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ABA ROLI Honors Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights with its 2009 Rule of Law Award
United States Department of State
August 31, 2009

On August 1, the ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) awarded Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) its 2009 Rule of Law Award. Representing her organization, ZLHR Executive Director Irene Petras attended the Rule of Law Luncheon and Award Ceremony in Chicago and received the award from ABA President H. Thomas Wells, Jr. The award recognizes the ZLHR's efforts to uphold the rule of law and to fight for the human rights of Zimbabwean citizens.

In his introductory remarks, William Taft, IV, ABA ROLI board chair, said that each year the ABA ROLI looks throughout the world "to identify a person, a group of people or an organization that embodies our values and that has acted valiantly in pursuing them to receive our Rule of Law Award." He said the efforts of ZLHR were worth celebrating.

Founded in 1996, ZLHR is a non-profit human rights organization that aims, through the observance of the rule of law, to encourage and foster a robust human rights culture at all levels of Zimbabwean society. It has 14 full-time lawyers and a membership of 170, composed of 130 professional lawyers and 40 law students from the University of Zimbabwe.

In her keynote remarks, Petras said, "Human rights lawyers in Zimbabwe have contributed-and continue to contribute-immensely to the struggle for democratization and observance of the rule of law in our country." She said that the lawyers decided to fight for the rule of law though they could "have left the country for greener pastures at the first signs of trouble".

Petras explained the challenges the lawyers have to face and the risks they take in pursuing their mission. "Some have been subjected to character assassination in the state-controlled media, or assaulted by police in peaceful protests against the harassment of the profession. Others have been abducted by youth militias from their offices, beaten and tortured in bases, only to reappear bruised and battered after several days of incommunicado detention," she said. "Lawyers have had to deal with threats to their own lives and safety, as well as that of their families and colleagues."

Though there were hopes for the situation in Zimbabwe to improve following the formation of an inclusive government in February of this year, Irene said, "Democratization continues to prove a challenge." No repressive laws have been repealed or amended, while the ordeals of human rights defenders have not subsided.

With the road ahead "long and difficult," the ZLHR is continuing its efforts for a comprehensive legislative reform. Petras said, "We will remain as tenacious as we have been thus far in our history so as to ensure that the people of Zimbabwe remain at the center of all transitional and nation-building processes and are their true beneficiaries."

Petras thanked the ABA and ABA ROLI for acknowledging the efforts of the ZLHR. She said, "It encourages us to see that our efforts do not go in vain, and that people are watching, and our peers in the profession are standing with us during these testing times for the legal profession in Zimbabwe."

More than 350 people, including ABA and ABA ROLI leadership, special guests and rule of law supporters, attended the luncheon.

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