Zimbabwe joins ‘the enemies of human rights’

Rights activists have expressed dismay that Zimbabwe was one of just nine countries that voted against a UN General Assembly resolution seeking to protect Rohingya Muslims from atrocities committed by the Myanmar army. The UN General Assembly last week approved a resolution condemning human rights abuses against the Muslims and other minorities, including arbitrary arrests, torture, rape and deaths in detention. New Zimbabwe reports that the 193-member body voted 134-9 with 28 abstentions. The other countries that voted with Zimbabwe are Belarus, Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, Russia and Vietnam. ‘Some are surprised by the government’s disastrous vote – we should not be. We know and have experienced that ours is a government that has no moral or legal difficulty with soldiers killing civilians,’ said MDC Secretary for Education, Fadzayi Mahere who described the move as ‘shameful’. And exiled former Cabinet Minister Jonathan Moyo said ‘the lie of a new dispensation in Zimbabwe (has been) exposed’. ‘Zimbabwe did not vote at the UN with its SADC neighbours, not with its African Union comrades and not with the Commonwealth it is so desperate to rejoin. It voted with the enemies of human rights.’