Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission Strategic Plan 2015-2020 10.30 GENDER MAINSTREAMING The rights of women and men should be consciously upheld through gender mainstreaming and all gender based human rights violations should be dealt with swiftly and in accordance with existing laws and international treaties. ZHRC will work together with the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development, the Zimbabwe Gender Commission and other non-sate actors on measures to streamline gender-driven economic initiatives including SME ventures and informal trade into the mainstream economy, in order to empower both women and men, particularly those living in impoverished and marginalized rural communities. The empowerment of women and men in this manner will enable them to defend their rights to decent living conditions. There is need for an annual Gender Audit of the ZHRC, which will seek to assess the state and extent of gender mainstreaming by the organisation. (Action Plan Ref: Output 11B and 13A) 10.31 RIGHTS OF INSTITUTIONALIZED PERSONS. The ZHRC will carry out regular visits to institutionalized persons, including prisoners, refugees, mentally disordered persons, and orphaned children, to monitor living conditions, provide advice on areas requiring improvement and assist in lobbying relevant stakeholders for resources to be channeled towards such improvements. (Action Plan Ref: Output 10E) 10.32 ELECTIONS MONITORING Given the high incidence of human rights violations reported in previous elections, the ZHRC will play an active role in monitoring domestic elections to ensure that they are carried out in a manner that respects the fundamental rights of all voters. The ZHRC will also monitor and observe international elections whenever invited. To this extent, the Commission will actively lobby for active participation in regional and international election monitoring, and will lobby for the invitation of other NHRIs to participate as observers in Zimbabwe’s future elections. (Action Plan Ref: Output 3H) 40