Viewpoint by Chief Fortune Charumbira
The author is from Vice President of the Pan African Parliament (PAP), and President of the Chief Council in his home country Zimbabwe He gave an opening speech to the Conference titled ‘We the People: Peace in the Horn & the Safety and Future of the Eritrean People’ 12-14 December 2018. He noted that the success of the conference has “the potential to transform” the lives of millions of Eritreans “who have been suffering for several years”. The EU that preaches the respect for human rights as enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “must be louder in calling for the end of ill treatment of migrants”. The following are extensive excerpts from his address.
BRUSSELS (IDN) – For me, this conference is about life and death. There is no any other rightful time to be discussing this critical issue that has become a thorn in the flesh to some of us who are very eager to see a better world for all of us.
It is therefore, my sincere hope that this conference will see us being able to come up with a workable and feasible work-plan that can be used to come up with solutions to the affected colleagues in the Horn of Africa.
Some of you have just heard that I am the Vice President (VP) of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) but you may have not heard a lot about the work that we do.
PAP is an organ of the African Union. It is the parliament that represents the voice of the African people. Among other functions, it is the guardian of democracy, human rights, good governance, accountability and transparency on the African continent.
Over the past two days, I have listened to many refugees; it has been shocking to hear their stories. Their testimonies reveal modern-day slavery in Africa. Heart-breaking and horrific stories that I have been hearing here are totally a reflection of the violation of human rights of highest order. We need to do all in our power to stop slavery on the African continent.
The testimonies we received with regards to inhuman experiences encountered by Eritrean migrants and those who had first hand ordeals in the hands of cruel human traffickers are horrible and devastating.
The numbers that spill over millions of Eritreans have been systematically displaced from their motherland and they are now living as destitutes all over the world with a couple of thousands seeking refuge in Ethopia, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Israel and Libya among others.
The story of the Afar people whose story is characterised by marginalisation, displacement, dispossession, victimisation and struggle is equally touching and requires urgent attention.
Those who find themselves in countries like Libya end up going through cruel experiences through the hands of prisons officials, Coast Guards who man borders to ensure no one crosses to Europe.
I would like to think that in the manner EU preaches the respect for human rights as enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), their voices must be louder in calling for the end of ill treatment of migrants.
Shockingly, we were told that often, Europe’s invisible hand is ever present in funding Coastal Guards who discriminately harass our brothers and sisters and borders. Another shocking revelation is that of the whole cartel and network of very powerful rich people who are involved in the human trafficking trade in Europe and in Africa
I would like to think that in the manner EU preaches the respect for human rights as enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), their voices must be louder in calling for the end of ill treatment of migrants.
Europe which projects itself as champion and policemen of human rights risks losing dignity and integrity if they continue to respect the free movement of goods and commodities across continents and also respecting the rights of wildlife on the African Continent but at same time contributing to the inhuman and degrading treatment of African migrants
I can say that as PAP, we now have a full picture of what is going on in The Horn.
My heart bleeds when we continue to talk about continuous slavery on the people of Africa. I see our colleagues following a familiar but unpleasant journey that our grant forefathers travelled during the slave trade.
As Vice President of PAP, I can assure you that we are going to compile all the sad stories that I have heard and present them to our parliament so that this issue will be put on the agenda on our next meeting session in February 2019.
As also a President of the Chief Council in my home country Zimbabwe, I am the custodian of our morals and cultural values and because of that; I know very well that it’s shockingly evil to treat a human being as an animal.
Today, Africans are being seen as nuisance in the West with many of brothers and sisters are perishing as they try to run away from their countries. We need to have a deeper understanding of how this whole thing started.
In African Culture, human life is sacrosanct and we respect both the living and the dead. It is therefore worrying when our colleagues across the oceans (EU of course) seem to be taking a lukewarm approach in ending the problems that are affecting innocent people.
In order to have an ideal world where human beings are treated as equals, it is high time that we embrace democracy in its totality – where people no matter which part of the world they come from – they deserve to be treated with respect and dignity.
Today, Africans are being seen as nuisance in the West with many of brothers and sisters are perishing as they try to run away from their countries. We need to have a deeper understanding of how this whole thing started.
The problems affecting the third world especially African continent are explicable in terms of the complex nature of such societies. An attempt at understanding the continent outside the various historical trajectories it went through is an exercise in futility. The continent lacks a distinctive historicity hence Mbembe describes the postcolony as “chaotically pluralistic”.
[Joseph-Achille Mbembe, known as Achille Mbembe, is a Cameroonian philosopher, political theorist, and public intellectual.]
The Europeans themselves were the first to be illegal migrants in Africa and they did it with clear conscience but today they are now treating our brothers and sisters like animals.
Because of the emotive nature of this subject, allow me to be just blunt by saying that the problems that we have in Africa at large and in the horn in particular, it’s a creation of the Westerners who decided to sit somewhere in Berlin in 1884 and divided our motherland. The rest that followed only worked to brew chaos in Africa.
The Europeans themselves were the first to be illegal migrants in Africa and they did it with clear conscience but today they are now treating our brothers and sisters like animals.
The historical legacy of slavery, colonialism and a perpetual struggle to be find authentic self-expression has only served to produce multifaceted challenges. At the heart of these struggles lies the need to achieve distributive justice in the face of material lack and political gamesmanship.
The embers of hope ignited by colonial independence are fast dying out with mass disillusionment, civil unrest and structural violence threatening the very foundations of independence.
The widespread use of force, coercion and brutality to achieve political goals has remained indelibly enmeshed in the horn of Africa. Such use of violence to quell real or perceived threats to national security has left deep scars among the communities in Africa. There is apparent lack of open dialogue on the need to correct past and on-going threats to peace resulting in the sustenance of both open and latent strife among the citizens.
There is urgent need for European Union and African Union to find each other and call for the end of ill-treatment of immigrants. We urge the EU to take a common position and speak with one strong voice against the ill-treatment of Eritrea.
As I conclude, may I call upon participants at this conference to come up with a catalogue of issues with clear action plan of what has to be done and I promise that I will present the same to the PAP and the African Heads of States. The PAP will also engage the European Parliament on the matter. The African Union under the framework of EU-AU strategy will be seized with the matter. [IDN-InDepthNews – 14 December 2018]
More information is available on Facebook.com/asmara.eritrea.50702, @EritreaPress, #ChangeinEritrea and through Email: Eritreapress@gmail.com
Photo: Chief Fortune Charumbira. Credit: Brigitte Meuwissen
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