Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-02-23-Speech-3-061"
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"en.20050223.6.3-061"2
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"Mr President, if the European Union really wants to make a difference on human rights, it has to start to get serious. For millions of people, the key to a better future, economic development, and to the much-needed improvement in human rights is good governance, and yet there is reluctance on the part of the European Union to confront regimes that are serial abusers of their people.
In Africa, and this is a continent to which the European Union apparently attaches special importance, a very clear test case of the seriousness of our resolve is Zimbabwe. For years the people of Zimbabwe have suffered under the vicious, bigoted and corrupt Mugabe regime.
This Parliament has been consistent, through many resolutions, in its call for robust action against Mugabe and those who keep him in power. I am sorry to say that the Council's reaction has been limp-wristed. At least last week Council renewed its targeted sanctions, but these are not being applied with any real vigour; they are not hurting Mugabe's cronies. With elections in Zimbabwe just five weeks away, simply renewing existing EU sanctions does not send a clear message to the regime that it must change for the better or face the consequences.
It was disappointing that the Union failed to take the opportunity to threaten further specific sanctions should violence, oppression and intimidation mar the elections in Zimbabwe. Conditions in Zimbabwe are appalling. The opposition MDC has no access to the state-controlled media, its meetings are disrupted and there are over 400 court cases pending against MDC candidates. The voters' rolls are out of date, the opposition has no idea where polling stations will be and to get food, people are forced to attend Mugabe's rallies. No robust international observer mission has been invited and there are arrests of the few remaining international journalists.
At the 61st session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, the EU should sponsor a specific resolution on Zimbabwe and, in any case, use all means at its disposal over the coming vital weeks to ensure free and fair elections in that benighted country."@en1
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