Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Harare (Agenzia Fides) - “News of the abduction of Jestina Mukoko is disturbing. She is a respected human rights defender and valued partner of Caritas. Ms Mukoko and all other human rights defenders that have been abducted should be immediately freed. The rule of law and respect for human rights must be re-established in Zimbabwe.”
These were the words of Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, Archbishop of Tegucigalpa (Honduras) and President of Caritas Internationalis, who launched an appeal calling for the immediate release of Jestina Mukoko and other human rights activists taken hostage in Zimbabwe, in a statement sent to Agenzia Fides.
Jestina Mukoko, Director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) was taken from her home on December 3. Her whereabouts remain unknown. “Jestina Mukoko was taken from her house in front of her son last Wednesday morning. Fifteen plain clothes men broke into her family home in a pre-dawn raid around 5am local time.”
The statement continues: “On Monday December 8, two of her colleagues were also forcefully taken from their offices. None of them have been heard from since, nobody has taken responsibility for their disappearance.”
“The ZPP has played a crucial role in documenting politically motivated violence in Zimbabwe. It came to the fore during the run-up to the June presidential election which was sharply criticised at home and abroad,” Caritas mentions.
“Human rights have deteriorated drastically in Zimbabwe this year. In addition to the indirect denial of such basic human rights as food and clean water, healthcare and education, the last few months has been marked with the shootings of illegal diamond miners by the police and army, the arrest of more than seventy people at trade union protests, the detention of civil society activists after peaceful protests and the systematic targeting and detention of human rights defenders,” the note concludes.
Caritas of Ireland (Trócaire) has organized a march on December 13 in Dublin, in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 12/12/2008)
