Written answers

Thursday, 30 June 2005

Department of Foreign Affairs

Human Rights Issues

8:00 pm

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 311: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the steps he has taken at EU or UN level with regard to the continued human rights abuses and killings in Zimbabwe; if any attempts are being made to enlist the aid of neighbouring African countries in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23891/05]

Photo of Dermot AhernDermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The Government remains gravely concerned at the deteriorating situation of human rights in Zimbabwe and the continuing failure of the Mugabe government to end repressive policies that have only succeeded in impoverishing and worsening the plight of millions of ordinary Zimbabweans. Ireland and its EU partners have taken the lead internationally, including through action at the UN General Assembly, in highlighting the serious human rights situation in Zimbabwe and in mobilising international pressure on the Zimbabwean Government to introduce long overdue democratic reforms.

My officials and I have also been active in drawing attention to the serious plight of the former Movement for Democratic Change, MDC, MP in Zimbabwe, Mr. Roy Bennett, sentenced to a 12-month prison term last October for pushing the Zimbabwean Minister for Justice during a parliamentary debate last year and whose situation was the subject of a Dáil motion adopted last March. I very much welcome that Mr. Bennett was granted early release and freed on 28 June.

The EU has also condemned the recent actions of the Zimbabwean Government under the guise of Operation Restore Order which has resulted in many thousands of illegal street traders being arrested and an estimated 275,000 people left homeless as a result of a Government campaign to clear away the businesses of informal street traders and unregistered homes built by the urban poor. The European Union issued a declaration on 7 June condemning the actions undertaken by the Zimbabwean Government within the framework of Operation Restore Order and calling for its immediate end. A joint statement was also issued following the EU-US summit in Washington DC on 20 June expressing grave concern at the current situation and calling on the Zimbabwean Government to reverse its anti-democratic policies. The Irish ambassador to South Africa, who is also accredited to Zimbabwe, visited Zimbabwe in early June to assess the humanitarian effects of Operation Restore Order and has submitted a full report on the situation.

The Government continues to support the activities of Irish missionaries and NGOs, both national and international, who are responding to the worsening humanitarian situation provoked by Operation Restore Order. The Government has now decided to make an additional €1 million available to the UN World Food Programme to support emergency feeding programmes in Zimbabwe for those worst affected by the current humanitarian crisis, with part of this assistance also being used for similar emergency feeding programmes in Malawi.

I also very much welcome the decision by UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, to appoint Ms Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, the executive director of UN Habitat, as his special envoy to assess the humanitarian consequences of the forcible eviction policies being pursued by the Zimbabwean Government. Ms Tibaijuka arrived in Zimbabwe on 26 June and will submit a full report on the situation to the Secretary General following her visit. This report will be of considerable assistance to the international community in gauging the appropriate international response to assist those who have been left homeless and without a livelihood as a result of this deliberate action on the part of the Zimbabwean Government.

It is clear that Zimbabwe's neighbours in the southern Africa development community, SADC, also have a potentially useful role to play in exerting influence on the Mugabe Government to stop Operation Restore Order, address its humanitarian consequences and also begin the process of implementing genuine reforms aimed at improving the situation of respect for democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Zimbabwe. The EU regularly encourages the members of SADC and of the African Union to use their influence with Zimbabwe in this regard during the course of ongoing political dialogue with those organisations.

The EU's concerns with Operation Restore Order were raised at a senior officials meeting with SADC in Johannesburg on 20 June while EU ambassadors are also being directed to make similar representations in SADC capitals. It would be appropriate for and I would encourage African Union leaders to address the human rights and humanitarian crisis resulting from Operation Restore Order at their forthcoming summit meeting in Sirte, Libya on 4 and 5 July.

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