“A conquered nation is like a man with cancer, he can think of nothing else.” George Bernard Shaw

The United Nations Sub Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights unanimously adopted a resolution that calls for Britain among other colonial powers to recognize their responsibility and reparate former colonies for the massive and flagrant violations of human rights which constituted crimes against humanity that took place during slavery and the colonial period.

The Sub Commission requested that all countries involved should take the initiative to provide truthful information and raise public awareness of the disastrous consequences of the periods of slavery and colonialism. In layman’s terms the UN said that Britain committed a crime were it took peoples lands illegally and it should come out in the open and admit its wrong doing and also pay compensation for its actions.

In Zimbabwe , Britain through its agent tricked Lobengula who was illiterate into signing the Rudd Concession that was then used to get the Charter for the formation of a company that colonized Zimbabwe .

Through colonialization the British disposed black of their land, water and livestock. The UN has said while it is impossible to return all stolen properties the former colonial power should pay to Zimbabwe the monetary value of those properties that cannot be returned and return those that can be returned.

Britons dispossessed Zimbabwe of its sacred and cultural objects and in some cases took these objects abroad for financial gain. The UN has declared that all cultural and sacred objects stolen should be returned to their rightful owners with compensation.

On the issue of land and forced labour, there is no denying that Britain enriched itself from the use of land for commercial purposes and the proceeds of natural resources of Zimbabwe . It is therefore required that Britain pay 20% of the value of all the goods produced and extracted from the resources of Zimbabwe since 1890.

Through war and conquest Britain and her Queen, stole, plundered and killed in Zimbabwe . It is the right of Zimbabwe not only to receive a formal apology from Britain over her actions but also to receive a just compensation.

While no amount of money could ever make up for all that Britain subjected Zimbabweans to, compensation would be a start to the healing process. The UN has noted that while colonialism ended decades ago their effects have transcended time and as such continue to have negative impact on formerly colonized populations.

Analysts as a major example of the effects of colonialism have highlighted Zimbabwe . Close to 30 years since independence from Britain , Zimbabwe has not fully shed the shackles of colonialism. Economically its systems are still under the hands of the British as many farms, companies banking institutions are under the control of whites that have sworn allegiance to the British Crown despite claiming to be Zimbabwean. It is such situations that the UN is trying to put an end to where people are said to be independent and yet Britain still controls them economically under a new dispensation where former colonies are still disenfranchised because of the colonial legacy.

Britain despite this resolution has made no move to reconcile with her horrific past and in the case of Zimbabwe it continues to meddle in both its political and economic affairs. In January the British Foreign Secretary unashamedly told Britain ’s Parliament that the British Government would only remove its illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe when the MDC tells it to. In the same Parliament a few years back the then British Premier Tony Blair announced that he was personally working with the MDC to remove the democratically elected ZANU PF government in order to stop the Land Reform Program which sought to reverse the colonial ownership of land in Zimbabwe.