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Fungi Kwaramba-Political Editor

eA MOTLEY of Western-sponsored Civic Society Organisations (CSOs), under the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, will today hand over a damning report to the visiting United Nations Special Ms Alena Douhan that seeks to have the illegal sanctions maintained.

Sounding more like political commissars of the Western world, the so-called human rights defenders insist in their dossier that the sanctions, which have cost Zimbabwe no less than US$50 billion should remain even as all progressive forces agree that they have caused untold suffering to ordinary Zimbabweans.

Admitting to calling and supporting the maintenance of sanctions on Zimbabwe, the so-called human rights defenders said in January 2002 the country’s civil society backed the imposition of sanctions on the country along with the opposition the MDC.

“This shows that the imposition of restrictive measures against Zimbabwean Government officials and associated persons and entities cannot be conceived as unilateral in any narrow sense, and have the support of Zimbabweans, even though they are not endorsed by either Security Council of the United Nations nor the General Assembly of the UN. Several attempts have in fact been made, with the support of Zimbabweans, to have the Zimbabwe crisis addressed by the UN Security Council, but these have been vetoed,” reads the dossier in part.

Staunchly vouching for Western interests in their submissions, the CSOs, most of whom have made a lot of money riding on the suffering of the broader population, claim that the sanctions have the support of Zimbabweans.

“That the measures applied by the EU, US and UK are unilateral is undeniable, but they have been supported by significant sections of Zimbabwe. Furthermore, all the measures are based on conditions that will be removed if the Zimbabwe government would simply ensure the rule of law, respect for human rights, and good governance: these are the conditions expected of every member state of the United Nations

Bleating their anti-Zimbabwean rhetoric, the so-called human rights defenders will today try to impress on the UN Rapporteur that sanctions have to be maintained.

“The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum has prepared this submission in response to the call by the UN Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures for the views of stakeholders prior to her visit to Zimbabwe in October 2021. In response to the call, the Forum will focus its submissions on whether or not, and to what extent, the adoption, maintenance or implementation of unilateral restrictive measures has encroached upon the human rights of Zimbabwe’s citizenry in general, including, whether or not the adoption and implementation of such measures is in violation of international human rights standards,” read the dossier.

Although the forum in its prepared document admits that the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZDERA), the US law that has placed a raft of restrictions on Zimbabwe is unilateral, they still insist that the sanctions have to stay.

“ZIDERA, which is unilateral in nature, restricts US support for multilateral financing to Zimbabwe by International Financial Institutions (IFIs), or debt relief, until Zimbabwe makes specified political and economic reforms. ZDERA Amendment Bill 2018 was passed in the run-up to the 2018 elections, to add additional conditions for electoral reform.

“While the Multilateral Financing Restrictions restrict Zimbabwe’s access to international financial opportunities, this does follow the suspension of Zimbabwe earlier by the IMF and World Bank for failure to pay its debts . . . ZDERA had the support of a significant portion of the Zimbabwean polity,” reads the document.

During hearings of the US sanctions laws at the turn of the millennium, the country’s former assistant secretary for African Affairs Chester Crocker said “To separate the Zimbabwean people from Zanu PF, we are to are to have to make their economy scream, I hope you Senators, have the stomach for what you have to do”.

Since the illegal sanctions were imposed in 2001, Zimbabwe has lost an estimated US$42 billion, losing an estimated US$4,5 billion in donor support annually for more than two decades.

The country also lost US$2 billion in IMF, World Bank, and African Development Bank loans which could have helped in developing infrastructure, as well as losing commercial loans amounting to US$18 billion which could be extended to the private sector and other companies.

Because of the sanctions, Zimbabwe experienced a $21 billion reduction in GDP over the past two decades.