 |  |
 |
Zimbabwean Women’s Rights Project
In collaboration with AIDS-Free World, an international advocacy organization, DLA Piper is currently involved in a significant initiative to document, publicize and combat politically-motivated human rights abuses against Zimbabwean women. With the assistance of Zimbabwe- and Southern Africa-based NGOs, AIDS-Free World has reached out to Zimbabwean women who were brutally beaten and systematically raped because of the women’s public support for the opposition political party in Zimbabwe. DLA Piper, through New Perimeter, is the principal law firm partner in this endeavor.
Since January 2009, a New Perimeter team of DLA Piper lawyers has conducted four trips to southern Africa to interview Zimbabwean women who were victims of politically-motivated sexual violence at or around the time of the 2008 presidential elections. These trips resulted in 70 sworn affidavits from victims laying out the details of the abuse. The women have shared heartbreaking stories of torture and sexual abuse by youth militia under the control of the ruling party, ZANU-PF, in retaliation for the women’s expressed or perceived support for the opposition political party. In addition, New Perimeter team members organized and analyzed the collected data and provided legal analysis.
New Perimeter’s assistance was vital in the production of the human rights report detailing our findings: “Electing to Rape: Sexual Terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe.” The report was officially released at a press conference Johannesburg in December. New Perimeter team lawyers are currently assisting AIDS-Free World with litigation and advocacy strategies with dual goals of bringing about accountability and raising awareness of the issue of these grave human rights abuses in Zimbabwe to spur the application of political pressure on Mugabe.
|
|
 |  |