Zimbabwe Human Rights Festival is an entertaining, engaging and empowering platform to take stock of the human rights situation at local, national and international level. It is an artistic initiative meant to mainstream human rights in an innovative way by rallying together rights holders and solution holders.
ZHRF will feature theatre, music, dance and poetry performances on human rights as well as post performance discussions and exhibitions by relevant civic society organisations and responses by invited solution holders. Major highlights of the performances, discussions and representations will be streamed live on our social media platforms as well as other partner platforms.
ZHRF will utilise the power of the arts in providing an interactive platform for citizens, civic society, and government, private and international organisations to inspire (foster) a culture of human rights in Zimbabwe. As much as we will touch on a range of human rights, this year we will focus on the right of citizens to participate in governance particularly in the area of social and economic development.
The theme of the inaugural festival is “AFTER”, which is an abbreviation for Arts Fostering Total Enforcement of Rights also meaning AFTER all the bickering, sloganeering and propagandising, citizens need their rights to be respected not trampled on.
The programme structure will be as follows:
Day 1 – Human Rights in general
Day 2 – Social Rights
Day 3 – Economic Rights
Day 4 – Civil & political rights
WHERE IS ZHRF?
Zimbabwe Human Rights Festival will take place at Theatre pa Bridge, an open community arts space in the main street of Highfield, a historic suburb associated with hosting crucial governance activities before, during and after the liberation struggle. Highfield is also home to people who have impacted on the human rights situation in Zimbabwe like the late vice president Joshua Nkomo, President RG Mugabe, iconic musician Oliver Mtukudzi, among other influential people.
WHEN IS ZHRF?
Zimbabwe Human Rights Festival will run for four days from Tuesday 10 December which is International Human Rights Day to Friday 13 December 2019.
WHO ARE ZHRF’S POTENTIAL PARTNERS?
ZHRF will provide the platform and attract the crowd for relevant organisations like Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, Zimbabwe Doctors for Human Rights, Community Water Alliance, Harare Metropolitan Residents Forum, Zimbabwe Peace Project, Legal Resources Foundation, Economic Justice for Women Project and Vendors Initiative for Social Transformation, among others to promote their mandate and disseminate IEC material on human rights we mark Human Rights Day.
We have put in place a lineup of dance, music, theatre and poetry to attract up to 1000 people per day directly though our live performances as well as over 100 000 people per day through our live streaming on social media platforms.
WHY ZHRF?
It is encouraging that the Zimbabwean Government has established the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, a Constitutional Commission to promote awareness, protection, development and attainment of human rights and freedoms in Zimbabwe. As a transformative arts organisation, EDZAI ISU Trust conceived a creative and innovative initiative in the name of Zimbabwe Human Rights Festival to commemorate Human Rights Day and contribute to the need to respect human rights in our dear country.
Besides the Zimbabwean constitution being clear on human rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ratified by Zimbabwe, recognises the inherent dignity of all members of the human family as the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. It includes civil and political rights as well as economic, social and cultural rights, like the right to social security, health and education.
The Zimbabwe Human Rights Festival is a rallying point in the mission to improve accountable, democratic governance that serves an engaged citizenry. Respect for human rights is at the core of social and economic development as without citizens enjoying and authorities respecting human rights, we cannot talk of any meaningful people centered development.
