8 Zimbabwe: No justice for the victims of forced evictions plots of land supplied with basic infrastructure including water and sanitation on which people are then expected to build their own home) provided to address the needs of those made homeless by Operation Murambatsvina.23 In representations made before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) and in response to the UN Special Envoy’s report on Operation Murambatsvina, government officials have made misleading statements and have implied that Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle justifies the mass forced evictions of Operation Murambatsvina. For example responding to the UN in August 2005 the government stated: “Operation Murambatsvina was not conceived as an end in itself but as a precursor to Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle whose object is to provide decent and affordable accommodation…”24 In May 2006 the government told the ACHPR: “In the area of economic, social and cultural rights, Zimbabwe is working towards the attainment of the right to shelter. [O]ne of the major programmes by Government aimed at improving housing delivery is the Operation Garikai/ Better Life project. This nationwide programme [has] seen 3325 housing units being completed and allocated to beneficiaries affected by Operation [Murambatsvina]. These people were hitherto living in squalid conditions.” 25 In its statements to the ACHPR the government has repeatedly described Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle as a programme under which houses are being built for victims of the mass evictions, making no mention of residential stands or the fact that those allocated a stand must construct their own home. Amnesty International believes such statements by the government of Zimbabwe should be strongly challenged. Under international law there can be no justification for forcibly evicting hundreds of thousands of women, men and children and exposing them to a range of serious human rights violations. Had the government intended to ensure that those affected had access to adequate alternative housing this would have had to be done prior to any evictions taking place. This requirement has been clearly articulated by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in its General Comment 7 on forced evictions26 and in the Basic Principles and Guidelines on development-based evictions and displacement, developed by 23 At the time of its launch no written documentation existed on Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle. Reports in the state media in Zimbabwe claimed that the government intended to build up to 1.2 million houses, with some 5,000 houses to be built by August 2005. However, in her report, the UN Special Envoy, who was present at the launch of the Operation, stated, “Operation Garikai is based on a scenario that the government will provide stands (plots) upon which those rendered homeless will build their new homes”, p 48. 24 Response by the government of Zimbabwe to the report by the UN Special Envoy on Operation Murambatsvina, August 2005. 25 Statement by the Government of Zimbabwe during the 39th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human And Peoples’ Rights, 11 May 2006, Banjul (the Gambia). 26 CESCR, General Comment 7, para. 16. Amnesty International 8 September 2006 AI Index: AFR 46/005/2006