Mugabe's Zimbabwe, 2000-2009: Massive human rights violations and the failure to protect

Human Rights Quarterly

Volumn 32, Issue 4, 2010, Pages 898-920

  Howard Hassmann, Rhoda E ^a,b,c  

^a WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

^b BALSILLIE SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS   (Canada)

^c Royal Society of Canada   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

HUMAN RIGHTS; INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION; VIOLENCE;

ZIMBABWE;

EID: 78650086269     PISSN: 02750392     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/hrq.2010.0030     Document Type: Review

References (152)

1. Masipula Sithole, Zimbabwe: History and Politics, in New Encyclopedi a of Africa Vol. 5,at 338 (John Middleton & Joseph C. Miller eds., 2007).
2. Andrew Meldrum, Zimbabwe's Farmers Ordered to Stop Work, Globe & Mail (Toronto), 25 June 2002, at A13.
3. Zimbabwe: Farm Attacks Threaten Food Supply, SW Radi o Afr., 23 Sept. 2009.
4. Geoffrey York, A Country in Ruins: The Last Stand of Zimbabwe's White Farmers, Globe & Mail (Canada), 20 Mar. 2009, at A13.
5. Peter Godwi n, When a Crocodi le Eats the Sun: A Memoi r of Africa 81 (2006).
6. Human Rights Watch, Not Eligible: The Politicization of Food in Zimbabwe (2003).
7. Davi d Blair, Degrees in Violence: Robert Mugabe and the Strugg le for Power in Zimbabwe 177 (2002).
8. Doris Lessing, The Jewel of Africa, N.Y. Rev. Books, 10 Apr. 2003, at 8.
9. Samantha Power, How To Kill a Country, Atlantic Monthly, Dec. 2003, at 4.
10. Hany Besada & Nicky Moyo, Picking Up the Pieces of Zimbabwe's Economy 11 (Ctr. for Int'l Governance Innovation, Technical Paper No. 5, 2008).
11. Internal Displacement Monitoring Ctr., The Many Faces of Displacement: IDPs in Zimbabwe 38 n.158 (2008).
12. Cash Crunch Hits Farmers as Planting Season Nears, Zimb. Indep., 20 Aug. 2009.
13. Allison Goebel, "We Are Working for Nothing": Livelihoods and Gender Relations in Rural Zimbabwe, 2000-2006, 41 Can. J. Afr. Stud. 226, 236, 242 (2007).
14. Id. at 243.
15. Hany Besada & Nicky Moyo, Zimbabwe in Crisis: Mugabe's Policies and Failures 16 (Ctr. for Int'l Governance Innovation, Working Paper No. 38, 2008).
16. Press Release, Human Rights Watch, Zimbabwe: Food Used As Political Weapon (24 Oct. 2003), available at http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2003/10/23/ zimbabwe-food-usedpolitical-weapon.
17. Id.
18. World Food Programme, Regional Bureau for Southern Africa, 2007 Needs for WFP Projects and Operations 38 (2006).
19. Besada & Moyo, Zimbabwe in Crisis, supra note 15, at 11.
20. U.S. Agency for Int'l Dev. (USAID), Zimbabwe-Complex Emergency (13 Feb. 2009).
21. The Elders' Zimbabwe Initiative, Report on the Visit to Southern Africa 5 (Nov. 2008).
22. World Food Program, WFP in Zimbabwe-Facts and Figures 24 Feb. 2009, available at http://www.wfp.org/stories/wfp-facts-and-figures-zimbabwe.
23. The Elders' Zimbabwe Initiative, supra note 21.
24. Human Rights Watch, Zimbabwe: Reverse Ban on Food Aid to Rural Areas (2008).
25. Famine Early Warning Systems Network, Zimbabwe Food Security Outlook 1 (Apr. 2009).
26. United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: Zimbabwe, Monthly Humanitarian Update 5 (Oct. 2009).
27. Famine Early Warning Systems Network, Zimbabwe Food Security Update 1 (Nov. 2009).
28. UN Special Envoy on Zimbabwean Evictions Briefs Security Council, UN News Ctr., 27 July 2005, available at http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID= 15181&Cr=zimbabwe&Cr1=.
29. Deborah Potts, "Restoring Order": Operation Murambatsvina and the Urban Crisis in Zimbabwe, 32 J. S. Afr. Stud. 273, 276 (2006).
30. Michael Bratton & Eldred Masunungure, Popular Reactions to State Repression: Murambatsvina in Zimbabwe, 106 Afr. Aff. 21, 25 (2006).
31. Internal Displacement Monitoring Ctr., supra note 11, at 39.
32. The Elders' Zimbabwe Initiative, supra note 21, at 1.
