@un.org) Follow news related to the UN’s independent human rights experts on Twitter @UN_SPExperts.   Concerned about the world we live in? Then STAND UP for someone's rights today. #Standup4humanrights and visit the web page at http://www.standup4humanrights.org

Lusaka, 28 February 2023 – The World Health Organization (WHO) in Zambia has released USD285,000 to support the ongoing response to the cholera outbreak in Eastern Province. Since the outbreak was announced by the Minister of Health on January 26, 2023, a total of 191 suspected cases of cholera, including 4 deaths have been reported.   As part of the outbreak response, WHO Zambia is working with the Ministry of Health at National, Provincial and District levels, including the Zambia National Public Health Institute (ZNPHI) to rapidly put in in place interventions that will protect people and limit the spread of the outbreak to other districts across the province. “Cholera outbreaks are of great concern to us, and especially that cholera is preventable, and Zambia has the right preventative tools in place. As WHO in Zambia we will continue to support the Ministry of Health in implementing immediate and long-term cholera control, response, and preventive measures. The funds released will help ensure that lives continue to be saved, and a resilient health system is maintained during and beyond the current outbreak," says Dr Nathan Bakyaita, WHO Representative in Zambia. The funds released will allow WHO Zambia and partners to scale up priority response activities to effectively monitor and control the outbreak by: scaling up WHO and national surveillance interventions, providing essential support to laboratories to enhance diagnosis, providing technical assistance to set up adequate cholera treatment centers, training national and district health staff in case definition and management pre-positioning cholera kits and supplies in high-risk areas conducting health education sessions and risk communication and community engagement activities “Eastern Province is uniquely positioned as some of the affected districts border Malawi and Mozambique, which too, have Cholera outbreaks, putting the whole province at high risk. For us to ensure we control and end the outbreak, we need to ensure that integrated critical tools of preparedness, response and prevention are in place. We need to enhance surveillance, care delivery and strengthen coordination and joint response at all levels,” added Dr Bakyaita. Since the declaration of a cholera outbreak in January 2023, WHO has been working closely with the Ministry of Health to support deployment of surge staff and provide logistical support in the affected districts. Note to editor: WHO Zambia in December 2022, donated Cholera Central Reference kits; cholera peripheral kits; cholera community kits; 400 cholera laboratory kits; 500 cholera investigative kits amounting to ZMW 921,545 to support the preparedness and response in hotspot areas. The WHO Zambia team is working with the Ministry of Health and partners to strengthen disease surveillance, provide technical assistance in all the pillars of outbreak response including case management, monitoring of water quality and chlorination of public water supplies, and promote health education and hygiene among affected and at-risk communities. For additional information or to request interviews please contact: Ms Kafusha Kapema Communications Officer WHO Zambia Email: KapemaK@who.int

The United Nations in Zambia has called for wider stakeholder involvement in ensuring sustainable development and attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Zambia. Speaking at a Joint SDG Fund event in Lusaka on 22 February, UN Resident Coordinator, Ms. Beatrice Mutali said that all stakeholders should work towards economic transformation for the benefit of the people of Zambia. Over 150 participants that included representatives of diplomatic missions, Government ministries, private Sector, think tanks, Civil Society and youth attended the event that showcased key results achieved through the Zambia Integrated National Financing Framework for SDGs joint programme, which the UN has implemented since June 2020 to support sustainable development in Zambia.   Ms Mutali said this in a speech read on her behalf by International Labour Organization (ILO) Director for Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique, Mr. George Okutho. “We cannot continue with business as usual in our planning and implementation processes anymore but enhance efficiency and effectiveness of our interventions in addressing challenges to achieve the desired impact to drive the much-needed transformation to improve the lives of the people of Zambia,” Ms Mutali said. Speaking at the same event, Minister of Finance and National Planning Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane appealed for innovative approaches for development financing to ensure progress on the SDGs. In a speech read on his behalf by Permanent Secretary for Planning and Administration, Ms Lois Mulube, Dr Musokotwane said that the Government had put in place several interventions in various sectors to support attainment of the SDGs in Zambia. He also paid tribute to the United Nations for supporting the Government’s development aspirations, as outlined in Zambia’s Vision 2030. “We appreciate the support rendered to the Government by the UN Family through the Fund in supporting budget and expenditure analysis including facilitating stakeholder engagement; a study on implementation of the decentralization policy with a focus on fiscal decentralization; development of sector financing plans including the costing of key programmes; public expenditure reviews of the social protection sector whose findings fed into the development of the sector financing strategies in social protection; and undertaking the 2022 Census of Population and Housing,” Dr Musokotwane said. To promote alternative financing for sustainable development in the country, the UN in Zambia has through five of its agencies (UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, ILO and UNECA) supported capacity development of the Government of the Republic of Zambia in planning processes and overcoming existing impediments to financing its national development priorities, including the SDGs. This programme was intended to provide catalytic support to the Government in advancing SDG implementation in the country. Amongst other things, the Fund contributed to the following: Migration of local authorities towards output-based budgeting (OBB) in all 116 districts; Construction of infrastructure such as roads, bridges and toilets through local authorities; Undertaking of the 2022 Census of Population and Housing, and the Living Conditions Monitoring Survey; preparation of the Economic Recovery Plan; COVID-19 Recovery Needs Assessment (CRNA) and other socio-economic assessments of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic; Preparation of the Eight National Development Plan; and Preparation of the Voluntary National Review (VNR) in 2020 and 2023. Other interventions included supporting the Rapid Integrated Assessment (RIA) of the Eighth National Development Plan, preparation of the Development Finance Assessment, National Budget Analyses as well as strengthening the capacity of Parliamentarians and Permanent secretaries in budget analysis. ### For more information, please contact: Mark Maseko, National Information Officer, United Nations Information Centre (UNIC), Lusaka, P: +260-211-386200; E: masekom@un.org About the Joint SDG Fund The Sustainable Development Goals Fund (SDG Fund) is an international multi-donor and multi-agency development mechanism created in 2014 by the United Nations to support sustainable development activities through integrated and multidimensional joint programmes. The joint fund is managed in Zambia through UNDP, UNFPA, ILO, ECA and UNICEF. The UN SDG Fund Joint Programme is expected to develop and operationalise an Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF) for sustainable development in Zambia, that will improve development financing to ensure that Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and ensure they are actualized at national and subnational levels in the framework of the Seventh National Development Plan and the plans that follow. Integrated National Financing Frameworks provide a framework for financing national sustainable development priorities and the SDGs at the country level.

