2 Zimbabwe: No justice for the victims of forced evictions thousands of victims of Operation Murambatsvina. The delegation found the government has failed to ensure adequate reparations to the victims. The victims’ own efforts to secure effective judicial remedies have been frustrated by the authorities’ repeated disregard of court orders and obstruction of access to the courts. Despite numerous public statements about a reconstruction programme to address the homelessness created by Operation Murambatsvina, almost none of the victims have received any assistance from the government. On the contrary the government has repeatedly hindered UN efforts to provide emergency shelter and subjected some of the most vulnerable people to repeated forced evictions. This report is based primarily on the findings of an Amnesty International mission to Zimbabwe in April and May 2006, supplemented by desk research during July and August. The Amnesty International mission visited Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare, Gwanda, Victoria Falls, Masvingo, Chipinge and Chimanimani, and interviewed victims, NGO and humanitarian agency personnel and local government officials. Despite repeated requests the delegation was not granted meetings with central government officials. Ongoing violations of the right to adequate housing The government of Zimbabwe has made no attempt to find an adequate or sustainable solution to the acute shortage of adequate housing which Operation Murambatsvina so drastically exacerbated. A highly publicised reconstruction “programme” has in reality achieved very little. This is dealt with in some detail below. The hundreds of thousands of people evicted during Operation Murambatsvina have been left to find their own solutions to their homelessness. The majority of the victims have found shelter in remaining housing stock. During investigations in the major urban centres of Bulawayo, Harare and Victoria Falls Amnesty International repeatedly found that Operation Murambatsvina victims were living in overcrowded, sometimes squalid conditions. A widow in Bulawayo whose rental accommodation was destroyed described how she now lives in a bathroom along with her son in a house shared by three family groups. In Victoria Falls Amnesty International found a man living in a room intended to be a toilet. His rental accommodation - a backyard cottage 4 - had also been destroyed during Operation Murambatsvina. Some of those living in the worst conditions were particularly vulnerable, such as people living with disabilities and people living with HIV/AIDS. Discriminatory attitudes and the total failure of the government to take any steps to protect or assist them has resulted in the most vulnerable having the most difficulty finding accommodation. In interviews with people living with disabilities Amnesty International repeatedly heard how the stigma of disability was proving an additional obstacle to finding a place to live in the post4 The majority of housing structures destroyed during Operation Murambatsvina were what are known in Zimbabwe as backyard cottages or backyard extensions. These are small, often brick structures built on residential plots around the main house, sometimes attached to the main house, and sometimes a little way separate from it. They varied in size from one to several rooms. In high density suburbs thousands of such structures were rented out and were the only source of urban accommodation for poor people. They also provided a source of income for tens of thousands of people. Backyard cottages were often connected to the main water system and the government has complained that this overloaded the system. Amnesty International 8 September 2006 AI Index: AFR 46/005/2006