The target of the violations should be a civilian population, which distinguishes crimes against humanity from war crimes. This was not well emphasised in the previous Human Rights Forum report. As the ENOUGH report makes plain, attacks against a civilian population are a crucial component of the determination as to whether crimes against humanity have taken place, 17 and this was previously raised, but refuted in the report of the UN Special Envoy in the aftermath of Operation Murambatsvina.18 It is common cause that no state of war exists in Zimbabwe, and is vehemently denied by the Zimbabwe government itself. Furthermore, the period in question is concerned with the most civilian of all civilian enterprises, elections. Thus, it is not difficult to assert that all the attacks documented and reported upon concerned a civilian population, and, as shall be seen, it is also not difficult to assert that the attacks were widespread and systematic. The present report extends the findings and conclusions of the previous report by the Human Rights Forum, as well as showing the similarity in pattern with the violations that occurred during the Presidential election in 2002. The rationale for the comparison is due to the fact that the Zimbabwean Presidency conveys exceptional power to the incumbent, and hence the loss of this power has been the significant motive for the resort by ZANU PF to exceptionally serious violations of human rights, so serious as to invoke the allegation that crimes against humanity have been committed. The report deals only with the data for the months March to May 2008. Although over a 1,000 violations were recorded in June 2008, the verification process on this data was incomplete by the time of writing this report, and hence the June data was excluded. However, as shall be seen below, this makes little difference to the overall conclusions. 17 18 ENOUGH (2008), SEEKING JUSTICE FOR ZIMBABWE. A Case for Accountability Against Robert Mugabe and Others. 1981– 2008. Prepared by Professor David M. Crane | Sir Desmond De Silva, QC | Professor Tom Zwart. With the assistance of Anton Altman, Brianna McGonigle, Gentian Zyberi, and others. ENOUGH: NEW YORK. UN Special Envoy on Human Settlement Issues in Zimbabwe, Report of the Fact-Finding Mission to Zimbabwe to Assess the Scope and Impact of Operation Murambatsvina, 18 July 2005.