6. Methodology The analysis draws extensively from a rich archive of seven years of recording human rights violations of LGBTI persons in Zimbabwe. Cross reference is made with other literature produced during the same period, to provide wider context of the violations and how they have progressed over time. The summaries and the conclusions given draw from a fairly limited data set of the reported cases of violations perpetrated against LGBTI persons. The data-set that was used in the analysis was not exhaustive and constituted mainly of individuals’ self-reported cases. Conclusions drawn from other researches have shown that LGBTI people in Zimbabwe and indeed other parts of the world live in very repressive environments where they are forced to live very private lives avoiding any public expression of their orientation. This inevitably makes data available about them scarce. The main outline of this overall analysis report follows generally the thematic outlines of the violations reports produced by GALZ during the period 2012 to 2017. The report makes an analysis of the reported cases and goes further to isolate the violations into 12 categories. The cases contained in the four reports, over a five-year period, are generally self reported incidents, investigated and recorded by the GALZ’s Programmes Department. While the cases from each of the four reports are not wholly statistically representative of the LGBTI landscape in the country, the trends discernable over time give a fairly good picture of progression of the nature of violations over time. GALZ has taken care to test the veracity of the data from the annual violations reports through follow up investigations of all the reported and recorded cases, gathering additional supporting evidence such as photographs, case documents, police reports, corroborating witnesses and testimonies. The findings and trends documented in this report are thus limited to the complainants who filed reports of violations they experienced. However, these observations create enough basis from which to begin to draw inferences and develop an understanding of the lived experiences of LGBT people, that may warrant further investigation. Fictitious names have been used in this report to protect the identities of victims as well as to protect them from further violence, intimidation and possible recriminatory attacks. An analysis of the state of human rights violations against LGBTI persons in Zimbabwe (2011-2017) 9