imbabwean authorities refused to acknowledge the crisis, they have abandoned the men, women and children they forcibly evicted from their homes.”
Today, hundreds of thousands of displaced Zimbabweans are living outdoors in disused fields or in the bush, in rudimentary shelters made from the debris of destroyed houses, or are squeezed into tiny rooms with family members who have agreed to shelter them. The government has done nothing to provide them with food, water, sanitation and health services.
President Robert Mugabe’s government has also failed to address the desperate situation of vulnerable groups that were particularly hit hard by the evictions. These groups include widows, orphans, households headed by women or children, and the chronically ill or elderly. Some children have developed malnutrition due to lack of food, while others have fallen ill with pneumonia after months of sleeping out in the open. Following their forced eviction, hundreds of people living with HIV/AIDS are no longer able to access life-saving treatment such as anti-retroviral medications or remedies for opportunistic infections.
The Zimbabwean authorities have engaged in a concerted effort to coerce those displaced by the evictions to leave the cities and move to the rural areas. In areas across the country, the national police have threatened, harassed or beaten the internally displaced, forcing them to relocate to rural areas where many have no homes or family and where social service provisions and economic opportunities are minimal. In addition, the government has tried to force relocation by denying assistance to those who choose to stay in the urban areas, and has used food packages as an incentive to compel families to move out of the cities.
In blatant disregard of its international obligations, the Zimbabwean government has denied international humanitarian agencies access to the majority of the internally displaced. The government has also deliberately obstructed the provision of international assistance and protection to these vulnerable people.
“Zimbabwe’s blocking of humanitarian assistance for its displaced population is unconscionable,” Takirambudde said. “Such actions threaten the very survival of these people.”
The UN response is also criticised:
U.N. agencies involved in humanitarian response in Zimbabwe have been reluctant to confront the government over its blatant disregard of the human rights of the displaced and to protest the continued obstruction of humanitarian assistance, claiming that quiet representation would be more effective for achieving its operations.
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