36 On 31 March 2015, ZLHR attended the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Steering Committee meeting that was convened by the Ministry of Justice in Harare. The UPR is a state driven process that is led by members of the United Nations Human Rights Council to review the progress made by governments in fulfilling their human rights obligations under various United Nations human rights instruments. The proposal by the Registrar General (R-G) to reject one of the recommendations accepted by the government of Zimbabwe, to ratify the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness was discussed during the meeting. This recommendation had been accepted in March 2012. Following this meeting ZLHR made submissions on why the government must not reject this recommendation but go ahead and accede to this convention. 7.3.2 Regional ZLHR Annual Report 2015 Attendance at the 56th Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights Session ZLHR attended the 56th Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) held in the Gambia. The African Commission is the primary regional human rights body established by the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights with the primary responsibility to promote and protect human rights in Africa. Before the ordinary session, there is always an NGO Forum Session, where mostly representatives of organisations from Africa, and a few invited from other continents meet and discuss thematic issues so as to influence the deliberations of the ACHPR in the ordinary session. ZLHR participated in this NGO Forum session and contributed to various discussion issues such as Reprisals of HRDs in Africa and the role of the ACHPR Special Rapportuer. During the public session of the ACHPR ZLHR carried out strategic meetings with stakeholders including the launching of a publication on “the state of HRDs in Africa in 2015” to which ZLHR had contributed the chapter on Zimbabwe. ZLHR made specific interventions regarding the key issues of human rights in Zimbabwe through a public statement that was read out. Book Launch ACHPR 2015 Attendance at the 57th Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights ZLHR attended the NGO Forum that preceded the 57th  Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and also participated at the 57th  Ordinary Session of the ACHPR. Both events were held in Banjul, the Gambia, from October 31 to 18 November 2015 (ZLHR attended the ACHPR up to 10 November 2015). ZLHR presented an oral statement on the Human Rights situation in Zimbabwe. It highlighted issues such as violations of social and economic rights, continued downward spiral of the economy, slow implementation, or non-implementation, of some provisions of the 2013 Zimbabwean Constitution and the absence of laws, policies and political will to safeguard human rights. ZLHR made recommendations urging the ACHPR to encourage the Government of Zimbabwe to take various measures to improve the human rights situation in the country.