General Secretary of World YWCA Receives Human Rights Award
“It is with such humility that I accept the Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (ZWLA) Women Human Rights Defenders Award, 2011. I do celebrate and affirm my co-nominees Alec Muchadehama and Mary Ndhlovu for their commitment and passion for the protection of human rights. This is a special recognition conferred by a leading professional women’s organisation advancing the human rights of women and girls nationally and globally,” said Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, General Secretary of the World YWCA upon receiving the award which she dedicated to her late mother Rosaria, and to all the “unsung sheroes in our lives.”
The ZWLA Women Human Rights Defenders Award was launched in 2007 and has been since conferred to leading human rights advocates and defenders of our time, including, Prof. Julie Stewart, Honourable Justice Elizabeth Gwaunza, Dr Amy Tsanga, Justice Rita Makarau, Priscilla Chigumba and Sarudza Njerere, all of whom Gumbonzvanda considers as mentors in her life.
Gumbonzvanda went on to say “When I was growing up in Murewa, I had dreams of another world of opportunities and possibilities. I wanted my soul to dance in the wind, and just be! Our collective work on rights enjoyment, rights protection and rights promotion gives such possibilities for the women and girls of Zimbabwe, to have that dance of the soul.”
The Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (ZWLA) is an association of women lawyers that was established in 1992 by a group of women who were all lawyers in either private practice, government service, academia or the non-governmental sector. The 2011 award seeks to lift the importance of human rights protection within the context of peace, security and justice.
Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda has always been committed to human rights and especially the advancement of women’s and children’s rights. She is a trained human rights lawyer experienced in women’s human rights and conflict resolution.
