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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Government suspension of NGO field operations - Index of articles
Zimbabwe
under house arrest while African Governments remain silent
Amnesty
International
June
16, 2008
http://www.amnesty.ca/themes/resources/zimbabwe/zimbabwe_solidarity_statement_16June.pdf
Solidarity Statement
from the Zimbabwe Inter-Agency Reference Group (Canada)
Zimbabwe is
a country virtually 'under house arrest'! On June 4, 2008, Zimbabwe's
Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Nicholas
Goche ordered all non-governmental and private voluntary organizations
(NGOs & PVOs) to suspend
all field operations until further notice. As a result, thousands
of workers and human rights defenders can no longer leave their
homes and offices to provide services locally to millions of Zimbabweans.
We cannot begin to measure
the likely cost in lives of this decree nor the consequent pain
and suffering of affected people, including orphaned children, who
are starving and living with HIV/AIDS and other ailments. There
are millions of Zimbabweans whose health and living conditions depend
on the ability of the women and men who work for NGOs and PVOs to
reach them daily. Thousands of lives are at immediate risk due to
the Minister's order.
The Minister
apparently relies on Section (10), Subsection (c) of the Private
Voluntary Organizations Act (Chapter 17:05) as authorization
for his order, which nonetheless has been condemned as illegal by
numerous national and international organizations. The Minister's
failure also to clarify the application of his order has bred uncertainty
and fear among NGOs and PVOs that have otherwise been operating
lawfully under the most difficult of circumstances.
Another inexplicable
phenomenon is the generally silent response of African Heads of
State under the collective leadership of the African Union and SADC.
These leaders continue to ignore the link between the latest decree
and ongoing political violence, including unlawful killings, torture,
abductions and arbitrary arrests of opposition supporters, labour
leaders, lawyers, journalists and other human rights defenders.
For most AU and SADC leaders to silently condone the humanitarian
and human rights crisis in Zimbabwe from the sidelines brings in
to question their very commitment to humanitarianism and the rule
of law.
We strongly
urge all political leaders in the democratic world to condemn in
the strongest language the shutdown of NGOs and PVOs in Zimbabwe
and the accompanying systematic human rights violations that are
escalating by the day. The Zimbabwe Government authorities and ZANU-PF
agents should not be permitted to harass NGOs and PVOs politically
to facilitate ongoing human rights violations and deter the free
exercise of democratic rights. We the undersigned organizations
stand in international solidarity with the women and men who work
for NGOs and PVOs based in Zimbabwe. We also urge all fellow defenders
of democracy and human rights to protest the unlawful actions of
the Zimbabwe Government and demand an immediate repeal of the Goche
decree. No one in Zimbabwe should work and live under virtual house
arrest for the crime of bringing help to a desperate population
of women and children especially.
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