By Zivanai Dhewa
Irked by the successful SADC backed anti-sanctions campaign, which was conducted on the 25th of October 2020, and called for the removal of the illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe, the British House of Lords held an urgent meeting in UK on 27 October 2020, to consider future sanctions on Zimbabwe sighting gross human rights violations. Instead evidence shows Britain is the biggest violator of human rights itself.
Addressing a Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Honourable Kindness Paradza expressed disdain over assertions by the British House of Lords.
“Their Lordships and the Baroness spent time, as well on the issue of human rights in Zimbabwe, and on the issue of ‘people being held accountable for their actions.’
“We note without comment, Mr Speaker, the UN’s criticism of the British Government’s ‘continuing failure’ to meet obligations in the UN Convention against Torture. We note, also without comment, the UK’s reversal of its previous promise to establish an independent enquiry into allegations of complicity, torture and ill treatment of detainees held by other countries in counter terrorism operations.
“Finally, Mr Speaker, we note, without comment, the fact that the UK has yet to conduct a human-rights compliant inquiry or to introduce other accountability measures for alleged abuses perpetrated by the British Armed Forces in Iraq between 2003 and 2009,” he said.
Commenting on Government efforts to implement reforms, Mr Paradza said, “Mr Speaker, the British government continually criticises our Government on issues to do with Media reforms and so on. Not a single word was heard from the local Embassy, or indeed from London, when AIPPA was repealed and replaced with the freedom of Information Act. And yet the Honourable Lords always had lots to say about media freedoms in Zimbabwe.”
Meanwhile, Britain continues to ignore and fails to acknowledge the progress achieved by the New Dispensation in Zimbabwe since it assumed office in November 2017, instead it is pressing for issues to pursue its agenda to keep Harare under sanctions.
