Zimbabwe
No justice for the victims of forced evictions
Introduction
In May 2005 the government of Zimbabwe launched Operation Murambatsvina, a
programme of mass forced evictions and demolitions of homes and informal businesses. The
operation targeted poor urban and surrounding (peri-urban) areas nationwide. The evictions
and demolitions were carried out without adequate notice, court orders, due process, legal
protection, redress or appropriate relocation measures, in violation of Zimbabwe’s obligations
under international human rights law. They were carried out despite the government’s
acknowledgement that the country already faced a severe housing shortage. 1 During the
operation police used excessive force: property was destroyed and people were beaten.
In a report released on 22 July 2005, the United Nations (UN) Special Envoy on
Human Settlement Issues in Zimbabwe, who is also the Executive Director of the UN Human
Settlement Programme (UNHABITAT), Anna Tibaijuka, estimated that some 700,000 people
had lost their homes, their livelihoods or both between May and July 2005. She stated that
Operation Murambatsvina “was carried out in an indiscriminate and unjustified manner, with
indifference to human suffering, and, in repeated cases, with disregard to several provisions of
national and international legal frameworks.”
The mass forced evictions of Operation Murambatsvina constitute a serious violation
of human rights, in particular the right to an adequate standard of living, including adequate
housing. Under international law the government of Zimbabwe is obliged to ensure the
victims of human rights violations committed during Operation Murambatsvina have access
to effective judicial or other appropriate remedies to vindicate those rights, including by
providing reparations to the victims of Operation Murambatsvina.2
Amnesty International investigated and documented the human rights violations that
took place as a consequence of Operation Murambatsvina, and raised the organisation’s
concerns with the government of Zimbabwe, the UN, the African Commission on Human and
Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) and the African Union.3 One year after the mass forced evictions
Amnesty International returned to Zimbabwe to investigate what, if any, action had been
taken by the government of Zimbabwe to restore the human rights of the hundreds of
1
Government of Zimbabwe, National Housing Delivery Programme, 2000, quoted from the Report of the Fact-Finding Mission
to Zimbabwe to assess the Scope and Impact of Operation Murambatsvina by the UN Special Envoy on Human Settlement Issues
in Zimbabwe, 22 July 2005, p 24.
2
Amnesty International documented the impact of forced evictions and denial of remedies in a case study, “Zimbabwe: Shattered
Lives – the case of Porta Farm”, Amnesty International Index AFR 46/04/2006, 31 March 2006.
3
Amnesty International, “Open Letter from AI to President Robert Mugabe on Forced Evictions in Zimbabwe”, AI Index: AFR
46/019/2005, 13 June 2005; “Zimbabwe: Joint Appeal by Amnesty International, the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions
and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights”, AI Index: AFR 46/024/2005, 23 June 2005; “Amnesty International's concerns at
the 56th session of the Executive Committee of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees”, AI Index: IOR
41/060/2005, 3 October 2005.
AI Index: AFR 46/005/2006
Amnesty International 8 September 2006