[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 409 Engrossed in House (EH)]


H. Res. 409

                 In the House of Representatives, U.S.,

                                                     December 16, 2005.
Whereas on May 19, 2005, the Government of Zimbabwe launched ``Operation 
        Murambatsvina'', translated from the Shona language as ``Operation Drive 
        Out the Trash'', in major cities and suburbs throughout Zimbabwe in an 
        effort that it characterized as an operation to ``restore order'' to the 
        country;
Whereas hours after the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe called for an 
        end to the parallel market, Operation Murambatsvina began in the city of 
        Harare and subsequently in other urban areas, such as the city of 
        Bulawayo, ostensibly to oust illegal vendors and eliminate illegal 
        structures;
Whereas Operation Murambatsvina was carried out as an indiscriminate demolition 
        of the homes and livelihood of thousands of Zimbabwean citizens already 
        suffering from a protracted economic and political crisis brought on by 
        poor policy directives by the Government of Zimbabwe that forced masses 
        of rural dwellers to urban areas of the country for survival;
Whereas in some communities that were victimized by the forced demolitions, 
        including Cheru Farm and Killarney Farm where more than 20,000 people 
        lived, Zimbabweans had lived in residences for over 20 years and had 
        well-functioning schools, health and HIV/AIDS clinics, orphanages for 
        AIDS-affected children, viable businesses, places of worship, and other 
        amenities;
Whereas in 1993, the Government of Zimbabwe moved families from Cheru Farms to a 
        new location, Porto Farm, which during Operation Murambatsvina was 
        demolished by Zimbabwean Government forces;
Whereas government security forces carried out Operation Murambatsvina, and in 
        doing so, beat residents and forced them to destroy their own homes and 
        places of business, though many residents provided permits from 
        municipal authorities granting permission to build their structures;
Whereas Operation Murambatsvina resulted in the demolition throughout the 
        country of homes, businesses, and religious structures, including a 
        mosque, and an AIDS orphanage and in the intimidation, harassment, and 
        arrest of tens of thousands of people;
Whereas Operation Murambatsvina cut off many AIDS patients from anti-retroviral 
        medicines which will likely lead to a reversal of their health, 
        resistance to the drugs, and a more virulent form of AIDS in Zimbabwe 
        with potential for spreading throughout the region and worldwide;
Whereas churches and private citizens sheltering the victims of Operation 
        Murambatsvina were also intimidated, harassed, and arrested for their 
        efforts to provide a safe haven for the victims during Zimbabwe's harsh 
        winter;
Whereas armed soldiers and police forcibly removed hundreds of homeless people 
        from churches in the city of Bulawayo and banned religious groups from 
        providing humanitarian assistance to those seeking shelter at 
        Hellensvale, a transit camp north of Zimbabwe's second city, and where 
        police arrested and detained religious leaders;
Whereas a strongly worded statement issued by the Bulawayo clergy stated: ``The 
        removal of the poor, innocent, weak, voiceless and vulnerable members of 
        society by riot police in the middle of the night was uncalled for and 
        unnecessary. It is inhumane, brutal and insensitive, and in total 
        disregard of human rights and dignity. These people are not criminals 
        but bona fide citizens of this nation. It seems the crime they committed 
        is that they are poor.'';
Whereas the African Commission for Peoples' and Human Rights dispatched an 
        African Union envoy, Bahame Tom Nyanduga, Special Rapporteur on 
        Refugees, Internally Displaced Persons, and Asylum Seekers in Africa to 
        investigate the ongoing demolitions;
Whereas the Government of Zimbabwe refused to allow the African Union envoy an 
        opportunity to conduct his mission after being accused by the Government 
        of Zimbabwe through its government-controlled media of ``following the 
        agenda of western countries'';
Whereas the decision to block access to the African Union envoy is 
        representative of a larger pattern of behavior, whereby the Government 
        of Zimbabwe uses violence, intimidation, and demagoguery to subjugate 
        its people, relies on scapegoats to justify the economic, political, and 
        social crises in Zimbabwe, and detains and slanders United States 
        diplomats who challenge the ruinous policies of that government;
Whereas in response to the crisis, the Secretary-General of the United Nations 
        dispatched a special envoy, Ms. Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, Deputy 
        Secretary General, United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-
        HABITAT), on a factfinding mission to assess the scope and impact of 
        Operation Murambatsvina on the people of Zimbabwe and its consequences 
        for the Zimbabwean Government;
Whereas the mission of the United Nations special envoy was undertaken between 
        June 26 and July 8, 2005, where she visited the cities of Harare, 
        Headlands, Rusape, Mutare, Gweru, Bulawayo, Hwange, and Victoria Falls 
        and met with victims of Operation Murambatsvina, heard personal 
        testimony from victims, and met with members of the diplomatic 
        community, the Government of Zimbabwe, and international nongovernmental 
        organizations;
Whereas the United Nations special envoy estimated that approximately 700,000 
        people in cities across the country have lost either their homes, their 
        source of livelihood, or both, and that a total of 2.4 million people or 
        18 percent of the population was directly or indirectly affected by 
        Operation Murambatsvina and that the operation would have considerable 
        short-term and long-term impact on social and economic conditions in the 
        country;
Whereas 40,800 families directly affected by Operation Murambatsvina were headed 
        by women, and 83,530 children under the age of four and 26,600 people 
        age 60 and older were directly affected;
Whereas President Robert Mugabe described this sudden and extensive operation 
        against thousands of families and business persons in the dead of winter 
        as necessary ``to eliminate hideouts of crime and grime'';
