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International Parliamentarians Must Put Zimbabwe on Agenda at Edinburgh Meeting
Zimbabwe Watch & Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum
November 16, 2005

A gathering of parliamentarians from the European Union and African, Caribbean and Pacific nations meeting in the Scottish capital next week is being challenged to address the situation in Zimbabwe during this meeting.

Two human rights umbrella organisations, one based in the ACP countries and one based in the EU, are hosting a meeting in Edinburgh on Saturday, November 19, to focus attention on the crisis in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe Watch and the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum urge the EU-ACP Joint Parliamentary Assembly, meeting in Edinburgh November 21-24, to discuss the situation in Zimbabwe given the gross human rights violations there since the JPAs last Assembly in April 2005.

The EU-ACP Joint Parliamentary Assembly has not so far discussed Zimbabwe after "Operation Murambatsvina" (Operation Wipe Out Trash) earlier this year when police and soldiers razed thousands of homes and small businesses leaving 700 000 people in cities across the country without shelter or livelihood, or both.

Speakers from Zimbabwe include Primrose Matambanadzo, of the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights, who will explain the dire impact on human rights of the "Operation Murambatsvina" and Pondai Bamu, of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, will discuss the aftermath of the operation.

"The humanitarian consequences are huge,'' says Pascal Richard, coordinator of Zimbabwe Watch. ``It will take several years before the people affected and the society as a whole can recover. We therefore need to keep human rights violations in Zimbabwe on the agenda.''

The meeting for parliamentarians of the ACP EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly will take place at the Sheraton Grand Hotel, 1 Festival Square, Edinburgh from 12h30 until 14h30.

For interviews and any further questions please contact Pascal Richard, Coordinator of Zimbabwe Watch at zimwatch@niza.nl or at +31(0)20 5206210 or mobile: +31(0)6 28 91 31 81.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum consists of 17 human rights organisations in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe Watch is a consortium of Dutch NGO's concerned with the current situation in Zimbabwe.

Visit the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum fact sheet

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