Amnesty International has released new film footage smuggled out of Zimbabwe that it says reveals the "desperate plight" of the country's homeless.

Zimbabwe's government cleared out camps for those it made homeless in a so-called urban cleanup campaign, then secretly moved their inhabitants to the outskirts of the capital in even worse conditions.

The clearances have left about 700,000 people without their homes or livelihoods, according to UN estimates.

"The people who had been in those transit camps were taken under cover of darkness and dumped at various rural areas in the country," Amnesty International researcher Audrey Gaughran said.

"They were left in most cases with no shelter, no food, no access to sanitation and little or no access to clean water.

"Rather than confront the massive humanitarian crisis that its actions have created, the government of Zimbabwe is compounding suffering and human rights violations by attempting to hid the most visible signs of internal displacement," she added.

An Amnesty spokeswoman, Audrey Gaughran, said that when it met people at the camp their situation was desperate. "They had little or no food, no sanitation, very irregular access to clean water, and almost no proper shelter." It feared that more such camps could exist.

Related: Zimbabwe: Secret footage reveals desperate plight of homeless