STAND UP FOR ZIMBABWE – A CALL FOR GLOBAL ACTION
On 29th March 2008 Zimbabweans voted in parliamentary and presidential elections. In spite of the many difficulties that faced the opposition during the campaign, ZANU PF lost its majority in the House of Assembly. Since then a campaign of terror is being used to intimidate voters while the government is freely manipulating the electoral process and flouting legal norms. There have also been numerous attacks against teachers who acted as polling agents in the March elections and violence against other trade union leaders and activists. There is an urgent need for the African Union to act to end the Zimbabwe crisis. Zimbabwe can be helped back onto a positive path, but African human rights and democratic standards must be restored if the region is to avoid the risk of conflict and insecurity.
We call upon the African Union, the Southern African Development Community and the United Nations to act to achieve the following:
1. An immediate end to State sponsored violence against civilians and the protection of the Zimbabwean people;
2. Survivors and victims of violence to receive immediate medical, humanitarian and legal aid;
3. Unrestricted humanitarian aid be allowed into the country to meet these needs;
4. The African Union to send a team of Eminent Persons to Zimbabwe to investigate the violence, and work towards ending the political crisis;
5. SADC under the direction of the African Union to ensure that an environment which allows a free and fair presidential election free from violence and intimidation and free campaigning by all parties to exists before and during the presidential run off;
6. African and international human rights monitors and electoral observers and monitors to be admitted to the country and allowed to travel freely and assess and report on conditions. The electoral observers and monitors must be composed of a large number of skilled electoral experts, with a high standing in their countries and on the continent;
7. The electoral observers and monitors to remain in Zimbabwe to observe the counting and the announcement of the result;
8. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commissions to run and manage the forthcoming presidential elections in an impartial manner as it is obliged to under Zimbabwe constitutional and electoral laws;
9. In the event of an electoral dispute where one candidate refuses to accept the result of the run-off, the African Union to take the lead in negotiating or mediating the impasse to reflect the will of the people of Zimbabwe.
10. Trade unions and other civil society organisations should be allowed to carry out their legitimate activities in accordance with international legal standards, including the fundamental ILO Conventions.
We demand that the African Union and the United Nations live up to their responsibility to protect the people of Zimbabwe.
For the African Union We Demand Action Now to give meaning to May 25 as Africa Liberation Day.
