emma_goldman
13th September 2006, 00:32
News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International
Zimbabwe: Housing policy built on foundation of failures and lies
Amnesty International today condemned the Zimbabwean government's much
publicised housing programme set up ostensibly to help the victims of
Operation Murambatsvina, a programme of mass forced evictions which left
hundreds of thousands homeless.
Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle (Better Life) was launched in June
2005, with the government claiming that it would provide better housing to
those who lost homes during Operation Murambatsvina.
One year after the mass forced evictions, Amnesty International
returned to Zimbabwe to investigate what, if any, action had been taken by the
Zimbabwean government to restore the human rights of the hundreds of
thousands of victims of Operation Murambatsvina.
The findings, contained in two reports released today, reveal that
contrary to government statements almost none of the victims of Operation
Murambatsvina have benefited from the rebuilding, with only some 3,325
houses constructed -- compared to the 92,460 homes destroyed during
Operation Murambatsvina -- and construction has ground to a halt in many
areas.
Moreover, although the government has presented Operation
Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle as a programme under which houses are built by government for
victims of Operation Murambatsvina, in reality many people are being
allocated small bare plots of land, often without access to water and
sanitation, on which they have to build their own homes with no
assistance.
Satellite images of just four sites in Zimbabwe show more than 5,000
houses destroyed -- demonstrating that the government's much-publicised
rebuilding programme has produced fewer houses nationwide than were
destroyed in just a fraction of the country.
"Operation Garikai is a wholly inadequate response to the mass
violations of 2005, and in reality has achieved very little," said Kolawole
Olaniyan, Amnesty International's Africa Programme Director. "Hundreds of
thousands of people evicted during Operation Murambatsvina have been
left to find their own solutions to their homelessness. Very few houses
have been constructed. The majority of those designated as 'built' are
incomplete -- lacking doors, windows, floors and even roofs. They also
do not have access to adequate water or sanitation facilities."
"Many of the few houses that have been built are not only uninhabited,
but uninhabitable."
Furthermore, in most sites visited by Amnesty International
researchers, houses and land plots were allocated to people who had not been
forcibly evicted during Operation Murambatsvina. Researchers found that in
most parts of the country, no assessment has ever been carried out to
identify the victims of Operation Murambatsvina or to establish where
they are now. In addition, government officials have made it clear that at
least 20 percent of the housing will go to civil servants, police
officers and soldiers -- rather than those whose homes were demolished in
Operation Murambatsvina.
Tens of thousands of people -- mainly poor women -- lost their
livelihoods as informal traders and vendors during Operation Murambatsvina, as
well as their homes. Despite having destroyed their only source of
income, the government expects the few victims of the mass evictions to
whom houses or unserviced land plots are "available" to pay for them.
"The Zimbabwean government has attempted to cover up mass human rights
violations with a public relations exercise," said Kolawole Olaniyan.
"The victims of Operation Murambatsvina were amongst the poorest people
in Zimbabwe. The evictions and demolition of their homes drove them
into even deeper poverty -- losing what little they had, such as clothes,
furniture and even food. Now the Zimbabwean government is unabashedly
asking them to pay for incomplete and sub-standard structures -- or for
the stands on which to build a home -- at prices that would have been
well beyond their reach even before their homes and livelihoods were
destroyed last year."
A widow whose rental accommodation was destroyed described to Amnesty
International how she and her son now live in a bathroom in a house
shared by three families. In Victoria Falls, researchers found a man living
in a room intended to be a toilet; his rental cottage was destroyed
last year. Several thousand people remain living in the open, under
makeshift shelters.
Currently, 83 percent of the population of Zimbabwe survives on less
than the UN income poverty line of US $2 dollars a day. The unemployment
rate stands at about 80 percent.
Amnesty International called for Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle to be
subjected to an urgent and comprehensive review to bring it in line
with the Zimbabwean government's human rights obligations. It also called
on the government of Zimbabwe to seek international assistance to
address the immediate housing and humanitarian needs of its population if it
cannot do so itself.
"Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle is a total failure as a remedy," said
Kolawole Olaniyan. "Moreover, in its execution it has resulted not in
remedies but in further violations of human rights."
