Human Rights Brief for Traditional Leaders

The Human Rights Brief for Traditional Leaders seeks to increase traditional leaders’ knowledge on human rights, and to improve their role in effectively protecting human rights for all, especially of marginalised groups such as women, children, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.  The brief is designed to be a reference tool for traditional leaders in Zambia and has been published in English and in four local Zambian languages - Icilala, Icibemba, Chitonga, and Chichewa.

As explained in the brief, the publication was inspired by the fact that traditional leaders are influencers of opinion and are key in mobilising people at community level. It covers basic human rights concepts, analyses the Zambian country situation, and the impact of human rights violations on vulnerable groups. It looks at the role of traditional leaders within the different national structures, and offers recommendations for action.

The brief was published under the Mobilizing Traditional Leaders to End Homophobia in Zambia programme, funded by the Canadian High Commission in Zambia.

The document contains the following sections:

Chapter One - Background   
1.1 The rationale for the involvement of traditional leaders in promoting and protecting human rights   

Chapter Two - Basic Concepts in Human Rights   
2.1  Definition of Human Rights   
2.2  Enjoyment of Human Rights   
2.3  Characteristics of human rights   
2.4  Types of rights   

Chapter Three - State of Human Rights in Zambia
3.1  The Role of State   
3.2  The Role of the citizens   
3.3  Human Rights Violations   
3.4  The most vulnerable persons or groups to human rights violations   
3.5  Root causes of human rights violations   
3.6  Impact of human rights violation   
3.7  The role of traditional leaders in protecting human rights   
   
Chapter Four - Existing Opportunities for Protecting Human Rights
4.1  Human rights policies and structures in Zambia   
4.2  Structural Framework   
4.3  International, Regional and Domestic instruments for protecting human rights   
4.4  Regional Instrument   
4.5  Domestic Human Rights Instruments   

Chapter Five - Traditional Leaders' Action Points for Protecting Human Rights
5.1  Traditional leaders carry out community participation on a regular basis   
5.2  Work with civil society organisations and other human rights defenders and stakeholders   
5.3  Create structures at community level for human rights awareness programmes   
5.4  Ensure that customary law and practice does not violate human rights   
5.5  Engage closely with the government to ensure the protection of the rights of its members