The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Zimbabwe has denied accusations that it was “in bed” with President Robert Mugabe’s government, writes IRINnews, Friday.
A nongovernmental organisation (NGO), the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, made the claim ahead of a consultative meeting between civil society and the government, hosted by the UN last week, on setting up a National Human Rights Commission. Nixon Nyikadzino, a media officer with the coalition, said the Mugabe regime was “pulling wool over the eyes of the UNDP”.
– The accusation that we are in bed with the government of Zimbabwe is unfounded and in bad faith, the UNDP resident representative in Zimbabwe, Agostinho Zacarias, told IRIN.
– Containment and isolation of the government is not our strategy. We are not selectively consulting NGOs – everyone and anyone can participate. We believe in a policy of engaging the government and the civil society, he said.
Six nongovernmental organisations attended the consultative meeting: the National Association for NGOs (NANGO), an umbrella organisation with a membership of around 1,000 organisations; the Southern Africa Human Rights Trust; the Women’s Coalition, a grouping of 22 women’s rights organisations; the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, a coalition of 16 rights groups; the National Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped; and the Zimbabwe Coalition for Debt and Development.
The Zimbabwean government has an international obligation to set up the human rights commission. Under a set of principles endorsed by the UN General Assembly in 1993, countries are obliged to create national human rights commissions. The UN defines a national human rights institution as a government body established under the constitution or by law, whose functions are specifically designed to promote and protect human rights.
Kilde: www.irinnews.org
