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End of year statement on the Human Rights Crisis in Zimbabwe
African Civil Society Consultation on Zimbabwe
December 23, 2003

A group of participants from the African Civil Society Consultation on Zimbabwe, who met in Gaborone, Botswana, on August 5 and 6, 2003, today express our concern about the continuing human rights crisis in Zimbabwe and the attitude of several governments in the region to that crisis. In particular, recent statements made by South African President Thabo Mbeki demonstrate a wilful blindness to the reality of the situation in Zimbabwe and a total disregard for regional and international human rights obligations.

We, participants in the African Civil Society Consultation on Zimbabwe, which represented over thirty civil society groups from Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Malawi, Zambia and Kenya, issued a Concluding Statement following our meeting in Botswana in August, condemning the human rights and humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe and calling for urgent action to address this crisis. We are disturbed that so many of our demands have not been met.

That Zimbabwe is in crisis is unquestionable and the nature of the crisis has been well-documented by courageous local human rights activists and civil society organisations. These Zimbabwean activists, several of whom attended the African Civil Society Consultation in Gaborone, are under constant attack from the government of Zimbabwe, in an effort to silence them and hide the truth about the situation in the country. Lawyers, judges, trade union leaders, journalists, churchmen and members of non-governmental organisations have been threatened, arrested, beaten, tortured and harassed throughout the year, and with no sign of respite.

In our Concluding Statement, issued in August, we called, among other things, for the Commonwealth states to ensure the continued suspension of Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth until it complies fully with the principles contained in the Harare Declaration of 1991, and takes concrete steps to restore the rule of law, to respect human rights and to hold perpetrators of human rights violations accountable. Given the total lack of progress towards these goals, there was no basis on which the Commonwealth states could re-admit Zimbabwe and remain faithful to the organisation's principles and the Harare Declaration.

Despite the overwhelming evidence of serious human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, several governments have criticised the Commonwealth decision and seek to portray the country's crisis as centred on the issue of land and racial division. We reject this false image and condemn the efforts of those who thus seek to minimise or ignore the suffering of the Zimbabwean people. Of particular concern are comments by President Mbeki accusing human rights defenders in Zimbabwe and internationally of using the issue of human rights as a tool to effect "regime change." Such comments denigrating the work and courage of human rights defenders serve only to increase the risks that they face in Zimbabwe.

We therefore reiterate the demands made in our Concluding Statement, issued in August 2003, and call for an immediate end to all human rights violations being committed in Zimbabwe.

We urge President Mbeki and other SADC leaders to recognise publicly the nature and seriousness of the human rights crisis in Zimbabwe and to engage constructively with local and regional human rights defenders to bring an end to the crisis.

We further encourage President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria to use his position as chair of the Commonwealth to seek new ways to engage the Zimbabwean government and to bring the country back into the organisation once the government complies with the principles contained in the Harare Declaration and restores the rule of law and respect for human rights.

We also request once again that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and other UN human rights bodies take measures to investigate and publicly denounce all human rights violations that are being committed in Zimbabwe.
Finally, we express our support for and solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe, and for all those who are striving for respect for basic human rights in the country.

For more information on the African Civil Society Consultation, please go to http://www.lchr.org/defenders/hrd_zimbabwe/hrd_zim_11.htm

Or contact
Kristin Flood
Human Rights Defenders Program
Lawyers Committee for Human Rights
333 Seventh Avenue, 13th Floor
New York, NY 10001-5004
Telephone: 212.845.5298
Facsimile: 212.845.5299
Web: www.lchr.org
E-mail: floodk@lchr.org

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