Whereas the United Nations special envoy is quoted as saying ``the poor are not 
        criminals . . . [t]hey work hard to obtain the little which they have 
        and they should not thus be treated like criminals'';
Whereas the United Nations special envoy assessed the negative impact of 
        Operation Murambatsvina on shelter, water and sanitation, food and 
        nutrition, basic health services, HIV/AIDS, education, women and girls, 
        refugees and other vulnerable groups;
Whereas the special envoy concluded that Operation Murambatsvina ``has rendered 
        people homeless and economically destitute on an unprecedented scale; 
        most of the victims were already among the most economically 
        disadvantaged groups in society; and they have now been pushed deeper 
        into poverty and have become even more vulnerable; and the scale of 
        suffering is immense, particularly among widows, single mothers, 
        children, orphans, the elderly and the disabled persons'';
Whereas at the time of independence, President Robert Mugabe was hailed as a 
        liberator and Zimbabwe showed bright prospects for democracy, economic 
        development, domestic reconciliation, and prosperity;
Whereas President Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party in recent years have turned away 
        from the promises of liberation and become a party that uses state power 
        to deny the people of Zimbabwe the freedoms and prosperity for which 
        they fought and deserve;
Whereas the rise of urbanization and the informal sector in Zimbabwe has been 
        the direct result of failed economic policies, a bitterly disputed fast 
        track land reform program, unplanned cash handouts to appease war 
        veterans, the costly military intervention in Congo, and persistent 
        drought;
Whereas before Operation Murambatsvina, unemployment in Zimbabwe was between 70 
        and 80 percent, the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate was 24 percent, and the 
        inflation rate was 164.4 percent (but was as high as 522.8 percent), and 
        currently Zimbabwe has the world's fastest shrinking economy, there is 
        an ongoing fuel crisis in the country, and the Zimbabwean economy had 
        contracted 7 percent; and
Whereas the staggering suffering brought on by Operation Murambatsvina has been 
        added to the already large-scale humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That--
            (1) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that--
                    (A) through Operation Murambatsvina, the Government of 
                Zimbabwe has created a humanitarian disaster that has compounded 
                the already existing humanitarian food and economic crises in 
                the country, and the Government of Zimbabwe has insufficient 
                resources to address such crises;
                    (B) the Government of Zimbabwe has a duty to protect the 
                economic, social, and political rights of its citizens as 
                guaranteed by the Constitution of Zimbabwe and the African 
                Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights; and
                    (C) the Government of Zimbabwe also is subject to the 
                International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 
                to which Zimbabwe is a party, which states in part that ``forced 
                evictions are prima facie incompatible with the provisions of 
                the Covenant and can only be carried out under specific 
                circumstances''; and
            (2) the House of Representatives--
                    (A) condemns Operation Murambatsvina as a major humanitarian 
                catastrophe caused by the Government of Zimbabwe's callousness 
                toward its own people, disregard for the rule of law, and lack 
                of planning to move families and businesses to more desirable 
                locations;
                    (B) calls on the United Nations, the African Commission for 
                Peoples' and Human Rights, and the African Union to continue 
                efforts to investigate the impact of the demolitions of housing 
                structures and premises from which informal businesses operated 
                and to provide the international community with a viable 
                strategy to address the problems;
                    (C) calls on the Government of Zimbabwe to allow 
                international humanitarian organizations access to those 
                affected by the operation who are in need of food, medicine, 
                shelter, sanitation, and water;
                    (D) calls on the Government of Zimbabwe to hold accountable 
                those responsible for this egregious injury to the Zimbabwean 
                people, both the decisionmakers of the operation and those who 
                carried out the operation;
                    (E) calls on the Government of Zimbabwe to immediately and 
                aggressively implement policies to promote the private sector 
                and create jobs and build housing to accommodate those displaced 
                by the operation;
                    (F) calls on the United Nations and the international 
                community to stand by the people of Zimbabwe who have been 
                victimized by their government in this operation and to help 
                them with relief and reconstruction of their lives;
                    (G) calls on the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the 
                United States Executive Director at the International Monetary 
                Fund (IMF) to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United 
                States to continue to advocate for further action at the IMF 
                should the Government of Zimbabwe continue to fail to meet its 
                obligations to the IMF;
                    (H) condemns President Mugabe's harassment of the United 
                States Ambassador to Zimbabwe, including by threatening the 
                Ambassador's expulsion from the country and asserting that he 
                could ``go to Hell''; and
                    (I) calls on President Mugabe to recognize that absent 
                meaningful corrective actions on his part, President Mugabe's 
                legacy will be defined by his responsibility for the ruinous 
                policies and draconian laws that brought untold suffering of his 
                people and the near collapse of Zimbabwe as a nation.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.