Rights Group Says Zimbabwe Starves Dissidents [To Terri's parents: The UN supports you!]

The NYT - INternational Section ^ | Oct 25, 2003 | Michael Wines

[summer]

Rights Group Says Zimbabwe Starves Dissidents

By MICHAEL WINES

Published: October 25, 2003

JOHANNESBURG, Oct. 24 — On the heels of new reports of growing desperation in Zimbabwe, Human Rights Watch charged Friday that the nation's rulers were using its limited food supplies as a weapon of political control.

In a lengthy report on conditions inside Zimbabwe, Human Rights Watch said government relief programs regularly withheld food from critics of the ruling political party, ZANU-PF, and often from entire classes of people, like city dwellers, many of whom are seen as opponents of ZANU-PF.

But the watchdog group also offered muted criticism of international relief agencies, saying some food donors were reluctant to feed supporters of Zimbabwe's authoritarian government out of concern that they could be supporting an oppressive government.

"Donors that have withdrawn support for humanitarian programs in Zimbabwe should reconsider their duty under international law to assist those in need," it said.

The report was issued against a backdrop of ever more bleak accounts of deprivation in Zimbabwe, where drought and a chaotic land-redistribution program have all but destroyed agriculture and wrecked the economy.

Zimbabwe once was an exporter of farm goods. But since 2000, the sometimes brutal takeover of white-owned commercial farms by politically connected supporters of the government has brought crop production to a near standstill.

Five million of Zimbabwe's 12 million-plus citizens are short of food, and the United Nations' World Food Program has said that as many as 7 million may require emergency relief in the next year.

On Wednesday, the police beat and arrested 400 demonstrators in African Unity Square in central Harare, the capital, after a protest to demand a new constitution and changes in the country's legal system.

A monthly report by United Nations officials in Zimbabwe, issued on Thursday, cited growing evidence that families were turning to child labor and prostitution in an effort to cope with worsening food shortages. The report stated that most Zimbabwean provinces have exhausted supplies of meat, and that government price controls and bans on private imports of food have only worsened the hunger crisis.

[summer]

A monthly report by United Nations officials in Zimbabwe, issued on Thursday, cited growing evidence that families were turning to child labor and prostitution in an effort to cope with worsening food shortages.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, take a look at this!

It seems that way over there in Zimbabwe, the Uniter Nations and Human Rights Watch are very upset that parents are being forced to see their own children starve to death!

Can you imagine? The UN and Human Rights Watch AGREE with all of you here on FR, that forcing Terri's parents to watch her starve to death is inhumane.

What do you think of THAT? You have SUPPORTERS!

Well, here's what I think: I agree that forcing a parent to watch their child starve to death goes against every human emotion in our hearts and minds, and by that I mean anyone who has more than half a brain and more than a tin heart.

I have talked to several people of various political stripes about the Terri case, and the one side they rally on is the side of the parents in this matter.

If Terri's husband wants to start a new life, then, I say GO! Start your new life! We understand! Good bye!

But to parents who want to stay, and love their daughter, and care for her, I say the UN and the Human RIghts Watch Group just came out in strong support of the recent actions taken by FL Gov Jeb Bush and the FL Lawmakers.

So, to Terri's parents, take heart! Over in Zimbabwe there are parents being forced to see their children starve to death -- and VARIOUS "RIGHTS GROUPS" are supporting these parents! WE SUPPORT YOU, TOO! ON ALL SIDES OF THE POLITICAL AISLE!

[FR_addict]

I finally agree with the UN on something.

[summer]

ME TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thank you for your post here, FR_addict. Should there be a trial in the upcoming weeks or months to attempt to undo what Gov Jeb Bush did, I hope the GOP calls every member of the UN and Human Rights Watch, and asks them to explain why it is NOT OK for parents to watch their children starve to death in Zimbabwe!

