Zimbabwe

Last year I mentioned in a blog entry that Zimbabwe had over 1,000% inflation rate. Well here is another gem of information – For its report to the African Commission (submitted six years late) the country of Zimbabwe’s 1992 report was “a shameless copy of the annual United States Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices between 1986 and 1991. The U.S. reports were plagiarized verbatim in some parts and in other areas poorly edited where strong “negative” statements were made regarding the status of, in particular, civil and political rights” (Patrick Tiger “State Reporting to the African Commission: The Case of Zimbabwe” Journal of African Law, Vol. 38, No. 1 (1994) pgs. 64-66). I literally laughed out loud when I read this. Now that is a very sad statement for a state’s human rights record not to mention ethical mentality when a national report handed to an international legal body is nothing more than a botched photocopy of anther states human rights analysis of your state! The U.S. suddenly looks glowingly honest, compared to Zimbabwe at least.

As a side note-
The life expectancy for men in Zimbabwe is 34 years.