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Capacity building
Litigation, as a strategy to ensure greater
compliance with the Constitution and exert
pressure for respect for fundamental rights
and freedoms, must be complemented with
knowledge by relevant stakeholders of their rights,
and the avenues open to them to enforce such
rights. It is also important to ensure that human
rights lawyers remain capacitated and aware of
new developments in the field of human rights
and public interest litigation, so as to strengthen
the services offered by ZLHR to human rights
defenders. As such, capacity building and
sensitisation is a further complementary strategy
utilised by ZLHR as part of its overall objectives.
At the national level, ZLHR worked throughout
2014 to increase the capacity of a range of
stakeholders from different sectors in under
standing the Constitution and human rights
issues in Zimbabwe, and being aware of how to
use the law as an effective tool for compliance.
A number of highly participatory trainings were
carried out under the Protection of HRDs and the
Institutional Strengthening and Accountability
programmes.
Participants were drawn from diverse backgrounds,
but all with a common goal of contributing to
fostering a culture of human rights through their
varying activities and interventions.
Litigating to Enforce Socio-Economic
Rights
In order to build on and consolidate the skills
of ZLHR member lawyers, a socio-economic
rights litigation training was held in Harare in
November. A total of 23 lawyers (15 men and
8 women) participated in the training. ZLHR
sought to audit the condition of social and
economic rights in Zimbabwe since the adoption
of the new Constitution in May 2013, review
Training session on socio-economic rights litigation
ZLHR Annual Report 2014
99 ZLHR carried out 17 trainings –
including some to enhance safety and
risk management for human rights
defenders, others to strengthen
litigation skills of human rights lawyers,
and others to increase knowledge on
HIV, human rights and the law
99 Participants were drawn from civil society
and community-based organisations, the
legal sector, and stakeholders in the HIV
and public health communities
99 46% of participants were women
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