IBJ-Zimbabwe Fellows, Innocent Maja and John Burombo, recently held a roundtable discussion with its partner organizations, LRF and ZACRO, journalists and private lawyers to strategize on how to implement IBJ’s rights awareness campaign in Zimbabwe. During the engaging and fruitful discussion, held on 18 March in Harare, the participants were able to identify the main areas requiring rights awareness in Zimbabwe. These included issues related to arrest, search and seizure, access to legal counsel, appearance before court timeously, bail, institutional reforms, legal aid, timeous execution of cases and empowerment of citizens to assert their rights.

After identifying these areas, the officers then proposed strategies on how to implement the campaign. They agreed that it was important to identify the particular target groups for the campaign to come up with specific strategies for each group. This would entail using clearly focused mechanisms. These mechanisms included use of dramas and movies, use of the print and electronic media to demystify the rights, use of posters and leaflets, use of target group-specific manuals, use of t-shirts and other regalia, putting up of billboards and carrying out of road shows to reach out to all communities. The participants also believed there was need to engage other state institutions, like the police, and have them participate in the campaign as well. It was agreed that this would go a long way in building a culture of respect for human rights.

The participants then came up with specific action plans for the implementation of these strategies. It was agreed that an e-group for all participants be created to ensure that the commitments agreed upon are followed up and implemented. Participants expressed gratitude at the hosting of the discussion by IBJ, with one participant commenting that the “discussion atmosphere was good and enabling.”