Condemning the Government of Zimbabwe’s “Operation Murambatsvina” under which homes, businesses, religious structures, and other buildings and facilities were demolished in an effort characterized by the Government of Zimbabwe as an operation to “restore order” to the country

Sponsor: TOM LANTOS (D-CA)

Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the government of Zimbabwe: (1) has, through Operation Murambatsvina, created a humanitarian disaster that has compounded the country's humanitarian food and economic crises; (2) has a duty to protect its citizens' economic, social, and political rights; and (3) is subject to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights with respect to forced evictions. 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. Calls on the United Nations, the African Commission for Peoples' and Human Rights, and the African Union to investigate the impact of the demolition of housing structures and premises from which informal businesses operated and to provide the international community with a strategy to address the problems.

International Affairs Topic assigned by the Congressional Research Service.