Speak up about torture in Zimbabwe
Human Rights Watch reports that President Mugabe and his party the ZANU-PF has set up torture camps across Zimbabwe, targetting opposition activists. According to the report:
“During the day, ZANU-PF and their allies (so-called “war veterans,” youth militias and some armed men in military uniform) gather at these camps to decide on their targets, generally those known or thought to support the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). According to witnesses, the targets are then rounded up and brought to the camps at night, where they are beaten for hours with thick wooden sticks and army batons. Human Rights Watch has interviewed more than 30 people in the last two days who have sustained serious injuries, including broken limbs, as a result of these beatings.”
The BBC also reported that the Mugabe Government has opened “job training centres” which attract youth, then force them into “a horrific training programme that breaks young teenagers down before encouraging them to commit atrocities.”
Human Rights Watch has called on the African Union to intervene, as the efforts of South African president Thabo Mbeki have proved ineffective.
What you can do
The United Nations and the African Union need our government to ask them to intervene. The UN has no power without the support of its member nations, so let’s write and ask our government to speak up. Write to:
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd,
Foreign Minister Steven Smith or
Member for Eden-Monaro & Secretary of Defence Mike Kelly
at PO Box 6022, House of Representatives, Parliament House,
Canberra ACT 2600