The Sunday Mail
Online Reporter
Illegal economic sanctions have caused untold suffering to ordinary Zimbabweans and should be lifted, Ambassador of the State of Palestine to Zimbabwe Tamer Almassri, has said.
He said this during commemorations of the regional Anti-Sanctions Day on Monday.
In 2019, SADC declared October 25 as the day for the regional bloc to campaign for the unconditional removal of sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.
Ambassador Almassri said the illegal sanctions are tantamount to “the collective punishment of the Zimbabwean people”.
“These illegal economic sanctions gravely impede Zimbabwe’s efforts to improve its economy and people’s livelihood, and tramples on the Zimbabwean people’s right to subsistence and development, thus they must be immediately and completely lifted.
“Sanctions amount to collective punishment of the Zimbabwean people, with millions of innocents harmed daily and nothing achieved but deeper tensions,” said Ambassador Almassri.
“Palestine firmly opposes these unilateral sanctions against Zimbabwe that severely violate the basic norms governing international relations, and once again demonstrate to the world the typical double standards and bullyism.
“The real sanctions must be applied against countries like the apartheid state of Israel, which for over seven decades has been occupying the Holy Land of Palestine.”
He said the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe do not meet the standard criteria of international sanctions, namely, having a lawful purpose, be proportional, and should not harm the human rights of ordinary citizens.
