Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) The irony of human rights awards

The irony of human rights awards
Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:50:00 +0000

US PRESIDENT Barack Obama has presented Magodonga Mahlangu and her organization Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) the 2009 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award in a White House ceremony.

The irony of this award is astounding, given that it is done on the backdrop of increasing calls for an explanation of why thousands of innocent civilians died in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the Middle East over an illegal war waged by the US and UK and their allies.

The pictures of Mahlangu and Jenny Williams at the White House are sad reminders that while African states will be labelled dictatorial and dragged to the Hague, there can never be justice for millions who die elsewhere as powerful states kill with impunity.

In Britain today, a commission of inquiry, not a war crimes tribunal, has been opened up to investigate why Britain went into Iraq and Afghanistan and why many British soldiers died in a war that was not commissioned by the UN.

The commission of inquiry comes as families of deceased servicemen have started to question the need and morality of that war; not because the Iraqi and Afghan victims have called for that inquiry.

One wonders if that inquiry had been opened up had there been no British servicemen deaths.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other members of his then Cabinet will give evidence, but not under oath. This is very disturbing. One would have thought the magnitude of that war requires that Mr Blair and his advisers give evidence under oath.

The making and un-making of global rules by Britain and the US is the reason why many people around the world find their hypocrisy hard to withstand.

Ironically, President Barack Obama said: "Each time they see Magodonga beaten back, beaten black and blue during one protest, only to get right back up and lead another, singing freedom songs at the top of her lungs in full view of security forces, the threat of a policeman's baton loses some of its power."

We wonder what he also thinks the same people thought when they saw his country and its military might kill innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan on the basis of a dodgy dossier.

We also wonder what people around the world think when President Obama and Prime Minister Gordon Brown send congratulatory messages to a clearly corrupt regime of Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan - a government that steals elections in broad daylight.

We also wonder what the families of deceased US, UK, western servicemen think when dead bodies continue to arrive at their airports over an unjustifiable and illegal war.

Surely imposing illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe over disputed elections and alleged human rights abuses can never be done by a country that has done so much harm to others.

These accolades would make more sense, only if they were presented by morally upright countries.

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*Peter Chimutsa can be contacted via: peterchimutsa *** yahoocom

Labels: BARACK OBAMA, HUMAN RIGHTS, HYPOCRISY, MAGODONGA MAHLANGU, NEOCOLONIALISM

posted by MrK @ 5:51 PM