33. Cent. Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook 2008 (2008).
34. Uni ted Nations Conference on Trade & Dev., UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics (2008).
35. Id.
36. According to weight for age indicators. World Bank, World Development Indicators Database (Apr. 2010), available at http://ddp-ext.worldbank.org/ext/ ddpreports/ViewSharedReport?REPORT-ID=9147&REQUEST-TYPE=VIEWADVANCED.
37. The Elders' Zimbabwe Initiative, supra note 21, at 2.
38. Physi ci ans for Human Rights, Health in Rui ns : A Man-Made Disaster in Zimbabwe (2009).
39. United Kingdom Department for International Development, Zimbabwe: Key Facts, available at http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Where-we-work/Africa-Eastern-- Southern/Zimbabwe/Key-facts/.
40. UNICEF Humanitarian Action Report 2008: Zimbabwe (2008).
41. Celia W. Dugger, Mugabe Claims Security Ministries, Jeopardizing Deal, N.Y. Ti mes, 12 Oct. 2008, at A6
42. Steve H. Hanke, R.I.P. Zimbabwe Dollar (5 Feb. 2009), available at http://www.cato.org/zimbabwe.
43. Joshua Hammer, Dictator Mugabe Makes a Comeback, N.Y. Rev. Books, 25 Oct. 2009, at 49.
44. United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Zimbabwe: Cholera Update 1 (15 July 2009), available at http://ochaonline.un. org/OchaLinkClick.aspx?link=ocha&docId=1112226.
45. Norma Kriger, Zanu (PF) Strategies in General Elections, 1980-2000: Discourse and Coercion, 104 Afr. Aff. 1 (2005).
46. AIDS-Free World, Electing to Rape: Sexual Terror in Mugabe's Zimbabwe 8 (2009).
47. Martin Meredith, The Fate of Africa: A Hi story of Fifty Years of Independence 631 (2005).
48. Robert Martin, The Rule of Law in Zimbabwe, 95 Round Table 239, 251 (2006).
49. Meredith, supra note 47, at 641.
50. Joshua Hammer, The Reign of Thuggery, N.Y. Rev. Books, 26 June 2008, at 27.
51. Robert Calderisi, The Trouble wi th Africa: Why Forei gn Aid Isn 't Working 93 (2006).
52. Godwin, supra note 5, at 205.
53. Genoci de Watch, Politicide Warni ng : Zimbabwe (2008).
54. Pan-African Parliament, Report of the Pan African Parliament Election Observer Miss ion: Presidenti al Run-Off Election and House of Ass embly By-Elections, Republic of Zimbabwe (27 June 2008).
55. Human Rights Watch, False Dawn: The Zimbabwe Power-Shari ng Governm ent's Fai lure To Deliver Human Rights Improvements 5-6 (2009).
56. Id. at 8.
57. Unspeakably Rude to the Old Man, Economist, 30 Aug. 2008, at 47.
58. Human Rights Watch, False Dawn, supra note 55, at 11.
59. AIDS-Free World, supra note 46.
60. Dugger, supra note 41.
61. Hammer, Dictator Mugabe Makes a Comeback, supra note 43, at 49.
62. Human Rights Watch, False Dawn, supra note 55, at 4.
63. Hammer, Dictator Mugabe Makes a Comeback, supra note 43, at 49.
64. Internal Displacement Monitoring Ctr., supra note 11, at 4.
65. Id. at 14.
66. African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa, adopted 22 Oct. 2009.
67. Kitsepile Nyathi, Zimbabwe: Refugee Crisis as Citizens Rush To Leave Their Country, Dai ly Nation (Kenya), 22 Mar. 2007.
68. Cent. Intelligence Agency, supra note 33.
69. Joshua Hammer, Will He Rule South Africa?, N.Y. Rev. Books, 12 Feb. 2009, at 28.
70. Amrita Rangasami, "Failure of Exchange Entitlements" Theory of Famine: A Response, 20 Econ. & Pol. Wkly 1747, 1749 (1985).
71. Id.
72. Alex De Waal, AIDS, Hunger And Destitution: Theory And Evidence for the "New Variant Famines" Hypothesis in Africa, in The New Famines: Why Fami nes Persist in an Era of Globali zati on 90 (Stephen Devereux ed., 2007).
73. UNAIDS, Zimbabwe, available at http://www.unaids.org/en/CountryResponses/ Countries/zimbabwe.asp.
74. De Waal, supra note 72, at 120.
75. David Marcus, Famine Crimes in International Law, 97 Am. J. Int'l L. 245, 246-47 (2003).
76. Trevor Grundy, Whatever Happened to Didymus Mutasa?, ICC-Africa Update No. 78 (Inst. for War & Peace Reporting), 4 Oct. 2006, available at http://www.iwpr.net/report-news/whatever-happened-didymus-mutasa.
