Cecilia Chimbiri
Cecillia Chimbiri is a Zimbabwean politician. She served as youth chairperson of the former MDC Alliance which was led by Nelson Chamisa, became the first female to lead the youth in the biggest opposition party in the Youth Wing since the party’s formation and was promoted by the constitution after Congress had elected her National Youth Vice Chairperson. She is a member in the Citizens for Coalition Change, a new movement for citizens launched by Nelson Chamisa. She was born on 2 October 1989 in Mashonaland Central Province Zimbabwe at St Alberts General Hospital. She attended Southerton  Primary School in Harare and Bradley High School for her junior and senior education in Mashonaland Central. She studied journalism and communications. She is listed on the Forum 2000 female database as a member of a panel of experts on human rights which pursues the legacy of former Czech President Václav Havel and supports the values of democracy and respect for human rights, as well as assisting the development of civil society. She is an alumna of the Friedrich Nauman Foundation, which has listed her as a human rights defender The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom is a German foundation  for liberal and libertarian politics, related to the Free Democratic Party. Established in 1958 by Theodor Heuss, the first president of the Federal Republic of Germany, it promotes individual freedom and classical liberalism. She is the Deputy Secretary of the Women's Academy for Africa (southern region). In 2009 at age 23, she worked for the Deputy Prime Minister and then for Professor Arthur Mutambara in the Government of National Unity as a communications assistant. She was appointed to participate in the constitution making process with the Constitutional Parliamentary Comnittee (COPAC). Her job description was Rapporteur; she sat in the  thematic committees of The Bill of Rights, Women and Youth. She was technical assistant to the Drafting Committee, which was composed of lawyers, political scientists, data analysts, and other experts. The new constitution was approved in a referendum vote. She was then appointed to the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) with job title Provincial Liaison Officer Mashonaland Central Province. JOMIC was a Zimbabwean multipartisan panel that was first launched on January 30, 2009, pursuant of the 2008 Zimbabwean power-sharing agreement. She was abducted for two days at an anti-government protest in May 2020. The Southern Africa Litigation  Centre (SALC) is a non-profit organization based in Johannesburg, South Africa which supports human rights lawyers in southern African countries with expert legal advice, technical support and funding. The SALC was created by Mark Ellis and Twanda Mutasah. Background. On 13 May 2020, Cecillia Chimbiri and two other women, including MP Joana Mamombe, were abducted by masked assailants at a Harare protest against the government's failure to provide for the poor during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two days later, the women were found, badly injured and traumatised, by the side of the road sixty miles from Harare. They reported  having been tortured and repeatedly sexually assaulted.