Global Report on Human Settlements 2007 - PoA-ISS

130
Security of tenure
Operation
Murambatsvina …
was raised repeatedly
before the
United Nations
Security Council as
a possible threat to
international peace
and security
eviction operation on human settlements issues in
Zimbabwe (see also Box 5.14):
On 19 May 2005, with little or no warning, the
Government of Zimbabwe embarked on an
operation to ‘clean-up’ its cities. It was
a ‘crash’ operation known as Operation
Murambatsvina… It started in the … capital,
Harare, and rapidly evolved into a nationwide
demolition and eviction campaign carried out
by the police and the army… It is estimated that
some 700,000 people in cities across the
country have lost either their homes, their
source of livelihood or both. Indirectly, a further
2.4 million people have been affected in varying
degrees. Hundreds of thousands of women,
men and children were made homeless, without
access to food, water and sanitation, or healthcare…
The vast majority of those directly and
indirectly affected are the poor and disadvantaged
segments of the population. They are,
today, deeper in poverty, deprivation and destitution,
and have been rendered more
vulnerable. 53
What was unique about the Zimbabwe evictions was the
scale of international outcry that emerged from many parts
of the world, strenuously opposing the eviction. For perhaps
the first time ever, the issue of this mass forced eviction was
raised repeatedly before the United Nations Security
Council as a possible threat to international peace and
security. Equally noteworthy was the appointment (also a
first) by the United Nations Secretary General of a Special
Envoy to examine the forced eviction programme in
Zimbabwe and to suggest ways of remedying the situation.
That a Special Envoy was appointed is yet another indication
of the growing seriousness given to the human rights implications
of forced evictions, particularly when these are large
scale in nature. It remains to be seen if other Special Envoys
will be appointed in the future to deal with mass forced
evictions in other countries.
In one particularly large forced eviction effort, the
Government of Myanmar forcibly evicted more than 1
million residents of Yangon (Rangoon). In preparation for the
Visit Myanmar Year 1996 undertaken in Rangoon and
Mandalay, some 1.5 million residents – an incredible 16 per
cent of the total urban population – were removed from
their homes between 1989 and 1994. The evictees were
moved to hastily constructed bamboo-and-thatch huts in the
urban periphery. 54
GROUPS PARTICULARLY
VULNERABLE TO TENURE
INSECURITY
While tenure insecurity may, in principle, affect anyone
living in urban areas, in practical terms particular groups are
more exposed than others. As noted above, it is always the
poor who are evicted, and similarly it is primarily the poor
who perceive lack of security of tenure as a threat to urban
safety and security. In addition, many social groups are
Box 5.14 Recommendations by the United Nations Special Envoy on Operation Murambatsvina
The people and
Government of
Zimbabwe should
hold to account
those responsible
for the injury caused
by the Operation
The first ever appointment by the United Nations of a Special
Envoy to address the consequences of mass forced evictions in
Zimbabwe in 2005 was widely welcomed by the world’s human
rights community as an important precedent. The recommendations
of her report were seen by many commentators to be both
firm and constructive:
Recommendation 1: … The Government of Zimbabwe
should immediately halt any further demolitions of
homes and informal businesses and create conditions
for sustainable relief and reconstruction for those
affected.
Recommendation 2:There is an urgent need for the
Government of Zimbabwe to facilitate humanitarian
operations within a pro-poor, gender-sensitive policy
framework that provides security of tenure, affordable
housing, water and sanitation, and the pursuit of smallscale
income-generating activities in a regulated and
enabling environment.
Recommendation 3:There is an immediate need for the
Government of Zimbabwe to revise the outdated
Regional Town and Country Planning Act and other
Source: Tibaijuka, 2005, pp8–9
relevant Acts to align the substance and the procedures
of these Acts with the social, economic and cultural
realities facing the majority of the population, namely
the poor.
Recommendation 5:The Government of Zimbabwe is
collectively responsible for what has happened.
However, it appears that there was no collective
decision-making with respect to both the conception
and implementation of Operation Restore Order.
Evidence suggests it was based on improper advice by a
few architects of the operation.The people and
Government of Zimbabwe should hold to account those
responsible for the injury caused by the Operation.
Recommendation 6:The Government of Zimbabwe
should set a good example and adhere to the rule of
law before it can credibly ask its citizens to do the
same. Operation Restore Order breached both national
and international human rights law provisions guiding
evictions, thereby precipitating a humanitarian crisis.
The Government of Zimbabwe should pay compensation
where it is due for those whose property was
unlawfully destroyed.