Maravi

(NEWZIMBAWE, AFP) Chinamasa defends Zimbabwe's rights record

Chinamasa defends Zimbabwe's rights record
10/10/2011 00:00:00
by AFP

ZIMBABWE defended its human rights record at a UN hearing in Geneva on Monday, while slamming sanctions against the country which it said brought hardship and violated human rights.

"Zimbabwe is a member of the international community and remains committed to its obligations on human rights," Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa told the Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review. He said Zimbabwe had reformed its constitution on several occasions to improve the human rights situation.

"We adopted among others laws on the protection of children and orphans, laws against family violence and laws that ensure the rights of NGOs working in our country," said Chinamasa.

He criticised the "illegal economic sanctions against Zimbabwe, which contribute a lot to the suffering of the Zimbabwe people and which are violations of human rights".

The European Union has imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe since 2002 due to repeated rights violations by long serving President Robert Mugabe's regime.

The sanctions include an arms embargo, as well as travel bans and assets freeze on a list of Zimbabweans, including Mugabe himself.

[They also include a blanket and un-'targeted' credit freeze of the entire Zimbabwean government, in place for nearly a decade, from Jan. 1 2002 onwards, when it torpedoed the Zimbabwean currency, and the country's trade surplus, in that specific year. Which the AFP should know by now, or perhaps they aren't allowed to print that. - MrK]

Labels: HUMAN RIGHTS, PATRICK CHINAMASA, SANCTIONS, ZDERA

posted by MrK @ 5:29 AM