The Elsie Initiative Fund for Uniformed Women in Peace Operations (EIF) announced today that the Zambia Police Service (ZPS) will receive funding of USD 932,072 to create a more enabling institutional environment to increase uniformed women’s participation in United Nations (UN) peace operations. Zambia, one of the top 25 highest contributors of uniformed personnel to UN peacekeeping, was amongst the seven countries that piloted an assessment study in 2020 to identify barriers to women’s participation in UN peace operations, using the Measuring Opportunities for Women in Peace Operations (MOWIP) methodology developed by the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance. Built on findings and recommendations from the 2020 MOWIP study, the ZPS project is designed to address several barriers identified at the strategic and policy levels. The project will address the lack of suitable peace operations accommodation infrastructure for women police officers; additionally, it will aim to strengthen the capacity of women police officers through a number of activities designed to address the lack of available information on deployments, household constraints, and socio-cultural barriers that continue to deter women’s meaningful participation. Specifically, the ZPS project involves the construction of an accommodation facility for women (40 beds) and a daycare center (15 places) to enable women to fully participate in peacekeeping training. In addition, the ZPS project has been designed to foster a more gender-sensitive institutional culture through the development of an Anti-Sexual Harassment, Exploitation and Abuse (SEA) policy and the roll out of SEA training and gender-mainstreaming workshops to senior Zambia Police personnel. Importantly, the ZPS will also train and expand its network of regional focal points to systematically disseminate deployment related information, particularly in rural and remote areas. Upon completion of the project, the ZPS aims to create a roster with over 100 women eligible to deploy as peacekeepers. Over the years, Zambia has made great strides in promoting the rights of women and ensuring their equal participation in peace and security. In 2014, Zambia adopted a revised National Gender Policy and enacted a Gender Equality Act in 2015. Under a bilateral partnership with Canada, Zambia is currently developing a ZPS Gender Policy in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). “My Command appreciates the recognition of female officers as a ‘catalyst of systematic change within the Zambia Police Service. As Command, therefore, we take very seriously our role in driving policy reforms, ensuring gender mainstreaming and accountability for gender equality and women’s empowerment within our institution. I wish to assure you all of our continued commitment to do so” said the Inspector General of Police Lemmy Kajoba. In close partnership with the ZPS, this project will be managed and implemented by UNDP in Zambia. Senior ZPS and UNDP representatives will co-chair the Project Oversight Committee and provide strategic guidance to ensure successful implementation. This project will also leverage existing ZPS Women’s and Men’s Networks and ensure their voices are represented throughout the project cycle. Committed to ensuring the sustainability of these project outcomes, the ZPS has also committed to ensure that gender-related training is institutionalized within the police training curriculum, and to continue to fund, train and prepare police officers, in particular women, for deployment to UN peace operations.  *** About the Elsie Initiative Fund (EIF) Established by the UN, Canada, and Member States in 2019, the EIF is an innovative, multilateral fund that aims to accelerate progress towards the UN's gender targets in line with Security Council resolutions and the UN Uniformed Gender Parity Strategy 2018-2028. The EIF, a UN trust fund hosted by UN Women, is funded by contributions from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, the Republic of Korea, and the United Kingdom. The EIF supports the sustainable deployment and meaningful participation of uniformed women peacekeepers by providing financial assistance and incentives. For more information, please visit https://elsiefund.org/ and follow @ElsieFund on Twitter.   Media Contact: Elsie Initiative Fund Shuyu Luo Email: shuyu.luo@unwomen.org