exacerbates this situation for women, who are also expected to care for the infected, the children and the elderly under such difficult circumstances. Some of the effects on women and girls are: 1. Women who had successfully survived in the informal sector will become destitute. Women who had 2. 3. 4. 5. successfully operated in the informal sector will become more vulnerable in every way since they have no source of income. The most vulnerable people are the sick, infants and expecting mothers. Already there are reports of newly born babies dying of cold. The burden of caring falls on the woman. Women were psychologically traumatised during the demolitions. Suicides and stress related illnesses have increased among the affected. Many women and child-headed households have nowhere to go, particularly as women’s property rights are limited. Many of the women do not own land. Already there are confirmed reports from the Ministry of Education and Culture that 300 000 children have dropped out of school. A sizeable number of these kids will not get a chance to finish school. The government’s clean up campaign has destroyed people’s shelters and sources of income. Whilst the Women’s Coalition appreciates the need to restore order and cleanliness in the country., it views the manner and timing of the Operation as a violation of women’s rights to economic livelihoods, security, health, housing and peace of mind. Given that the state had the opportunity to give adequate notice to allows victims to suffer minimal inconveniences and non-violation of the rights to economic livelihood, security, housing, education and other human rights. These rights are clearly provided for in regional and international treaties that government has acceded to. The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights guarantees a people rights to education, work, healthy, housing and all the human rights that citizens of a country should have access to. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the SADC Declaration on Gender and Development which our government has signed goes in the same thread. The Women’s Coalition appreciates the efforts being made by the state, UN agencies, Red Cross Zimbabwe, churches, NGOs and other civic organisations to assist the victims of Operation Murambatsvina. We urge you all to strategise around the special needs of women, girls, and orphaned children. We also urge the government to ensure equitable distribution of stands to both women and men as a measure of beginning to address imbalances in property ownership of women. The Women’s Coalition empathises with all the women and families affected and implores government to assume the role of protecting its citizens and consulting them to find solutions to what it perceives as problems rather than acting unilaterally. The Women’s Coalition also calls for a suspension of the Operation until meaningful plans and mechanisms are put in place to cushion women from the effects of such an operation. 1 The Herald, 24 Ma y 2005. 2 The Mugabe administration’s excuse for this brutal suppression was the need to combat “dissidents” being used by the apartheid regime in South Africa to destabilise the country. In fact the main reason was to destroy PF ZAPU and intimidate it into being absorbed into a so-called Unity government. 3 See Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (2002), Human Rights and Zimbabwe’s Presidential Election: March 2002, (Harare Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum 2002), Are They Accountable?: Examining alleged violators and their violations pre and post the Presidential Election March 2002, (Harare Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum 2002) See also Redress Trust (2004), Zimbabwe. Tortuous Patterns Destined to Repeat Themselves in Upcoming Election Campaign. Preliminary Study of