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His War on Political Opponents |
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Compiled by GayToday Human Rights Watch
Mugabe, as GayToday has reported, has twice been the subject of an attempted "citizen's arrest" by London's gay human rights activist, Peter Tatchell, who charged him with genocide. Mugabe is well known for expressing his hatred for gay Zimbabweans in vicious homophobic outbursts. Unless the Zimbabwean government immediately fulfills a set of minimum conditions, says HRW, it should face the threat of suspension from the international organization at the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, due in March. "Respect for human rights in Zimbabwe has deteriorated rapidly over the last two years," said Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch. "The Commonwealth should insist that President Mugabe take immediate steps to end political violence and restore the rule of law." In the last few weeks, parliament in Zimbabwe has passed or introduced new legislation that will drastically infringe several constitutional rights, including freedom of assembly, freedom of expression and of the media, and freedom of movement. Journalists and newspaper vendors are subject to constant harassment, threats, and violence by the police and by government-sponsored militia. On September 8, 2001, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), established in 1995 to monitor Commonwealth member states' respect for democracy and the rule of law, brokered an agreement with the Zimbabwe government.
At its meeting today, the CMAG will consider whether formally to place Zimbabwe on its agenda -- that is, to review its compliance with the fundamental standards, principles and values of the organization. Human Rights Watch believes that Zimbabwe should be placed on the CMAG agenda and that the government should be given a series of clearly specified conditions that it must immediately fulfill. These conditions include: Withdrawal or repeal of legislation in violation of constitutional rights and restrictive of political activity; Clear public instructions to the police and other law enforcement agencies that perpetrators of public violence should be dealt with, with the full force of the law; Prompt disciplinary and judicial measures against police and other law enforcement officers who fail to adhere to these instructions. The immediate cessation of violence, accompanied by these minimum steps, would begin to re-establish an environment in which political debate can take place freely, Human Rights Watch said. |
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe: On the war path against opponents once again 