ZHRC Engages Bulawayo Female Waste Pickers

In pursuit of access to justice for the marginalized and disadvantaged sectors of society, Matabeleland Institute for Human Rights facilitated space for the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) to engage with Bulawayo female waste pickers in Pumula and Ngozi Mine area. The waste pickers are organized under the MIHR initiated Bulawayo Waste Pickers Association.

In the engagement meetings which began in Pumula on the 12th of May 2022 and ended in Ngozi Mine (Bulawayo Richmond Landfill Site) on the 13th of May 2022, the commission met with the female waste pickers, educated them on their rights (reinforcing the human rights education that MIHR has been conducting, explained the functions of the Commission and how to report human rights matters to it.

Critically, the Commission emphasized the use of their tollfree contacts to make human rights report and this tallies with the MIHR project which enhances digital skills of female waste pickers to report human rights and gender based violence cases.

The Commission staff also attended to some individual cases and gave human rights advise to the victims.

MIHR is conducting a Bulawayo Women Waste Cafe project in Bulawayo empowering 150 female waste pickers on human rights, gender, digital skills literacy and economic empowerment. The organization has also been creating spaces for the female waste pickers to interface with various human rights, women’s rights and governance agencies in order to empower them holistically on human rights matters.