Protection International’s 2019 – 2023 Global Strategy
In recent years, we have witnessed a rise in powerful revisionist agendas on international human rights standards and a growth in inequality, discrimination, and a legitimization of oppression against minorities. State authorities are failing in their obligation to protect those who are targeted by powerful non-state actors, which results in high levels of repression against civil and political rights activists, as well as against land rights and environmental defenders, and the use of judicial harassment and criminalization to hamper the work of women and men defenders (W/HRDs)1.
The numbers of defenders and communities at risk continue to increase while current approaches to W/HRDs protection are not sufficient and too prescriptive. Yet, new opportunities exist: indigenous peoples, feminist activists and movements, environmental activists and funders are increasingly able to mobilise a strong and fast outcry to defend rights through new networks. Institutional debates on business and human rights and climate justice are opening some space for structural changes. In this reality, resilience of W/HRDs themselves and their capacity to sustain peaceful resistance over long periods of time are a message of hope for the global human rights movement that demands our action.
In response to this, Protection International’s new 5 year Global Strategy builds upon a shifted perspective, moving from W/HRDs protection towards their agency to exercise the Right to Defend Human Rights. Two key elements underpin this transition: a revised Theory of Change (ToC) and a reviewed protection approach.
With the 2019-2023 Global Strategy, Protection International will also adapt its governance structure to expand its reach and bring our decision-making where it matters the most: close to defenders.
Download our 2019 – 2023 Global Strategy below, also available in Spanish and French.
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