Zimbabwe Parliament plans to send delegation to US to lobby Biden to lift sanctions 

The former late Special Rapporteur and the current Special Rapporteur, Ms. Elena Douhan stressed unquestionable negative impact of these measures on the enjoyment of all human rights and therefore, called on those States that have imposed sanctions against other states to lift them. 

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, in its Nairobi Conference titled ‘Moving Towards an Inclusive and Equitable Group or Economic Environment of Trade and Development’ adopted at its full tenth Ministerial Session, clearly pronounced itself in paragraph 34 when it said the following;

“States are strongly urged to refrain from promulgating and applying any unilateral economic, financial or trade measures not in accordance with international law and the Charter of the United Nations that impede the full achievement of economic and social development particularly in development countries and that affect commercial interest”.  These actions where cited as to hinder market access, investments and freedom of transit and the well-being of the populations of affected countries. Meaningful trade liberalisation will also require addressing non-tariff measures including inter alia unilateral measures where they may act as unnecessary trade barriers. 

Mr. Speaker Sir, I will move on to the overall impact of the US imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe.  Zimbabwe has lost over US$42 billion in revenue over the past 19 years because of the sanctions.  This includes lost bilateral donor support estimated at US$4.5 billion annually since 2001, US$12 billion in loans from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and the African Development Bank, commercial loans of up to US$18 billion and a GDP reduction of at least US$21 billion.  As a consequence, the significant progress that Zimbabwe had made in the development of its infrastructure as well as health education and other social service delivery systems has been severely reversed.  This has resulted in the most vulnerable sections of the population sinking in deeper poverty.  For instance, the proportion of the population in extreme poverty rose in the aftermath of sanctions. 

Mr. Speaker, to this end, Zimbabwe’s quest to attain the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals has also been impacted on.  Further felt sanctions against Zimbabwe are affecting the smooth running of regional groupings such as the SADC.  The SADC macro-economic conversion targets of low inflation, sustainable budget deficits, minimal public debt, equitable current account balances as well as the formation of a regional monetary union and the movement towards attaining regional industrialisation agenda are being compromised by Zimbabwe’s inability to meet most of its target.

Mr. Speaker Sir, I will now move on to the effects of the sanctions on the main sectors of the Zimbabwean economy. On the access to credit lines, Zimbabwe’s balance of payment’s position has deteriorated significantly since the imposition of the sanctions.  Zimbabwe access to international credit markets was blocked following the enactment of ZIDERA.  The country has been forced to virtually operate on a hand to mouth basis resulting in a significant build-up of external debt arrears.  This unfavourable development has worsened the country’s credit worthiness as the country’s international financial risk profile escalated.  Subsequently, this led to the drying up of traditional sources of external finance from the international financial institutions,  with the country receiving no support from the African Development Banks since 1998, the IMF since 1999 and the World Bank since 2001,  In essence, the IFIs stopped their support to Zimbabwe by instituting a number of suspension of balance of payment support, technical assistance, voting and related rights by the IMF and the declaration of illegibility to access fund resources.

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