Readmit Zimbabwe to Commonwealth, Lord Loomba urges

It would be better to work with Zimbabwe within the Commonwealth to address its continuing failings in democracy and human rights than to ostracise the country, crossbench Peer Lord Loomba told the House of Lords in a Grand Committee debate on 12 January 2023.
Noting that humanitarian organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have reported continuing human rights violations since President Mugabe left office a little over five years ago, the philanthropic peer nevertheless felt there is a significant difference since 2003, when Zimbabwe walked out of the Commonwealth. Agreeing that human rights violations cannot be swept under the carpet, he felt the question is whether exclusion from the Commonwealth is useful in achieving improvements – “and I, my Lords,” he said, “am firmly of the opinion that it is not.”
Lord Loomba said, “For the Commonwealth to foster improvements in democracy and human rights, its members must be willing to work together towards that goal. The reason Zimbabwe walked away in 2003 is that it had no intention of doing so, and there was no prospect of a process that could see the suspension lifted. For all the questions that hang over Zimbabwe’s current record, I do not believe that to be the case now.
“The Commonwealth is founded on what for most members is a painful past and turns it into a force for good. Understanding wrongful behaviour – both intended and unconscious – creates the opportunity to put it right. That applies to all of us.”
Lord Loomba reminded the House of Lords that “in 2021, the British government expressed concerns about democracy in Bangladesh, Nigeria, Pakistan, Rwanda and Tanzania.” In almost two thirds of Commonwealth countries, he pointed out, homosexuality is illegal – mostly based on laws inherited from Britain. 26 member countries have blasphemy laws, while 16 million people across the Commonwealth are estimated to be trapped in modern slavery.
On the positive side of the ledger, he said, “Zimbabwe last year passed a law giving equal inheritance rights to women in common law marriages.” This development benefits widows, whose cause is espoused by Lord Loomba’s charity, The Loomba Foundation.
“If Zimbabwe – a country with as much claim as any to have suffered from its colonial past – wishes to be readmitted to the Commonwealth on the basis of its values and its charter,” Lord Loomba concluded, “we should welcome that as a positive step and work with Zimbabwe as we do with other members to achieve progress.”