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Recommendations

To the Zimbabwe government

• Allow local and international humanitarian organizations full and unimpeded access to all parts of Zimbabwe to ensure that humanitarian assistance is delivered to all those in need and in accordance with humanitarian principles.

• Protect all victims of the evictions, in particular women and vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly and chronically ill persons, including those living with HIV/AIDS.

• Take immediate steps to provide assistance including alternative accommodation to those affected, and legal remedies including appropriate compensation or other forms of reparation to all those affected in a speedy, impartial and transparent manner.

• Co-operate with an independent, international investigation into the events of Operation Murambatsvina. Bring to justice those whose actions in planning or executing Operation Murambatsvina violated national law or international human rights law.

• Develop a legal framework free from gender discrimination, for conferring security of tenure on those who do not yet have it, including those in informal settlements or who are occupying land or housing.

• Investigate allegations of excessive use of force and other human rights abuses by police and other state officials involved in the evictions and bring all those responsible to justice.

• Allow and co-operate with visits by Special Rapporteurs of the Commission on Human Rights, the Representative of the Secretary General for Internally Displaced Persons and relevant human rights mechanisms of the African Union to further investigate the human rights situation in the country.

To the Southern African Development Community

• Strongly condemn the mass evictions and demolitions; call on the UN Secretary General to set up an independent and impartial commission of inquiry to investigate the manner in which the evictions were carried out and for those responsible to be brought to justice.

• Urge the government of Zimbabwe to take immediate action to address the impact of the evictions and demolitions on the hundreds of thousands of homeless and destitute Zimbabweans.

To the African Union

• Strongly condemn the mass evictions and demolitions and urge the government of Zimbabwe to take immediate action to address the impact of the evictions and demolitions on hundreds of thousands of homeless and destitute Zimbabweans.

• Call on the UN Secretary General to set up an independent and impartial commission of inquiry to investigate the manner in which the evictions were carried out and for those responsible to be brought to justice.
• Continue to inquire into the human rights situation in Zimbabwe and appoint another Special Envoy to investigate the impact of the mass evictions and demolitions.

To the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR)

• Follow through on recommendations from the ACHPR’s mission report in 2002 that address the poor human rights conditions in Zimbabwe.

• Put Zimbabwe on the agenda of the next session of the ACHPR in November 2005.

To International Humanitarian agencies

• Enhance the protection and welfare of the evicted population by putting in place mechanisms that identify the needs of those that have been evicted, in particular homeless persons sleeping in the streets and in the rural areas. These mechanisms could include direct interventions by humanitarian officials with relevant government officials, to prevent any human rights abuses from taking place.

To the United Nations

• The Secretary General should establish a Commission of Inquiry to identify those responsible for planning and carrying out Operation Murambatsvina and whose actions violated the human rights of hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans.

• The Secretary General should call on the government of Zimbabwe to provide internally displaced persons with protection from and remedies for alleged human rights abuses.

• The UN Country Team should place human rights protection at the centre of all interactions with the government of Zimbabwe. More specifically, it should support civil society groups working for human rights protection in Zimbabwe and urge the government of Zimbabwe to adopt a constructive approach with local nongovernmental organizations in the development and implementation of assistance programs and permit them to carry out their work free from intimidation, threats and human rights violations.

• The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights should urgently follow up on recommendations in the UN Special Envoy’s report on the evictions, in particular the deployment of monitors to observe compliance with human rights standards.