The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum works to prevent organised violence and strengthen human rights in Zimbabwe. Image credit: Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO ForumThe Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum is a forum of twenty-one NGOs who work together to prevent organised violence and torture in Zimbabwe. They are concerned with violence which is perpetuated mainly, though not exclusively, by state agents and their ancillaries.The Forum came into existence at the time of the food riots in the country in 1998, with an initial membership of 8 organisations.
The vision of the forum is a society which promotes and protects the rights of all people. Its mission is to provide leadership and coordination on the Human Rights Agenda in Zimbabwe. Membership to the forum is open to any organisation based in Zimbabwe which is genuinely concerned with human rights, in particular with the elimination of organised violence and torture. It currently has member organisations working in the areas of women's rights, civil and political rights, freedom of expression and the media, gay and lesbian rights, prisoners' rights, anticorruption, good governance, peacebuilding, and nonviolent ways of conflict resolution.
Implementation of the forum's programmes is through four units, namely the Transitional Justice Unit, Public Interest Unit, Research and Documentation Unit and the International Liaison Office. The Research and Documentation Unit is responsible for the production of the Forum's flagship publication, the Monthly Political Violence Report (MPVR), which chronicles the extent to which violence has been perpetrated in any given month.
The International Liaison office was established as an initiative to coordinate the international lobbying work of the forum and its member organisations to be represented internationally, as well as to prepare delegates for representing the forum at international events. The forum has observer status with the African Commission on Human and People's Rights.
