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Contact Human Rights Defenders  Human Rights Defenders Program |
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What is a Human Rights Defender? A human rights defender is anyone who works non-violently to protect and promote human rights. Human rights defenders are lawyers, judges, journalists, bloggers, students, religious leaders, trade unionists and any others who work to combat human rights abuses. By challenging injustice and raising awareness about human rights, these local activists are essential in bringing about positive, lasting change within a society. Because they challenge government actions, human rights defenders and their families are harassed, detained, interrogated, imprisoned, tortured and even killed. Watch Munir Speaking Out Against Violence and the Abuse of Power Watch YouTube video of Hawa Aden Mohamed To learn more about Human Rights Defenders, click here. What is the Human Rights Defenders Program? We advocate for human rights defenders who are subjected to threats, intimidation, violence, prosecution, and other forms of repression. Our goal is to ensure that human rights defenders in our focus countries are able to carry out their essential function free from harm and repression, in accordance with the 1998 U.N. Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. To achieve this goal, we work at three levels:
Each level reinforces the others. For example, knowledge about a particular case of unfair prosecution in Colombia can help us make recommendations to address that problem at a national level, and also to illustrate the importance of defenders and the threats they face more broadly. Similarly, greater appreciation for the role of defenders in U.N. mechanisms or U.S. foreign policy can help increase the security of individual defenders. To achieve these goals we:
What Are the Focus Countries of the Human Rights Defenders Program ? While human rights defenders face persecution worldwide, we focus our efforts on a limited number of countries to maximize effectiveness. We select countries in which there is a hostile environment for human rights defenders and where we can measurably improve the situation at both the level of individual cases and broader policies. Our current focus countries are Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala, Indonesia, Iran, and Thailand. By choosing key countries in different regions, we can identify and respond to broader trends in both domestic conditions and U.S. foreign policy. Within each country, we maintain a narrow focus on a limited number of cases and two or three central policy changes. We also leverage our expertise and contacts in those countries to promote the role of defenders in U.S. foreign policy and U.N. mechanisms such as the new Universal Periodic Review process. Nevertheless, we maintain contacts in many other countries and take action when we see opportunities to support the work of local activists under threat. We are especially likely to act when a country experiences a political crisis that directly affects defenders, as Pakistan did in late 2007. We also look for common themes across all our countries, in particular the issue of the particular threats faced by women human rights defenders and the threats posed by counterterrorism policies. How can I support the work of the Human Rights Defenders Program?
What Impact does the Human Rights Defenders Program have? “My association with your organization has influenced the many worthy contacts that I made in Washington and New York. The insight and learning accrued from these meetings is indeed invaluable. I marvel at the extensive input and efforts you are all expending in advancing the human rights course. You opened my eyes to new frontiers in my course and offered words of encouragement.” – Human rights defender in Somalia Defenders continually face new forms of harassment and there are other actors working to support them, so it is sometimes difficult to see the direct impact of our work. However, a focused and persistent methodology has led to concrete outcomes. For example: Most importantly, we see real change on the ground.
Click here to read about our most recent success stories. How can I learn more about Human Rights Defenders and the Human Rights Defenders Program? To learn more about the Human Rights Defenders Program, please view our Defender Alert Newsletter Archive, a quarterly summary of our successes and challenges. Please also visit our main page, for the latest case updates and links to all of our work. Finally, to stay up-to-date on current alerts and latest developments, sign up for the Defender Alert Network. To learn more about human rights defenders, see the following related documents: For resources on lawyers:
For resources on NGOs:
How can I contact the Human Rights Defenders Program? |
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