All AI documents on Zimbabwe:
http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maae86QabtdBobHtN7fb/
International
Zimbabwe: Housing policy built on foundation of failures and lies
Amnesty International today condemned the Zimbabwean government's much
publicised housing programme set up ostensibly to help the victims of
Operation Murambatsvina, a programme of mass forced evictions which left
hundreds of thousands homeless.
Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle (Better Life) was launched in June
2005, with the government claiming that it would provide better housing to
those who lost homes during Operation Murambatsvina.
One year after the mass forced evictions, Amnesty International
returned to Zimbabwe to investigate what, if any, action had been taken by the
Zimbabwean government to restore the human rights of the hundreds of
thousands of victims of Operation Murambatsvina.
The findings, contained in two reports released today, reveal that
contrary to government statements almost none of the victims of Operation
Murambatsvina have benefited from the rebuilding, with only some 3,325
houses constructed -- compared to the 92,460 homes destroyed during
Operation Murambatsvina -- and construction has ground to a halt in many
areas.
Moreover, although the government has presented Operation
Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle as a programme under which houses are built by government for
victims of Operation Murambatsvina, in reality many people are being
allocated small bare plots of land, often without access to water and
sanitation, on which they have to build their own homes with no
assistance.
Satellite images of just four sites in Zimbabwe show more than 5,000
houses destroyed -- demonstrating that the government's much-publicised
rebuilding programme has produced fewer houses nationwide than were
destroyed in just a fraction of the country.
"Operation Garikai is a wholly inadequate response to the mass
violations of 2005, and in reality has achieved very little," said Kolawole
Olaniyan, Amnesty International's Africa Programme Director. "Hundreds of
thousands of people evicted during Operation Murambatsvina have been
left to find their own solutions to their homelessness. Very few houses
have been constructed. The majority of those designated as 'built' are
incomplete -- lacking doors, windows, floors and even roofs. They also
do not have access to adequate water or sanitation facilities."
"Many of the few houses that have been built are not only uninhabited,
but uninhabitable."
Furthermore, in most sites visited by Amnesty International
researchers, houses and land plots were allocated to people who had not been
forcibly evicted during Operation Murambatsvina. Researchers found that in
most parts of the country, no assessment has ever been carried out to
identify the victims of Operation Murambatsvina or to establish where
they are now. In addition, government officials have made it clear that at
least 20 percent of the housing will go to civil servants, police
officers and soldiers -- rather than those whose homes were demolished in
Operation Murambatsvina.
Tens of thousands of people -- mainly poor women -- lost their
livelihoods as informal traders and vendors during Operation Murambatsvina, as
well as their homes. Despite having destroyed their only source of
income, the government expects the few victims of the mass evictions to
whom houses or unserviced land plots are "available" to pay for them.
"The Zimbabwean government has attempted to cover up mass human rights
violations with a public relations exercise," said Kolawole Olaniyan.
"The victims of Operation Murambatsvina were amongst the poorest people
in Zimbabwe. The evictions and demolition of their homes drove them
into even deeper poverty -- losing what little they had, such as clothes,
furniture and even food. Now the Zimbabwean government is unabashedly
asking them to pay for incomplete and sub-standard structures -- or for
the stands on which to build a home -- at prices that would have been
well beyond their reach even before their homes and livelihoods were
destroyed last year."
A widow whose rental accommodation was destroyed described to Amnesty
International how she and her son now live in a bathroom in a house
shared by three families. In Victoria Falls, researchers found a man living
in a room intended to be a toilet; his rental cottage was destroyed
last year. Several thousand people remain living in the open, under
makeshift shelters.
Currently, 83 percent of the population of Zimbabwe survives on less
than the UN income poverty line of US $2 dollars a day. The unemployment
rate stands at about 80 percent.
Amnesty International called for Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle to be
subjected to an urgent and comprehensive review to bring it in line
with the Zimbabwean government's human rights obligations. It also called
on the government of Zimbabwe to seek international assistance to
address the immediate housing and humanitarian needs of its population if it
cannot do so itself.
"Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle is a total failure as a remedy," said
Kolawole Olaniyan. "Moreover, in its execution it has resulted not in
remedies but in further violations of human rights."
All AI documents on Zimbabwe:
http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maae86QabtdBobHtN7fb/