When you are going through hell, keep going.
Winston Churchill
Last Saturday, Aug 6, the Swaziland Youth Congress (Swayoco) planned a 15th anniversary gathering which the police were certain to attend. What we take for granted in Canada, the freedom to gather, is not a privilege in Swaziland. The "Royal Police" used teargas, rubber bullets and live ammunition on the youth. Three men were hit by the bullets and two women were taken to the police station to be severely beaten while being questioned.
Aug 6 Forward ever - SWAYOCO
Aug 6 Comrade shot by police
Aug 6 Another rally gone chaotic
Political parties and political gatherings have been illegal in Swaziland since the 1973 Decree of king Sobhuza II. Canada and Swaziland have both ratified the Commonwealth Harare Declaration of 1991 but that seems irrelevant. Chapter 9 which speaks of "promoting democracy" is of no significance. It seems some countries in the Commonwealth "are more equal than others"!
Aug 7 Swaziland Youth Congress’s 15th Anniversary: police Victims profiles
Aug 9 Politics makes a tentative comeback
Police brutality in Swaziland is an ugly but constant theme as Amnesty International reports indicate. From Nov 1990 - "Black Wednesday", Winston Churchill
Last Saturday, Aug 6, the Swaziland Youth Congress (Swayoco) planned a 15th anniversary gathering which the police were certain to attend. What we take for granted in Canada, the freedom to gather, is not a privilege in Swaziland. The "Royal Police" used teargas, rubber bullets and live ammunition on the youth. Three men were hit by the bullets and two women were taken to the police station to be severely beaten while being questioned.
Aug 6 Forward ever - SWAYOCO
Aug 6 Comrade shot by police
Aug 6 Another rally gone chaotic
Political parties and political gatherings have been illegal in Swaziland since the 1973 Decree of king Sobhuza II. Canada and Swaziland have both ratified the Commonwealth Harare Declaration of 1991 but that seems irrelevant. Chapter 9 which speaks of "promoting democracy" is of no significance. It seems some countries in the Commonwealth "are more equal than others"!
Aug 7 Swaziland Youth Congress’s 15th Anniversary: police Victims profiles
Aug 9 Politics makes a tentative comeback
when police and army units beat students at the University of Swaziland campus - until the present, there has been only one response by the authorities as students and youths have formed protests. The authorities physically smash their opposition!
Amnesty International: Swaziland
In Sept 2005, university students marched to the capital to meet with the Minister of Education about their promised scholarships - they were greeted with water cannons and tear gas. In Mswati's kingdom all must appear peaceful and if anyone is so bold as to criticize, then she or he must be prepared to be tortured when the police take them to be "interviewed".
Please write a letter or send an e-mail calling for
1) an end to police brutality and close monitoring of events in Swaziland
2) the respect of human rights
3) an immediate unbanning of political parties
4) the Commonwealth and Canada to end their complacency
Write to
Mr Don McKinnon
The Commonwealth Secretary-General
info@commonwealth.int
Ms Rabab Fatima
Adviser & Head of Human Rights Unit
r.fatima@commonwealth.int
Ms Sandelle Scrimshaw
Canadian High Commissioner to South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland and Lesotho
pret@dfait-maeci.gc.ca
Mr Peter MacKay
Minister of Foreign Affairs
MacKay.P@parl.gc.ca
Other addressed can be found at http://swazilandsolidaritynetworkcanada.wikispaces.com/GET+INVOLVED
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