Chronicle Editor
UN Special Rapporteur on Negative Impact of Unilateral Coercive Measures on Human Rights, Ms Alena Douhan arrived in Harare yesterday and immediately paid a courtesy call on President Mnangagwa, the first engagement of her 10-day visit.
Ms Douhan is here on a Government invitation for her to, on behalf of the UN, assess the negative impact of the illegal sanctions that were imposed on the country by the US and European Union (EU) 20 years ago.
She could not have undertaken her vital assignment at a more appropriate time. Zimbabwe and the rest of Sadc will observe the Sadc Anti-Sanctions Solidarity Day on Monday, a day set aside by the regional bloc in August 2019 to demonstrate its opposition to the punitive measures and demand their immediate and unconditional lifting. At their summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania two years ago, regional leaders declared October 25 as Sadc Anti-Sanctions Solidarity Day to be marked across the region yearly until the embargo is removed.
Therefore, Monday falls on the seventh day of Ms Douhan’s 10-day tour of duty. She will engage various stakeholders from the Government to civil society, hearing what they have to say on how the illegal sanctions have negatively affected the country. Thereafter, she will present a report to the UN Human Rights Council during its 51st Session in September next year.
The visit is also significant, apart from it coming during the anti-sanctions month, in the sense that this is the first time since the imposition of the coercive measures that the world body has sent an official of any capacity to undertake an on-the-ground assessment of the impact of the embargo.
“There is no question on the deleterious impact of sanctions on this country,” tweeted Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Nick Mangwana on Sunday. “Let’s all speak with one voice on #ZimSanctionsMustGo.”
True, the devastating impact of the embargo speaks for itself.
The sanctions had, by September 2019, cost the economy a staggering US$42 billion, according to a Government estimate. Two years on, the revenue loss attributable to the measures, which remain in place, must have grown.
In July 2013, Zanu-PF said the country was losing donor support amounting to US$36 million annually since 2001, had lost US$79 million in loans from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, commercial loans of US$431 million with the gross domestic product having halved from US$7,4 billion in 2000 to US$4 billion in 2010.
Lines of credit to local industry have been throttled due to sanctions, as the foregoing figures show. US law binds its citizens sitting on boards of multilateral financial institutions to block loans to Zimbabwe, while private financial institutions in the West risk severe punishments if they engage in any financial transactions with our country.
Because no finance can be legally moved from various capitals across the globe given the US’s dominance on the global economy, little investment is flowing into our country. Industry is therefore running on inefficient, old machinery and equipment with little hope for access to finance for investment into more efficient and modern plants.
Apart from curbs on the free flow of finance from abroad, some local companies are facing artificial impediments to accessing a number of high-potential Western markets. At some stage, horticulture producers in the country could not export to some European countries. Also, the EU banned beef imports from the Cold Storage Company (CSC) 20 years ago — again because of the coercive measures. A visit to any CSC depot across the country will sure expose how ruinous the sanctions have been on that company, and by extension, on the country.
The net effect of the measures has been massive job losses, curtailment of incomes and growing poverty among ordinary people. They have no money to buy enough food, to send their children to school; health institutions have been ruined, the same for roads. No human being can lead a meaningful existence if their right to food, education, health and others have been curtailed.
The impact of the sanctions has been comprehensive indeed and we are delighted to have Ms Douhan in the country.
We are sure she will see for herself the full extent of the effect of the measures and come up with a report that would move the UN to lobby the US and EU to lift their undeserved punishment on the people of Zimbabwe, inflicted on them absolutely for no reason but simply their decision to reclaim their land from whites who had seized it from them by brute force over 90 years of British colonialism.
Online Reporter