Whatever the true justification for the widespread demolitions and evictions, the
government has violated the human rights of hundreds of thousands of its own citizens
by arbitrarily forcing them to destroy or cede their property without due notice, process
or compensation; by forcibly displacing many of them against their will into the rural
areas without any basic services such as health care, education, clean water or means of
economic support; by restricting their freedom of movement; and by failing to provide
adequate remedies to those whose rights were violated.
The humanitarian consequences of the operation have been catastrophic. Thousands of
people—some living with HIV/AIDS—are living in the open without shelter or basic
services; many receiving treatment for HIV/AIDS, including children, have lost access
to the clinics and centres that were providing them with treatment, with serious
repercussions for their long term health. Inevitably, the most affected have been those
already vulnerable: children with disabilities; child headed households; widows and
people living with HIV/AIDS. And to add insult to injury, the Zimbabwean
government, angry with the United Nations in particular at the harsh words of the
Special Envoy's report, has refused to co-operate with the UN humanitarian agencies
seeking to bring assistance to those who have been evicted and left destitute.
Zimbabwe is already in a profound political economic and human rights crisis—created
by a government with a well known record of abusing its own citizens. This latest
human rights catastrophe can only push the country closer to total devastation. With
acute food shortages looming in the rural areas, the government’s call for a mass return
to the rural areas is a recipe for humanitarian disaster.
This report tells the stories of the mass evictions and house demolitions and the
continuing suffering of those affected, mostly in the words of victims. Women, children
and men recount how they were forced to destroy their own houses, often at gunpoint.
They describe how the police in some cases beat them if they did not tear down their
own houses and how their homes and sometimes their possessions were destroyed by
bulldozers and armed police carrying pickaxes and hammers, or burnt and razed to the
ground. They tell how the evictions were carried out with little or no warning and how
police gave them almost no time to collect their belongings and leave their homes. And
they tell, in often heartbreaking detail, of their destitution and utter vulnerability, in the
light of the government’s indifference to their suffering.
Human Rights Watch calls on the government of Zimbabwe to urgently co-operate with
the international community and to ensure complete and unrestricted humanitarian
access to all those affected. It also calls on the government to respect the right to
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