Zimbabwe Human Rights Petition

Zimbabwe Vigil Coalition press release

A petition signed by over 15,000 people is to be handed over to the UN in London at 3 pm on Wednesday, 26 February. 

The petition, addressed to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and UN Special Rapporteur for Torture, expresses alarm at growing human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. It urges the Security Council to send a team to Zimbabwe to investigate the abuses. 

    A copy of the petition is to be handed to Clare Short, the International Development Secretary, at a meeting in the lobby of the House of Commons at 12.45 pm on the day. 

It will be presented by a group of asylum seekers who have all themselves been victims of torture at the hands of the Mugabe regime. 

The 15,000 signatures have been collected from passers-by at a vigil held from 12.00 to 18.00 every Saturday since last October outside the Zimbabwe High Commission.

As well as the UN offices at Millbank Tower and Mrs Short, copies of the petition will also be presented to the European Parliament’s office in London and the High Commissions of South Africa and Nigeria – two members of the Commonwealth troika on Zimbabwe who are ignoring the human rights abuses there.

An attempt will also be made to hand the petition to the Zimbabwe High Commission.

Those presenting the petition, accompanied by Zimbabwean exiles and human rights supporters, will travel to the various locations in an open-top bus decorated with Zimbabwean flags, slogans and pictures. The bus will leave from outside the Zimbabwe High Commission, 429 Strand, at 11 am and will drive around central London until 12.15 pm when it will arrive at the House of Commons, where MPs will be lobbied prior to the meeting with Clare Short at 12.45 pm. The bus will then make another tour of central London before arriving at Millbank Tower at 3 pm. The other petitions will be delivered during the day.

NOTE:

· The torture victims will be available for interview. Biographical details will be in a press pack distributed on the day.

· Zimbabwean musicians will be on board the bus.

· Press representatives may travel on the bus if they wish.

Enquiries/further informatin contact:

Dennis Benton

Press Officer, Zimbabwe Vigil Coalition

Tel: 020 7272 1015

Email: rose@grbenton.demon.co.uk

Source for this page: Zimbabwe Vigil Coalition
Tel: 020 7272 1015
rose@grbenton.demon.co.uk

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