The issue of human rights has been gravely abused by the western powers to punish those leaders who do not pander to their whims.
Almost every leader who does not dance to the tune of the West has been labelled a human rights violator.
Yet the whole world has seen the United States and its allies wantonly violating the rights of other countries and their citizens.
The Herald
(EDITORIAL)
ZIMBABWE appears determined to forge ahead with reforms of its political and governance systems in keeping with the Global Political Agree-ment.
It has partially dealt with the media environment, putting in place the Zimbabwe Media Commission and issuing out licences to newspaper publishers.
What remains is the broadcasting sector.
Similar progress has been made in reforming the electoral system.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is in place and the necessary changes are being made to our electoral laws.
And on Monday, Justice and Legal Affairs Mini-ster Patrick Chinamasa spoke about the forthcoming Bill to operationalise the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission.
This is confirmation that Zimbabwe has an open society with nothing to hide. Zimbabweans fought a bitter liberation struggle so that they can be free and enjoy the rights and privileges that come with being an independent and sovereign nation.
Yet out there the picture being painted is that of a country that has no respect for human rights.
Of course, these falsehoods are peddled to achieve political ends by our erstwhile oppressors who now masquerade as champions of democracy and human rights.
Human rights are not a Western concept.
The West has only been at the forefront of championing them in recent years in order to serve its economic interests.
As Africans, we have always included human rights in our social, economic and political systems and there is no reason now for anyone to be opposed to the setting up of a human rights commission.
Already, Zimbabwe is party to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights and the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
At the regional level, Zimbabwe has assented to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.
It is only proper that Zimbabwe’s human rights programme be run by a properly constituted commission instead of a coterie of non-governmental organisations that have found our human rights story to be big business for them.
The Bill that Minister Chinamasa is proposing shows that the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commi-ssion is not going to be a toothless bulldog.
It will be empowered to investigate any cases of alleged human rights violations committed after the enactment of Constitutional Amendment Number 19.
Minister Chinamasa said "no one is going to escape scrutiny of the commission".
This is all part of efforts to get Zimbabweans to continue to uphold law and order at all times and respect the rights of fellow citizens.
As the Bill is put before Parliament, we hope legislators will critically analyse every point and remove those aspects which may not be in the interest of the people of Zimbabwe.
The issue of human rights has been gravely abused by the western powers to punish those leaders who do not pander to their whims.
Almost every leader who does not dance to the tune of the West has been labelled a human rights violator.
Yet the whole world has seen the United States and its allies wantonly violating the rights of other countries and their citizens.
The story of Guantanamo Bay and the torture that took place there is well documented.
In fact, the US only respects the rights of its citizens but is ever ready to violate the rights of those that don’t subscribe to their way of doing things, especially those that want to protect their natural resources from forceful exploitation.
It is critical that the funding of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission be from internal resour-ces so that there is no room for foreign agendas to be smuggled in.
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