CLA turns up heat on Mugabe

Lawyers from around the world have urged their governments to take a more aggressive approach to dealing with the democratic crisis in Zimbabwe, amid a barrage of criticism fired at President Robert Mugabe at last week's Commonwealth Lawyers Association conference in Melbourne.

At the end of the five-day meeting, Commonwealth bar leaders issued a resolution calling on the Mugabe government to uphold the rule of law in Zimbabwe and to stop harassing members of the national judiciary and practising lawyers.

The association also called on Commonwealth political leaders 'to take a more proactive approach to ensure compliance by the government of Zimbabwe with the Commonwealth fundamental principles'.

In its communiqu, the CLA said it was 'gravely concerned for the safety and rights of lawyers and others advocating the rule of law and human rights in Zimbabwe'.

It urged the Mugabe government to 'ensure that members of the judiciary and the legal profession of Zimbabwe are able to discharge their functions independently and without impediment'.

The resolution came against the backdrop of damning criticism of the Mugabe regime by leading Australian lawyers at the conference, including the country's prime minister, former solicitor John Howard, and attorney-general, Daryl Williams.

Last week's CLA conference had to be transferred to Australia because the originally scheduled conference for 2001 in Harare had to be cancelled as a result of the on-going political crisis and civil unrest.

Ron Heinrich, president of the Law Council of Australia, lashed out at the Mugabe government, saying: 'We have been at this conference in Melbourne for one reason only - and that is because of the collapse of a civil society and the fragility of the rule of law.'

Senior figures in the Zimbabwe Law Society - including its president, Sternford Moyo - have been charged with attempting to subvert constitutional government under the Public Order and Security Act, which they deny.

Mr Moyo told the Gazette that lawyers are persistently harassed by the police and by individual supporters of the Mugabe regime.

Jonathan Ames