77. Jenny Edkins, The Criminalization of Mass Starvations: From Natural Disaster to Crimes Against Humanity, in The New Fami nes, supra note 72, at 50, 57.
78. Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, adopted 17 July 1998, art. 7(1)(k), U.N. Doc. A/CONF.183/9 (1998), 2187 U.N.T.S. 90 (entered into force 1 July 2002).
79. Id. art. 7(1)(d).
80. Id. art. 7(2)(c).
81. Id. art. 7(1)(g).
82. Ian Phimister & Brian Raftopoulos, Mugabe, Mbeki and the Politics of Anti-Imperialism, 31 Rev. Afr. Pol. Econ. 385 (2004).
83. Padraig O'Malley, South Africa's Failure in Zimbabwe, Boston Globe, 30 Mar. 2005.
84. Africa Rejects Action on Zimbabwe, BBC News, 24 June 2005.
85. AU Suspends Report on Zimbabwe Rights Abuses, IRIN, 8 July 2006.
86. Southern African Development Community, Extra-ordinary SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government, Dar-es-Salaam (29 Mar. 2007), available at http://www.sadc.int/archives/read/news/984.
87. Zimbabwe Chair of UN Green Commission "Destroyed Seized Farm," Deutsche Press e- Agentur, 4 Sept. 2007.
88. Zimbabwe Situation "Embarrassing": AU Chief, Rueters, 14 Mar. 2007.
89. Joshua Hammer, Scandal in Africa, N.Y. Rev. Books, 14 Aug. 2008, at 4.
90. Zimbabwe: The Road to Talks, Afr. Res. Bull., 1-31 July 2008, at 17600.
91. The Elders' Zimbabwe Initiative, supra note 21, at 7.
92. African Union Summit Resolution on Zimbabwe, adopted 1 July 2008, Afr. Union 11th Sess.
93. Mugabe Wriggles off the Hook, Zi mb. Indep., 10 Sept. 2009.
94. Jonathan Elliott, Zimbabwe: Hold the Line, Huffi ng ton Post, 29 Sept. 2009, available at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-elliott/zimbabwe-hold- the-line-b-303337.html?view=screen.
95. Hammer, Will He Rule South Africa?, supra note 69, at 30.
96. Id. at 31.
97. Robert Mugabe off the Hook as Usual, Economist, 12 Sept. 2009, at 52.
98. Jacob Zuma, President, SADC, Opening Speech of the 29th Ordinary Summit of the SADC Heads of States and Government (7 Sept. 2009).
99. Ian Taylor & Paul Williams, The Limits of Engagement: British Foreign Policy and the Crisis in Zimbabwe, 78 Int'l Aff. 547, 558 (2002).
100. African Union Denounces EU "Double Standards" over Zimbabwe, Agence France-Press e, 21 Mar. 2007.
101. Robert Gabriel Mugabe, President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Statement at the United Nations World Food Summit (17 Nov. 2009).
102. Calderisi, supra note 51, at 93.
103. United Kingdom Parliament, House of Commons Hansard Written Answers: Zimbabwe (2 Mar. 2004).
104. Fanuel Jongwe, Pressure Mounts on Mugabe with Blair Sanctions Call, Agence France- Press e, 21 Mar. 2007.
105. Zimbabwe: The Road to Talks, supra note 90, at 17602.
106. African Union Has Failed the People of Zimbabwe, Gazette (Montreal), 6 July 2008, at A16.
107. G8 Leaders, Statement on Zimbabwe, Hokkaido Toyako Summit (8 July 2008).
108. Hammer, Dictator Mugabe Makes a Comeback, supra note 43, at 49.
109. A Warm Welcome but Little Money, Economist, 20 June 2009, at 45.
110. Press Release, United Nations Security Council, Security Council Fails To Adopt Sanctions Against Zimbabwe Leadership as Two Permanent Members Cast Negative Votes (11 July 2008), available at http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/ 2008/sc9396.doc.htm.
111. United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Regional Update No. 8-Cholera Outbreaks/Acute Water Diarrhea in Southern Africa (3 Apr. 2009), available at http://ochaonline.un.org/OchaLinkClick.aspx?link= ocha&docId=1109530
112. Reaching Rock Bottom, Economist, 6 Dec. 2008, at 65.
113. Geoffrey York, China Keeps Bad Company, Globe & Mail (Canada), 4 Mar. 2006.
114. Press Release, United Nations Security Council, supra note 110.
115. Fury as Zimbabwe Sanctions Vetoed, BBC News, 7 July 2008.
