Letter to former participants in LAWYERTOLAWYERNETWORK

Dear Friends,

Human Rights First has been involved for many years in advocacy and campaigning in support of lawyers and activists persecuted for their defense of human rights around the world. As you are aware, part of that work has included appeals designed to generate letters of protest and calls for protection from participants in our Lawyer to Lawyer Network.

We have reconfigured this work to reach out to a broader array of participants. We will, of course, continue to rely on the energy and expertise of lawyers, but we are also seeking support from beyond the legal community. We envision that our future work on protecting human rights defenders will be more closely integrated with the core program activities of Human Rights First.

In addition to gaining considerable expertise in this type of work, Human Rights First has come to appreciate the value of campaigning work focused on individual cases. Protection cases put a human face on human rights issues. Such cases often illuminate broader structural problems that are the root causes of human rights violations the organization is working to eliminate. Our intervention can improve the situation of threatened human rights defenders. Moreover, we have found that case work is a good way of generating public involvement from our supporters in the task of human rights promotion.

We know that in many countries where we have active program work, our partners in the local human rights community are themselves targets for persecution. By calling attention to such cases we aim to enable local activists to carry out their activities free from restrictions. We also hope that our protection activities will be an integral part of Human Rights First's efforts to promote progress in each of our program areas.

To this end, Human Rights First will be generating letters, appeals, statements and media alerts relating to cases where people are at risk for seeking to advance the human rights goals to which we are dedicated. We will be sending these documents to you in the hope that you will be able to participate in the vital work of protecting our partners in promoting human rights change, just as you did in the past through your participation in the Lawyer to Lawyer Network. Copies of protection documents will also be posted to the website (www.humanrightsfirst.org), where they will be linked to the thematic programs to which they relate.

Sincerely,

Neil Hicks
Director of Human Rights Defenders' Initiative

defenders@humanrightsfirst.org,(212) 845-5248