via President Mugabe should urgently address human rights concerns. 1 February 2015
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe should use his position as the Chairperson of the African Union (AU) to address key human rights concerns in different parts of the continent, including his own country, Amnesty International said today.
President Robert Mugabe takes over the rotating position from the Mauritanian president Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz which will see him in charge for the year ahead.
“There is an urgent need for the AU to take more concrete steps to effectively address the massive human rights violations resulting from the many conflicts taking place in several parts of the continent. President Mugabe should use his time as Chairperson to restore stability in parts of the region that have been ravaged by conflicts,” said Netsanet Belay, Amnesty International’s Africa Director for Research and Advocacy.
The 24th Ordinary Session of the AU – that has taken the theme “2015: Year of Women’s Empowerment and Development Towards Africa’s Agenda 2063” is taking place at a time when the continent is facing protracted conflicts that have displaced millions of people. The shrinking of political space and denial of fundamental rights are also major problems in countries such as Angola, Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia and Zimbabwe.
2015 will also see 19 African countries holding elections with nine taking place in the first quarter. This includes Nigeria which is currently facing constant attacks from the militant group Boko Haram.
The AU has the responsibility of promoting respect for human rights on the continent, in line with its Constitutive Act and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
COMMENTS
The respect of Human rights,the interpretation of the Constitutive Act and adherence to the Charter on Human and Peoples’ rights is just an agenda item when it comes to majority African continental leadership. We can shout high or low, it makes no impact on our dictators and the recent ascension to the AU chair by Mugabe is no exception.
Why should the geriatric address human rights concerns are you having a laugh Amnesty – he is one of the scumbags that causes all the trouble dream on Amnesty you were never there for the farmers whose land was taken away from them by force Amnesty should be asking the ICC to drag most of these African Leaders to the Hague for theft abuse of power etc.