Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women Pre-session working group – Zimbabwe 5 INTRODUCTION Amnesty International submits the following information to the pre-session working group of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (the Committee), in advance of preparing the list of issues for the examination of Zimbabwe’s second, third, forth and fifth periodic reports, submitted under article 18 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (the Convention). The briefing focuses on concerns under articles 2, 7, 11 and 12 of the Convention. This briefing reflects Amnesty International’s information on human rights violations committed during and after mass forced evictions carried out in 2005. The program of forced evictions was carried out across the country, affecting an estimated 700,000 people, who were left without homes, or livelihoods, or both. 1. BACKGROUND Known as Operation Murambatsvina, Zimbabwe’s mass forced evictions were carried out ostensibly to clear urban and peri-urban areas of illegal structures. However, the evictions were carried out without giving adequate notice or provision of alternative housing and compensation to the affected people. As the primary carers, not just for their own children but also children orphaned by the AIDS pandemic, the destruction of homes during Operation Murambatsvina had a disproportionate effect on women, who were forced to seek alternative shelter for themselves and for the children in their care. Single and widowed women who were forcibly returned to rural areas following the forced evictions faced discrimination in access to land for resettlement as a result of customary practices in land allocation where women can only access land through their husbands or male relatives. In addition to destruction of homes, Operation Murambatsvina also targeted informal traders in urban areas. Women, who constitute the majority of informal market traders and are often the primary providers for their families, were disproportionately affected by this policy. Many women in low income urban areas earn their livelihood through selling vegetables and other wares at market stalls set up by local authorities, as well as on roadside market stalls. The destruction of these market stalls under Operation Murambatsvina left many households headed by women without a source of income, significantly affecting their ability to access food, health care, housing and other basic services. Overall, Operation Murambatsvina resulted in serious human rights violations, in particular violations of the right of women to an adequate standard of living, including the right to adequate housing, the right to the highest attainable standard of health and the right to gain a living through work. The forced evictions and subsequent government failure to provide effective remedies have driven victims deeper into poverty– with most of the people affected now living in worse conditions than before the evictions. Following international pressure, the government of Zimbabwe launched Operation Garikai – a programme ostensibly set up to remedy the negative impact of Operation Murambatsvina. However, Operation Garikai was hurriedly put together without consultation with the victims Index: AFR 46/014/2011 Amnesty International June 2011