| A human rights lawyer who endured brutal torture at the hands of the Zimbabwean government is calling on the Canadian government to indict President Robert Mugabe for crimes against humanity.
Gabriel Shumba says Canada could do so under its Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Act that was passed in 2000. He says Canada should also put pressure on Zimbabwe through its membership in the Commonwealth and that Canada also needs to increase its humanitarian aid to Zimbabwe, which was recently cut by the Conservative government from $5 million to $4 million a year.
"The situation remains very dire. I don’t foresee any possible change soon if the world doesn’t act in concert to bring the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe to account," says Shumba.
Shumba was severely beaten, repeatedly electrocuted and forced to drink his own urine and blood in a Zimbabwe prison in 2003 in punishment for his work as a human rights lawyer. Shumba fled to South Africa where he is now the executive director of Zimbabwe Exiles Forum, a non-profit organization that documents human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. Shumba was in Calgary on October 20 as part of a cross-Canada visit to raise awareness about the plight of Zimbabweans.
Life expectancy in Zimbabwe has dropped by almost half since the 1980s and Zimbabweans now have the lowest life expectancy in the world, with women living an average of 34 years and men living an average of 37 years. One in four Zimbabweans has HIV or AIDS and Shumba says millions of people – he estimates the number at one third of Zimbabwe’s population – have fled to neighbouring countries due to Zimbabwe’s virtually nonexistent economy and Mugabe’s brutal rule.
Within Zimbabwe, 700,000 people were forcibly removed from their homes in 2005 by the government. Shumba says Mugabe did so in retaliation for urban dwellers’ support of opposition political parties. Shumba says many of the people who were displaced have been taken to two farms that have no running water or sanitation, no schools and no hospitals.
Despite the fact that the Zimbabwean government receives antiretroviral drugs and money for drugs from donor countries, Shumba says most people living with HIV don’t receive any treatment due to government corruption. Mugabe’s regime has also banned foreign media from operating out of Zimbabwe and has forcibly shut down various Zimbabwe media outlets. There are also no democratic freedoms allowed, adds Shumba, explaining that if three or more people are assembled they can’t discuss politics without the permission of the government.
Shumba says many Zimbabweans are starving because the government is preventing them from receiving food aid.
"The government has been using food as a political weapon, denying food to people who are starving but are perceived as belonging to the opposition," says Shumba. "We are talking about people surviving on roots for example."
Shumba says the situation in Zimbabwe has been deteriorating for years and the international community still has not acted.
"Some people who have been cynical have actually said the reason why the international community has not acted in Zimbabwe to date is that this is a black population that is facing extermination just like the world stood aside when Rwanda was waging genocide, just as the world is turning a blind eye to Sudan," he says. "You have Kosovo and NATO is quick to move in. You have the threat of North Korea with the bomb and you have the world moving in quickly to impose sanctions. When the world speaks with one voice sometimes change can be made, but this has not been the case in Zimbabwe. Maybe it’s because Zimbabwe does not have oil that the world does not seem to move in fast enough. Maybe it’s because we don’t have diamonds."
B.C. Liberal MP Keith Martin has also been pushing for the Canadian government to indict Mugabe for crimes against humanity under Canadian legislation.
"The country used to be the bread basket of southern Africa and its lifespan has dropped from 63 years to 34 years. Zimbabwe is one of those crises that flies under the radar screen but what’s happening on the ground is devastating," he says.
Martin also wants to see humanitarian aid increased, not cut.
"The West has turned its back on the country and these people are human beings like any of us," he says.
Meanwhile, as Shumba attempts to galvanize Canada to take action on behalf of his people he is still fearful for his life. He has to constantly be on the move to avoid being murdered for the work he’s doing. For more information on Zimbabwe Exiles Forum, you can go to www.zimexilesforum.org. |
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