SECTION I: BACKGROUND AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK 1.1. Background The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC), was established in terms of Section 243(1) (c) of the Constitution (2013) of Zimbabwe. It is operationalised by the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission Act (ZHRC Act) Chapter 10:30 which was promulgated on the 12th of October, 2012. It is a hybrid human rights institution incorporating public protector functions. and aim to protect and promote human rights but also broadly address other issues related to maladministration, corruptions and the environment. It is an independent institution with a mandate to protect, promote and enforce human rights and administrative justice. The functions of the ZHRC are stipulated in the Constitution of Zimbabwe and include the promotion of a human rights culture, receiving complaints, undertaking human rights investigations, monitoring, advising government and supporting the international human rights system. Given its hybrid nature the Commission has a broad mandate to promote, protect and enforce human rights. The challenge it faces is that there is no direct reference to the role of the Commission in election within the its mandate as currently provided by the constitution. However, the election mandate falls within the remit of the broader mandate of the Commission as it has the responsibility for the promotion and protection of human rights at all times and this does not preclude the election period which is inclusive of all the entire electoral cycle. The Commission has the responsibility of the promotion and protection of human rights and the election cycle is no exception. This is further supported by section 133(h) and (j) of the Electoral Act [Chapter 2:13] that provides for the setting up of the special investigations committee to investigate violations of human rights during the election period. In 2013 the Commission deployed commissioners to different parts of the country to monitor the election day voting process in the tripartite elections. Thereafter, it was also actively involved in the monitoring the Hurungwe, Norton and Mwenezi bi-elections. Inadequate financial as well as human resources as well as absence of a clear election focused strategy during these processes relegated the Commission’s activities to monitoring only the election day activities at the expense of the whole electoral process. Furthermore, because monitoring teams were only dispatched into the field a few days before the by-elections when resources became available, overall this narrowed the scope of the Commission’s interventions and ultimately affected its ability to make pronouncements on the election processes as a whole. On this background and further compounded by time limitations and constraints the Commission’s ability to form an accurate analysis on the protection of human rights and civil liberties of all citizens in the affected areas was severely hampered. This included the ability of the Commission to make an informed opinion on the conduct of campaign as well as media access by all stakeholders as provided for in the Bill of Rights (Constitution of Zimbabwe (Amendment No. 20 of 2013)). 1.2. Lessons Learnt Lessons learnt from the Commission’s past elections efforts have informed its approach to election activities within the electoral cycle framework. Lessons learnt have highlighted the following:     The need for a clear roadmap that will give the Commission clear guidelines on how to conduct its election activities and narrow the scope of their work to remain within their mandate of human rights protection. The absence of a clear strategic approach within which specific interventions can be placed negatively affected these past elections efforts of the Commission. Focus on mobilizing resources early for the election activities. Past activities were planned without due regard to resources required to support the effort hence narrowing the scope of activities and diluting the reports. Strengthen the Commission through adequate technical assistance for the design of monitoring approaches that remain within the mandate of the Commission as well as investigation of human rights violations during elections is needed. Align the scope of the Commission’s elections activities with that of its protection and enforcement of human rights mandate. 7|Page