An in-depth Study on the impacts of Operation Murambatsvina irresponsibility of a government taking such risks with public health in a situation of a massive epidemic beggars belief. 5.3 Legal issues Our data do not support in any way the claims of the Zimbabwe Government that they were dealing with criminals or illegal dwellers. Rather our data suggest that these were substantial people, living with the acknowledgement and acceptance of the authorities, and conducting their livelihoods within the highly adverse economic climate of current Zimbabwe. These were not shanty-town dwellers, but people whose rights have been trampled upon. The prima facie evidence suggests that their rights, both personal and material, have been trampled upon, which therefore calls for redress and compensation. 5.4 Losses The losses experienced by those affected under Operation Murambatsvina are clearly not trivial, but it is also very difficult to be clear about the overall extent of the losses. On our data, there have been substantial losses incurred, and these will clearly affect peoples’ ability to take care of themselves and their families, with the most severe consequences being for those groups seen as particularly vulnerable. Furthermore, those who have experienced losses may well lose the right to claims for damages. Overall, this survey has extended our previous understanding about the effects of Operation Murambatsvina, and can only increase concerns for the welfare of those affected. Our findings indicate the multiple ways in which people have been adversely affected, and, if there was any doubt about Zimbabwe being a “complex emergency” prior to 18 May 2005, that doubt has been removed by the Zimbabwe Government’s callous exercise which it labelled Operation Murambatsvina. In carrying out Operation Murambatsvina the Government of Zimbabwe has not only failed to provide for the physical and livelihood security of its citizens, the essential duty of government, but has knowingly itself undertaken a campaign which has destroyed livelihoods and jeopardized the physical wellbeing of hundreds of thousands of its citizens: the Zimbabwe Government has failed in its ‘Responsibility to Protect’ and the international community must therefore intervene to prevent further harm to the ordinary people of Zimbabwe and to provide the humanitarian and other assistance that these people desperately need. 27