HCON 100 EHRFSCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas in 2005 the Government of Zimbabwe launched Operation Murambatsvina (`Operation Throw Out the Trash') against citizens in major cities and suburbs throughout Zimbabwe, depriving over 700,000 people of their homes, businesses, and livelihoods;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas on March 11, 2007, opposition party activists and members of civil society attempted to hold aCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

peaceful prayer meeting to protest the economic and political crisis engulfing Zimbabwe, where inflation is running over 3,000 percent and formal sector unemployment stands at 80 percent and in response to President Robert Mugabe's announcement that he intends to seek reelection in 2008;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas opposition activist Gift Tandare died on March 11, 2007, as a result of being shot by police while attempting to attend the prayer meeting and Itai Manyeruke died on March 12, 2007, as a result of police beatings and was found in a morgue by his family on March 20, 2007;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas under the direction of President Robert Mugabe and the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) government, police officers, security forces, and youth militia brutally assaulted the peaceful demonstrators and arrested opposition leaders and hundreds of civilians;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangarai was brutally assaulted and suffered a fractured skull, lacerations, and major bruising; MDC member Sekai Holland, a 64-year old grandmother, suffered ruthless attacks at Highfield Police Station, which resulted in the breaking of her leg, knee, arm, and three ribs; fellow activist Grace Kwinje, age 33, also was brutally beaten, while part of one ear was ripped off; and Nelson Chamisa was badly injured by suspected state agents at Harare airport on March 18, 2007, when trying to board a plane for a meeting of Africa Caribbean Pacific (APC) lawmakers in Brussels, Belgium;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas Zimbabwe's foreign minister warned Western diplomats that the Government of Zimbabwe would expel them if they gave support to the opposition, and said Western diplomats had gone too far by offering food and water to jailed opposition activists;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas victims of physical assault by the Government of Zimbabwe have been denied emergency medical transfer to hospitals in neighboring South Africa, where their wounds can be properly treated;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas those incarcerated by the Government of Zimbabwe were denied access to legal representatives and lawyers appearing at the jails to meet with detained clients were themselves threatened and intimidated;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas at the time of Zimbabwe's independence, President Robert Mugabe was hailed as a liberator and Zimbabwe showed bright prospects for democracy, economic development, domestic reconciliation, and prosperity;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF government continue to turn away from the promises of liberation and use state power to deny the people of Zimbabwe the freedom and prosperity they fought for and deserve;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas the staggering suffering brought about by the misrule of Zimbabwe has created a large-scale humanitarian crisis in which 3,500 people die each week from a combination of disease, hunger, neglect, and despair;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas the Chairman of the African Union, President Alpha Oumar Konare, expressed `great concern' about Zimbabwe's crisis and called for the need for the scrupulous respect for human rights and democratic principles in Zimbabwe;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Council of Non-governmental Organizations stated that `We believe that the crisis has reached a point where Zimbabweans need to be strongly persuaded and directly assisted to find an urgent solution to the crisis that affects the entire region.';CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has likened Zimbabwe to a `sinking Titanic' and has urged southern Africa to take a new approach to Zimbabwe, stating that `quiet diplomacy has failed to help solve the political chaos and economic meltdown in Zimbabwe';CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas European Union and African, Caribbean, and Pacific lawmakers strongly condemned the latest attack on an opposition official in Zimbabwe and urged the government in Harare to cooperate with the political opposition to restore the rule of law; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell, warned that opposition to President Robert Mugabe had reached a tipping point because the people no longer feared the regime and believed they had nothing left to lose: Now, therefore, be itCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(1) it is the sense of Congress that--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(A) the state-sponsored violence taking place in Zimbabwe represents a serious violation of fundamental human rights and the rule of law and should be condemned by all responsible governments, civic organizations, religious leaders, and international bodies; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(B) the Government of Zimbabwe has not lived up to its commitments as a signatory to the Constitutive Act of the African Union and African Charter of Human and Peoples Rights which enshrine commitment to human rights and good governance as foundational principles of African states; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(2) Congress--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(A) condemns the Government of Zimbabwe's violent suppression of political and human rights through its police force, security forces, and youth militia that deliberately inflict gross physical harm, intimidation, and abuse on those legitimately protesting the failing policies of the government;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(B) holds those individual police, security force members, and militia involved in abuse and torture responsible for the acts that they have committed;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(C) condemns government harassment and intimidation of lawyers attempting to carry out their professional obligations to their clients and repeated failure by police to comply promptly with court decisions;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(D) condemns the harassment of foreign officials, journalists, human rights workers, and others, including threatening their expulsion from the country if they continue to provide food and water to victims detained in prison and in police custody while in the hospital;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(E) commends United States Ambassador Christopher Dell and other United States Government officials and foreign officials for their support to political detainees and victims of torture and abuse while in police custody or in medical care centers and encourages them to continue providing such support;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(F) calls on the Government of Zimbabwe to cease immediately its violent campaign against fundamental human rights, to respect the courts and members of the legal profession, and to restore the rule of law while adhering to the principles embodied in an accountable democracy, including freedom of association and freedom of expression;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(G) calls on the Government of Zimbabwe to cease illegitimate interference in travel abroad by its citizens, especially for humanitarian purposes; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(H) calls on the leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union to consult urgently with all Zimbabwe stakeholders to intervene with the Government of Zimbabwe while applying appropriate pressures to resolve the economic and political crisis.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Passed the House of Representatives April 17, 2007.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Attest:CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

ClerkLORRAINE C.