21  =/+5DWQDWLRQDOOHYHO Litigation was the main intervention and was complemented by other activities that included research, advocacy and capacity building. The Protection of Human Rights Defenders programme area provided legal support to human rights defenders (HRDs) who were arrested or targeted by state actors for asserting their economic, social, civil and political rights. This support was on an emergency basis and also as follow up to prevent the beneficiaries who were prosecuted and tried from being convicted, enabling them to continue with their work of defending the Constitution and asserting their fundamental freedoms and human rights. HRDs were better able to continue with their work knowing full well that lawyers would be available to assist them. Victims of human rights violations from different social backgrounds were assisted within the Access to Justice priority area. Lawyers instituted litigation to enforce constitutional rights and obligations before the superior courts, challenging unconstitutional laws and arbitrary decisions. Public interest litigation (PIL) continued to be taken up benefitting individuals and communities whose social, economic, cultural, civil and political rights had been, or were at risk of, being violated. A number of these cases were of strategic impact, i.e. having a wider impact beyond the primary litigant of the case. ZLHR also pursued antiimpunity cases that focused on instituting civil claims against state and non-state actors who, through their actions that included use of torture, assault, malicious prosecutions and persecutions against individuals, violated fundamental human rights of individuals. /RFDWLRQDQGQXPEHURIOHJDOVHUYLFHV EHQHILFLDULHV *DPELD W/> 0DVYLQJR ,ZƐ 0DW6RXWK 0DW1RUWK 0DVK:HVW 0DVK&HQWUDO 0DVK(DVW 0LGODQGV %XODZD\R +DUDUH 0DQLFDODQG Ϭ ϭϬϬ ϮϬϬ ϯϬϬ ϰϬϬ ϱϬϬ ϲϬϬ ϳϬϬ ZLHR Annual Report 2016 R OLWLJDWLRQFDVHVFDUULHGRXWHPHUJHQF\DVVLVWDQFHWR+5'V IROORZXSDQGSXEOLFLQWHUHVWPDWWHUV