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UN criticised for backing Mugabe's proposed Human Rights Commission
Tererai Karimakwenda, SW Radio Africa
July 10, 2006

http://www.swradioafrica.com/news100706/un100706.htm

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been advised by Zimbabwe's civic society of their objection to the creation of a Human Rights Council proposed by the government. A conference is scheduled for later this month in Victoria Falls to discuss the setup of the new council, and the UNDP is supporting the event and providing financing.

Jacob Mafume, chairman of the National Association of Non-governmental Organisations (NANGO), the umbrella group representing NGOs in Zimbabwe, told us it is very difficult for them to understand the rationale behind the UNDP decision. He said what is needed in Zimbabwe is a holistic approach to a new constitution. Explaining further Mafume said the human rights council is an institution that supports democracy and should be created through wholesale constitutional reform.

NANGO has objected to the creation of the council given the continued abuse of human rights in Zimbabwe. Mafume said their member organisations are going to boycott the Conference.

As for the United Nations, he said: "The UNDP knows our position. We have written to them and they cannot be under any misapprehension as to what civic society has been saying should be the answer to the Zimbabwe crisis."

Mafume then explained the NANGO position, which is that the proposed council is meaningless while the government continues abusing the rights of individuals and organisations. He said there is no press freedom, police continue to ban meetings, those who lost property have not been compensated and the displaced victims of Operation Murambatsvina demolitions are still living outside. He added that the judiciary has been compromised and the army has been politicised. In this context Mafume does not believe the conference to discuss a human rights council has any value. And it is for all these reasons that NANGO is boycotting it and criticising the UNDP for its support.

The United Nations is fully aware of the destruction caused by Operation Murambatsvina. Its own special envoy Anna Tibaijuka visited Zimbabwe last year and concluded that nearly one million people had been displaced and those responsible for the operation should be prosecuted. To date the government has done nothing and the majority of the victims are still living in squalor. The government has further disregarded the UN by continuing to evict more families from high density areas and blocking church groups and NGOs from assisting the victims. When the government proposed the creation of a Human Rights Commission earlier this year, critics immediately described the initiative as an attempt to give a face of respectability to the continued violations of human rights.

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