I'M WAITING TO HEAR THAT TESTIMONY BECAUSE WE'VE GOT THE SAME PROBLEM HERE IN FL: SOME IDIOTS EXPECT PARENTS TO WATCH THEIR CHILDREN STARVE TO DEATH. I SAY NO.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

ping

[summer]

THANK YOU FOR PINGING THIS IMPORTANT THREAD.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

Check out the AfricaWatch bump list, Clive has hundreds of articles on Zimbabwe.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/involved?group=214

[summer]

Hey, I was thinking: Let's buy Judge Greer a one-way ticket to Zimbabwe, so he can solve the problem over there by issuing a bunch of judicial decisions from the bench. He can rule that actually, the UN and Human Rights Watch Group are screw up, and it is "legally A-OK" for parents to be forced to watch their children starve to death. Then, the UN and Human Rights Watch Group can duke it out with Judge Greer if they disagree. Or they can sit back and say, "OK, your honor, that sounds like a solution: we make this inhumane situation 'legal' and we just forget about it."
You think it will work? Solving the world's problems by shipping these FL judges out there to Africa and other 3rd world countries??? Then we'd be rid of these judges here at home and THAT would solve OUR problems.

[summer]

bttt

[Dog Gone]

I would definitely be in favor of Terri's parents gaining guardianship from her husband. That is an extremely unusual thing to happen, and it may not be possible. This, though, is an unusual case.

However, if the legal system allows him to completely wash his hands of the situation, legally and financially, he has very weak grounds to object from a moral standpoint. He's clearly divorced her in mind, if not legally.

[summer]

Yes, exactly - it is a divorce already. He is a control freak to not walk away. He has a new life. He has a new family. So, go!

There are other cases just as unusual in the opposite direction, where a spouse will stay and care for a spouse for decades even though the spouse is in a vegetable state or somewhat cognizant but not able to care for oneself.

That is not the case here. Once a spouse begins a new life, the court should have recognized that as equivalent to something like a divorce, and legally separated both. He does not want to stay with Terri. Fine!

Meanwhile, I practically threw up after reading the NYT recent editorial on this matter, as they did not even mention the fact Terri has two biological parents, both alive, who are still married, and want to care for her. HELLO NYT! EVER HEAR OF PARENTS CARING FOR THEIR CHILDREN?

Well, as a teacher that is what i hope and pray for each day. And, no court or judge or newspaper is ever going to convince me it is "wrong" or "illegal" for parents to care for their child. SORRY! NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! GET WITH THE PROGRAM, NYT: PARENT AND CHILD IS A SACRED BOND THAT EVEN YOU CAN NOT BREAK. SPOUSES MAY COME AND GO, BUT A BIOLOGICAL PARENT IS A BIOLOGICAL PARENT. FOREVER.

[Guillermo]

I know the EU wouldn't allow GM corn to be imported to Zim.

What was the UN's position on that?

[summer]

I don't know about "corn" but if the UN and Human Rights Watch are willing to stand with Gov Bush on this issue:

a parent should NOT be forced to watch their own child starve to death

-- then, the UN, Human Rights Watch, the FL Lawmakers AND Gov Bush are ALL on the same page HERE.

[summer]

FYI. A good article.

[summer]

What do you think of this article?

[Pan_Yans Wife]

And yet the UN allows Robert Mugabe, whose citizens are starving to death, to address the UN and politely applaud. Mugabe murders his people, bans free speech, ruins newspapers, and starves the children of Zimbabwe. The UN is not a staunch supporter of life.

I wouldn't put too much faith in support of the UN.

[summer]

If the UN has changed its position and NOW says that a parent should not be forced to watch their child starve to death, then, the UN has reached a position I can agree with.

Thanks for your post.

[summer]

The media is getting it right in this article.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Show me the quote, the report, the analysis, the proof that the UN, an international body, is making a stand for the American citizen, Terri Schiavo.

[summer]

I am trying to make an analogy. You have to use your own mind to see it. Here's the analogy: The UN gets very upset when parents in Zimbabwe are forced to watch their children starve to death. In short, sound familiar? Because that's what is happening here in FL, in my view: A parent is being forced to watch their child starve to death. So, I am saying: The UN must on Terri's parents side in this one! (Because the UN is on the side of those parents faving the same problem over in Zimbabwe.) That's what I meant.

[summer]

faving = facing