Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-10-21-Speech-4-291"
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"en.20101021.23.4-291"2
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"−
Mr President, I tend to think that the human rights situation in Zimbabwe is unfortunately not what we would normally call an emergency in this Chamber.
Human rights are in fact repeatedly violated in that country, as the numerous resolutions voted on in this Chamber show. In the most recent one, as has been said, we denounced the arrest, on 22 July, of Mr Farai Muguwu, the founder and director of the Centre for Research and Development, whose crime was to report the atrocities committed in the diamond fields by, among others, the military authorities.
Today, we are addressing the issue of forced evictions. This issue is not new. Indeed, as Mrs De Keyser said, an operation of this kind was launched by the Zimbabwean authorities in 2005. It was called Operation ‘Murambatsvina’, which means to restore order. It was quite some programme, I am sure you would agree, and it clearly shows what the Zimbabwean authorities mean by the word order. Seven hundred thousand people were affected at that time.
The international community unanimously denounced the methods used. What is the situation like today? The majority of the people affected are still living in tents. Worse still, in August, armed police officers – I did indeed say police officers – came and set fire to the shelters of some 250 displaced persons who had set up home on the outskirts of Harare. Twenty thousand people – this point has also been made – are today threatened with the same fate because they have not paid their residence tax, which they really cannot afford.
These men, women and children are in fact some of the country’s poorest people. Are we going to let this go on without saying anything? Are we going to remind the Zimbabwean authorities once again of their international commitments, as Baroness Ashton did during the recent EU-Zimbabwe summit in July?
We are well aware that there is friction between President Mugabe and the Prime Minister following the global political agreement signed on 15 September 2008 and the appointment, on 13 February, of the government of national unity.
Recently, President Mugabe threatened to dissolve the government almost there and then because it had dared to remind him of his constitutional obligations.
It is time to react in Zimbabwe and in many other countries throughout the world in order to stop the dialogue with dictators who hold on to power through the use of force and fraud, and whose sole aim is to pillage their country’s resources for personal gain."@en1
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