THE latest report by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum on the state of affairs in 2019 shows that there are rising cases of human rights abuses in Zimbabwe despite calls for reforms from local and international rights defenders. INTERVIEW BY MIRRIAM MANGWAYA Dewa Mavhinga, a Zimbabwean human rights lawyer working as southern Africa director for the global rights watchdog, Human Rights Watch (HRW), says Zimbabwe is doing badly on the human rights index under President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s leadership. Mavhinga, the co-founder of the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute, says the government is fuelling human rights abuses by failing to prosecute perpetrators. He also ranked the Gukurahundi massacres as the worst and “horrendous” human rights abuse in post-independent Zimbabwe history. The following are excerpts of an interview between NewsDay (ND) reporter Mirriam Mangwaya and Mavhinga (DM) on issues of human rights in Zimbabwe. ND: What role do you play in ensuring human rights are upheld in Zimbabwe? DM: I investigate conditions of human rights which are provided for in the Zimbabwean Constitution. I then compile reports for high-level advocacy with the government of Zimbabwe and other policymakers to fight violation of constitutionally-given rights. I work together with local human rights partners such as the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum and the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights on research and advocacy campaigns. I have researched and written over a dozen human rights reports on Zimbabwe, including the 2009 HRW report entitled, Diamonds in the Rough: Human Rights Abuses in Zimbabwe’s Marange Diamond Fields. I have also researched and campaigned for the ending of child marriages in Zimbabwe, promotion and protection of the rights of widows, education rights and ending of child labour on tobacco farms. ND: You have more than 10 years experience in research and advocacy in Zimbabwe as well as in southern Africa, how can you describe the state of human rights in Zimbabwe? DM: For a country not at war like Zimbabwe, which was said to be an unfolding democracy and a new dispensation in November 2017 following the ouster of the late former leader Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe is doing terribly on the human rights front under President Emmerson Mnangagwa. According to the World Food Programme, 60% of the population, which is 8,6 million people, faces starvation and needs food aid, thus a violation of the right to food. Massive corruption and bad management of the economy have resulted in extreme poverty, which directly leads to gross violations of the socio-economic rights of ordinary Zimbabweans. ND: What steps have been taken by HRW to curb human rights violations by State and non-State actors? DM: At HRW, we have documented the horrific human rights abuses perpetrated by the Zimbabwean security forces, including the August 2018 and January 2019 killings. We directly engaged the Zimbabwean authorities including Mnangagwa, to ensure justice for the victims of the abuses prevails. The HRW has challenged the Zimbabwean