60 years after the UN Convention - Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation
60 years after the UN Convention - Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation
60 years after the UN Convention - Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation
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Immediate consequences<br />
mass violence in zimbabwe 2005 – murambatsvina 221<br />
According to <strong>UN</strong> fi gures, based on government estimates, at least<br />
700,000 people lost <strong>the</strong>ir homes in <strong>the</strong> space of six weeks – about <strong>the</strong><br />
same number of Croatians were driven from <strong>the</strong>ir homes by <strong>the</strong> Serbian<br />
army over a period of seven months in 1991. Whole communities<br />
were broken up. Up to 100,000 families directly lost <strong>the</strong>ir livelihoods.<br />
However, many of those in formal employment who lost <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
homes lost <strong>the</strong>ir jobs as a result, as <strong>the</strong>y had no place to stay or could<br />
no longer easily get to <strong>the</strong>ir work. Children could no longer go to<br />
school as <strong>the</strong>y were moved from place to place. The Ministry of Education<br />
gave fi gures of 300,000 children in Harare alone who did not<br />
attend school in <strong>the</strong> weeks following <strong>the</strong> blitz. Many of <strong>the</strong>se later<br />
found places in schools elsewhere, or eventually returned, but many<br />
o<strong>the</strong>rs never continued with <strong>the</strong>ir education. Several thousand of <strong>the</strong><br />
displaced were AIDS patients taking antiretroviral drugs; many lost<br />
contact with <strong>the</strong>ir source of medicine at <strong>the</strong>ir local clinic, and were<br />
thus exposed to a rapid deterioration in <strong>the</strong>ir health, leading to death<br />
for uncounted hundreds if not thousands. 8<br />
Where did <strong>the</strong> displaced go? Some returned to <strong>the</strong>ir rural homes, or<br />
sent <strong>the</strong>ir children <strong>the</strong>re while looking for ano<strong>the</strong>r place to stay. Many<br />
of <strong>the</strong> occupiers of back-yard dwellings simply moved into <strong>the</strong> main<br />
house, aggravating already seriously overcrowded conditions. O<strong>the</strong>rs<br />
moved in with friends or relatives, with <strong>the</strong> same result. Many thousands<br />
lived for varying periods in <strong>the</strong> open, trying to protect <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
property until <strong>the</strong>y found a place to move it to, or because <strong>the</strong>y were<br />
simply too traumatised or too destitute to manage a relocation. For<br />
<strong>the</strong>se, exposure in a bitter winter resulted in illness and death. In Bulawayo,<br />
those evicted from squatter camps moved into churches where<br />
<strong>the</strong>y were accommodated and fed, until <strong>the</strong> police swooped in late July,<br />
forced <strong>the</strong>m into trucks in <strong>the</strong> middle of <strong>the</strong> night, and dumped <strong>the</strong>m at<br />
a farm, from where <strong>the</strong>y were quickly distributed to various rural centres.<br />
O<strong>the</strong>rs simply waited for <strong>the</strong> storm to pass, and used <strong>the</strong> building<br />
materials <strong>the</strong>y had salvaged to rebuild a structure on <strong>the</strong> same site. Generally<br />
<strong>the</strong>se rebuilt structures were absolutely minimal, pa<strong>the</strong>tic, low,<br />
just big enough to crawl into in order to sleep. The owners have not<br />
been free of police harassment, and some have been chased away several<br />
times, thus living a life of hide and seek with <strong>the</strong> police. 9<br />
8 A full discussion of <strong>the</strong> consequences can be found in <strong>the</strong> various reports; a useful<br />
summary is given by Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (2006: 5-8) while <strong>the</strong><br />
Executive Summary of <strong>the</strong> ActionAid Report is included as Appendix B (pp. 35-42) in<br />
<strong>the</strong> same publication.<br />
9 A study of what happened to <strong>the</strong> displaced is included as Part II of a report by Solidarity<br />
Peace Trust (2005b).