116. Press Release, United Nations Security Council, Security Council Condemns Violent Campaign Against Political Opposition in Zimbabwe; Regrets Failure To Hold Free, Fair Election, in Presidential Statement (23 June 2008), available at http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2008/sc9369.doc.htm.
117. Magnus Killander, The African Peer Review Mechanism and Human Rights: The First Reviews and the Way Forward, 30 Hum. Rts. Q. 41, 45 n.25, 55 (2008).
118. African Peer Review Mechanism, Participating Countries, available at http://www.aprminternational.org/.
119. Mike Campbell (Pvt) Ltd v. Republic of Zimbabwe, [2008] SADC (T) Case No. 2/2007.
120. Out with Those White Farmers; Zimbabwe's Land Invasions, Economist, 19 Sept. 2009, at 60.
121. AIDS-Free World, supra note 46, at 40.
122. Constitutive Act of the African Union, adopted 11 July 2000 (entered into force 26 May 2001).
123. Sonia Verma, Mugabe Gets Quiet Nod from African Leaders, Globe & Mail (Canada), 1 July 2008.
124. Tutu Urges Zimbabwe Intervention, BBC News, 29 June 2008.
125. Genoci de Watch, supra note 53.
126. Ecumenical Zimbabwe Network, Call for International Intervention in Zimbabwe, Pambazuka News, 25 June 2008.
127. Dan Kuwali, The African Union and the Challenges of Implementing the "Responsibility to Protect," Poli cy Notes 2009/4 (Nordic Afr. Ist.).
128. James E. Shircliffe, Jr., Tip of the African Spear: Forging an Expeditionary Capability for a Troubled Continent, RUSI J., Aug. 2007, at 58, 58-59.
129. Katharine Houreld, Odinga Calls for Intervention in Zimbabwe, Mail & Guardi an (S. Afr.), 8 Dec. 2008.
130. Paul D. Williams, From Non-Intervention to Non-Indifference: The Origins and Development of the African Union's Security Culture, 106 Afr. Aff. 253, 270 (2007).
131. Int'l Crisis Group, Ending Zimbabwe's Nightmare: A Possible Way Forward 10 (16 Dec. 2008).
132. Mario J. Azevedo & Jean-Bédel Bokassa, Central African Republic: History and Politics, in New Encyclopedi a of Africa Vol. 1, at 254 (John Middleton & Joseph C. Miller eds., 2007).
133. Fall of Idi Amin, 14 Econ. & Pol. Wkly 907 (1979);
134. Library of Cong ress, Fed. Research Division, Uganda: A Country Study (Rita M. Byrnes ed., 2d ed. 1990).
135. Rhoda E. Howard, Human Rights in Comm onwealth Africa 99-107 (1986).
136. Id. at 70.
137. Gregory Stanton & Helen Fein, Int'l Ass'n of Genocide Scholars, Letter to the Editor of the New York Times (26 Dec. 2008) (unpublished).
138. Tino Zhakata, ICC Prosecution of Mugabe Urged, ICC-Africa Update No. 51 (Inst. For War & Peace Reporting), 27 Jan. 2006, available at http://www.iwpr.net/report-news/icc-prosecution-mugabe-urged.
139. Australia Joins NZ on Push over Zimbabwe, NZHerald, 2 July 2005.
140. Press Release, International Criminal Court, ICC Issues a Warrant of Arrest for Omar Al Bashir, President of Sudan (4 Mar. 2009).
141. Henry Rousso, Justice, History and Memory in France: Reflections on the Papon Trial, in Politics and the Past: On Repairing Historical Inj usti ces 227 (John Torpey ed., 2003).
142. Brian Adeba, MP's Motion Would Indict Mugabe, Embass y: Canada's Forei gn Poli cy Newspaper, 5 Apr. 2006, at 1, 12.
143. Int'l Comm 'n on Interventi on & State Sovereignty, The Respons ibility To Protect (2001).
144. Id. at xii.
145. Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, adopted 28 Apr. 2006, S.C. Res. 1674, U.N. SCOR, 5430th mtg., ¶ 26, U.N. Doc. S/RES/1674 (2006).
146. Kuwali, supra note 127;
147. Kristiana Powell & Stephen Baranyi, North-South Ins t., Delivering on the Respons ibility To Protect in Africa (2005).
148. Global Ctr. for the Responsibility to Protect, Zimbabwe: What Can Be Done, Who Must Act? Meeting Summary (30 Jan. 2009), available at http://globalr2p.org/media/pdf/MtgSummZimJan2009.pdf.
149. Edward B. Davis, Sheila M. Davis & Terry Mays, The Immediate Response Forces of the European Union and NATO 15 (Montreal, Int'l Studies Assn. 17 Mar. 2004).
150. The Elders, supra note 21, at 3.
151. USAID, supra note 20.
152. Int'l Crisis Group, supra note 131, at 8.