Rethinking the protection of Human Rights Defenders: A critical and creative reflection on protection approaches

Ahead of the 20th anniversary of the UN Declaration on HRDs, Protection International and the Centre for Applied Human Rights (CAHR) of the University of York are hosting an international roundtable on 12 & 13 December 2017 for human rights defenders, practitioners, academics, and policy-makers to reflect collectively on the way that security and protection are conceptualized and enacted.

The two-day consultative meeting will focus on reviewing and challenging the currently established protection approaches, tools, and practices. The main objective is to offer a participatory platform to strengthen the human rights movement by supporting critical reflection and creative thinking on the defense of human rights and the protection of HRDs.

Mr. Michel FORST, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Ms. Victoria Tauli Corpuz, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples and Dr. Denis Mukwege, Congolese gynecologist and women’s rights activist, will participate in the event.

3 strands of reflection will be proposed to participants:

Follow the event!

The participation in the event is by invitation only, but you can follow the conversation on social media! #RethinkingProtection

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Useful documents

• Draft Programme

• Concept note

Speakers’ contributions

Ahead of the event, some speakers are sharing their views on the topics they will tackle – some inspiring food for thought to reflect together on!

• Phil LYNCH, Director of the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), Developments in the normative and legal protection of defenders.

• Claudia V. SAMAYOA, General Coordinator, Unidad de Protección a Defensoras y Defensores de Derechos Humanos – Guatemala (UDEFEGUA), Presentation summary.

• Luis Enrique Eguren, Founder and Senior Adviser of Protection International, Critica ideas for strand 2.

Recommended readings

• Here are 4 key publications by Protection International that

  can fuel the Round Table exchanges: Protection International 2017 Edition of its FOCUS Report Protection International’s first edition of its new publication series on criminalization: Criminalisation of rural-based human rights defenders in Kenya – Impact and counterstrategies You can also look at PI’s criminalization

  • report Criminalisation of Human Rights Defenders – Categorisation of the problem and measures in response

  • Protection International & PAS, Collective protection of human rights defenders of the right to land and territory – conceptual developments and methodological challenges

• Margaret Satterthwaite will speak at our Round Table on Evidence of Trauma

  : the impact of Human Rights Work

  on advocates, which is has already an inspiring blog post on in 2017. She also recommends the reading, as further information on the topic, of the series on Resilience as Resistance. Margaret Satterthwaite also contributed to Soraya Seedat, Mental Health Functioning in the Human Rights Field: Findings from an International Internet-Based Survey, University of Stellenbosch, SOUTH AFRICA, 2015.

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Contact details

• For practical information issues:

Nha Vy Nguyen – Event Coordination Assistant – nnguyen [at] protectioninternational.org or +32/ (0)2 609 44 09

• For content and advocacy issues:

  • Sandrine Grenier – Advocacy and Outreach – sgrenier [at] protectioninternational.org or +32/ (0)2 609 44 09
  • Mauricio Ángel – Policy, Research and Training – mangel [at] protectioninternational.org or +32/ (0)2 609 44 07

• For communications and media issues:

  • Nellie Epinat – Communications Officer – nepinat [at] protectioninternational.org or +32/ (0)498 441 366

• In case of emergency when arriving in Brussels:

  • Nha Vy Nguyen +32/ (0)489 583 031 (FR/EN) or
  • Mireia Crespo +32/ (0)489 944 910 (ES)

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This page will be updated regularly!