Britain insists on human rights, rule of law

Mutual respect … British ambassador to Zim, Catriona Laing

Addressing diplomats, government officials and members of the civil society in Harare last week, British Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Catriona Laing, said they will not drop the human rights issue from the re-engagement process.

“These talks are sometimes difficult as we have frank and honest discussions based on mutual respect, but from our side what is of importance and we emphasise and appreciate are issues of rule of law and human rights,” said the British envoy at a function held to celebrate the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II.

“We are on a journey and the destination is the one we both want, a normal relationship with Zimbabwe back with normal international relations. Owing to my two years in Zimbabwe, I can say that we can cover a great deal in this journey,” she said.

Human rights abuses and lack of respect for the rule of law were some of the chief reasons cited by the EU when the western bloc imposed sanctions on President Robert Mugabe and his inner circle in 2002.

Since then, the west has been urging Harare to open up the democratic space and allow free expression.

Cases of human rights abuses have, however, continued with the recent one being that of the disappearance of journalist-cum human rights activist, Itai Dzamara, who was abducted in March last year and has never been seen since.

Dzamara, who was abducted by suspected state security agents, was staging solo demonstrations against President Robert Mugabe, accusing the aged leader of “failure”.

Western diplomats in Zimbabwe have been urging government to search and bring Dzamara back, but up to now nothing has been heard from the missing rights activist.

The re-engagement process started when President Mugabe formed a unity government with the MDC formations in 2009.Government then established a cabinet task force which would engage with Brussels on regular bases.

The negotiations, however, suffered a blow when the five year fragile government ended in 2013, following controversial elections which saw Zanu PF reclaiming majority votes.