ZLHR Annual Report 2014 42 7.3 Human Rights Day Festivities In commemoration of International Human Rights Day in December 2014, ZLHR conducted a series of mobile legal clinics across the country where the organisation’s member lawyers and project officers offered free legal assistance to the general public – an exercise which led to the identification of cases for possible public interest litigation, especially for poor and marginalised people who cannot afford legal fees. At these mobile clinics, ZLHR conducted programmes to raise awareness of human rights issues, capacitate communities on their rights, and provide information on referral mechanisms and available services in the event of human rights violations. In December 2014, ZLHR in partnership with Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (the Forum) hosted Gabriela Knaul, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, who provided an insight into issues regarding the independence of the judiciary. In her address Knaul, who was the guest speaker at a joint Annual Human Rights Lecture hosted by ZLHR and the Forum, challenged governments to ensure that the judiciary is allowed to operate independently. Knaul told the delegates, who included judges, legal practitioners, media practitioners and human rights defenders, that the judiciary was in a privileged position to avert the erosion of the rule of law and to uphold the human rights principles and values upon which democratic societies should be built. ZLHR staff with Gabriela Knaul, the visiting United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers