President’s human rights record under spotlight again

ZIMBABWE remains stuck in a wave of violence and human rights abuses, with prospects of anarchy ahead of the much-anticipated general elections next year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement yesterday.

HRW regional director, Dehwa Mavhinga in the statement, raised questions on the commitment of Southern African countries to the protection of human rights, accusing President Robert Mugabe of paying lip service to the issue of people’s rights.

“In Zimbabwe, the government of President Robert Mugabe has ignored the rights provisions in the country’s new Constitution, neither enacting laws to put the new Constitution into effect nor amending existing laws to bring them in line with the Constitution and Zimbabwe’s obligations under regional and international human rights conventions,” he said.

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