Cape Town — A prominent human rights organisation has urged southern African heads of state meeting in Zambia this week to deploy human rights monitors in Zimbabwe.
"With presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for March 2008, the early presence of human rights monitors would be an important step towards creating an environment in which free and fair elections can take place," said Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a briefing paper released ahead of a meeting of the Southern African Development Community.
Independent monitoring and public reporting on the human rights situation would help re-establish democratic institutions in Zimbabwe. Citing a SADC protocol which governs the activities of the regional grouping, HRW said monitoring would be "entirely consistent" with SADC's objectives to "promote the development of democratic institutions and practices" and "encourage the observance of universal human rights".
Zimbabwe's economic and political crisis is a key item on the agenda of the SADC meeting.
Referring to the SADC-mandated mediation between Zimbabwe's government and opposition, led by South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki, Human Rights Watch said talks "must incorporate human rights concerns and set clear benchmarks for progress...
"It is vital that the Heads of State and Government of SADC send a clear, visible, and unambiguous message from their August 2007 summit, repudiating the Zimbabwean government's policy of political repression through laws and through the unaccountability of Zimbabwe's police, army, and security forces, and setting out a clear commitment to a leadership role for SADC."
Peter Takirambudde, HRW's Africa director, said in a news release issued with the briefing paper that SADC's credibility "as a real force for change on human rights is on the line."
