22 Zimbabwe: No justice for the victims of forced evictions The allocation of housing and stands under Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle is not backed up by any meaningful security of tenure. Beneficiaries to whom Amnesty International spoke in Bulawayo and Harare confirmed that the allocation of stands in those areas was not backed by any legal documents. IDPs at Hopley camp confirmed that people who have been allocated stands have merely been given pieces of card with numbers on them, which in the insecure living conditions of a displacement camp, are easily lost. However, even legal documents cannot guarantee security of tenure in the absence of the rule of law. Amnesty International has repeatedly reported on the breakdown of the rule of law in Zimbabwe over the past six years, including the repeated disregard of court orders and political manipulation of the judiciary. In its resolution on the human rights situation in Zimbabwe adopted at the 38th Ordinary Session in December 2005, in Banjul (the Gambia), the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights stated that it was “deeply concerned by the continued undermining of the independence of the judiciary through defiance of court orders, harassment and intimidation of independent judges and the executive ouster of the jurisdiction of the courts”, and called on the government of Zimbabwe to uphold the principle of separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary.61 The forced evictions which took place at Hatcliffe (where people held leases) and at Porta Farm and Mbare (where the communities had obtained court orders barring eviction) exemplify the rule of law problem which must be resolved in order for the right to adequate housing to be realised in Zimbabwe. Government failure to ensure reparations to Operation Murambatsvina victims and the right to adequate housing Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle is the only government response to the gross human rights violations perpetrated under Operation Murambatsvina. No other assistance or remedy has been offered by the government to the hundreds of thousands of victims of the mass forced evictions. As this report documents, Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle is wholly inadequate and has failed to reach the majority of victims of Operation Murambatsvina. As such, Zimbabwe is clearly violating its obligations to provide effective remedy and reparation to individuals whose human rights have been violated. As stated by the Human Rights Committee, in its General Comment No. 31, without reparation to individuals, the obligation to provide an effective remedy is not discharged. 62 Reparation can include restitution, rehabilitation, compensation, satisfaction, guarantees of non-repetition, including by changing laws and practices, as well as bringing to justice the perpetrators of human rights violations. The right to compensation and other forms of reparation for victims of forced evictions has been clearly stated in relevant international standards and jurisprudence.63 61 Resolution on the Situation Of Human Rights In Zimbabwe, The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights meeting at its 38th Ordinary Session in Banjul, The Gambia from 21 November to 5 December 2005. 62 See CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.13, para 16. 63 The Special Rapporteur on adequate housing has identified, in the Basic Principles and Guidelines on development-based evictions and displacement, compensation, restitution and resettlement among the specific remedies for victims of forced Amnesty International 8 September 2006 AI Index: AFR 46/005/2006