6. 6.1 Legal Analysis of Operation Restore Order Background The situation in Zimbabwe is both a humanitarian and a human rights issue. The Terms of Reference of the mission include an assessment of the ability of the Government of Zimbabwe and of the humanitarian community to assist the population affected by Operation Restore Order. The legal analysis of the Operation is intended to inform the assessment from a humanitarian and human rights perspective, and to provide a full appreciation of the responsibilities of both the Government and the international community to provide assistance to the affected people. The human rights discourse in Zimbabwe is fraught with tension. The Government accuses those who raise human rights issues of applying double standards when it comes to African countries, and Zimbabwe in particular. Several officials cited recent alleged violations in Togo and Ethiopia during their respective elections and the fact that the outcry regarding those cases was nothing compared to what Zimbabwe is experiencing.107 The legal context should be seen against a background of a general deterioration of the rule of law in Zimbabwe. Disregard for laws and court orders during the Fast Track land reform programme set a dangerous precedent. It also sent a signal that the rule of law could be subject to selective interpretation. The legal context is mixed, and seems to reflect a set of conflicting legislation. On the one hand, there is the Regional, Town and Country Planning Act, and attendant municipal bylaws emanating from the colonial era meant to keep Africans out of the cities by setting very high housing and development standards beyond the reach of the majority of the people. On the other hand, there are the international commitments and obligations requiring Governments to provide adequate shelter to all its citizens. The national laws seem to have been subject to inconsistent policy statements that led them to be mostly ignored after independence, leading to the rapid formation of backyard extensions now dubbed illegal. The sudden application of the laws governing towns and cites under Operation Restore Order has exposed the clear conflict of these laws with human rights provisions under both national and international law. The general view in Zimbabwe is that the debate around the Operation goes beyond legality, and borders on morality.108 This debate notwithstanding, Operation Restore Order raises several legal issues under international and regional human rights frameworks, as well as national legal frameworks. 6.2 International and Regional Instruments The fundamental right to human dignity, to shelter, to employment, to education and to health care are all entrenched in a variety of international and regional human rights instruments, all of which Zimbabwe is party to. The Government of Zimbabwe has a duty to protect and enforce the economic and social rights of its citizens as guaranteed by the Constitution of Zimbabwe and the 107 BBC reported on 23 June 2005 that UK had announced a suspension o f planned increase of aid to Ethiopia. This would suggest that other governance problems are not ignored as claimed. The debacle in Togo also attracted a lot of international condemnation. 108 Several people the mission met including a law professor expressed this sentiment. 56