Zim uniformed forces should be barred from peacekeeping missions

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) says it is surprised and shocked at the same time by the continued use of Zimbabwe's uniformed forces by the United Nations in its peacekeeping Missions.

ZCTU alleges that these are the same uniformed forces that have a well proven track record in violent tendencies and are the instruments that have been used to suppress any voice of dissent amongst innocent citizens.

"We have always wondered what peace these uniformed forces can keep in other countries when they are the same forces that brutally terrorise their own people back home," said ZCTU in a press statement.

The International Labour Organization's Commission of Inquiry into trade union and human rights abuses in Zimbabwe has as one of its recommendations that the country's law enforcement agencies, uniformed forces included be trained in human rights issues. This was after the Commission of Inquiry found that these agencies have been used to commit human and trade union rights violations.

"We are tempted to accuse the United Nations of double standards because on the other hand, through its various agencies, it has denounced the heavy handedness of Zimbabwe's uniformed forces, but on the other hand they continue to make use of them. These moves by the United Nations defy logic," concluded the statement issued by Japhet Moyo the ZCTU Secretary General.