The call from Human Rights Watch (HRW) comes in time for the AU's summit
in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and coincides with an HRW report showing a cholera epidemic that has killed over 3,000 and left another 39,000 ill. Over 5 million Zimbabweans face severe food shortages and are dependent on international aid.
Repeated interference of humanitarian agencies by Zanu (PF) has severely hampered international efforts to tackle the country's multiple crises, the report says.
Robert Mugabe and his Zanu (PF) party have shown scant regard for the welfare of Zimbabweans, said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director for HRW. It is way past time for the African Union to act to help end their suffering.
The HRW report highlights repressive government and extensive corruption as the direct causes of an interlinked economic collapse, humanitarian crisis and growing public desperation. It also documents how Zanu (PF) continues to use state institutions such as the police and the justice system to violate the civil and political rights of MDC members and supporters, civil society activists, and human rights defenders.
HRW called on the African Union to intervene in the mediation process and set basic principles, specific human rights benchmarks, and timelines for resolving the crisis.
Among other measures, it has asked AU to condemn and ensure the end of ongoing abuses by the Zanu (PF) authorities including politically motivated violence, enforced disappearances and torture. The AU would also be responsible for ensuring the release of MDC members and human rights activists who are being arbitrarily detained.
HRW believes the AU could then suspend Zimbabwe from membership if it did not meet the human rights and good governance benchmarks within a specific time frame.
The urgent humanitarian needs of Zimbabweans are a direct consequence of Zanu (PF) abusive rule, said Gagnon. The AU can only restore the security and well-being of people in the region by openly acknowledging the scale of the crisis, putting human rights at the top of the agenda and holding abusers to account.
Post published in: Politics