In January 2021, a group of interdisciplinary experts from the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia came together to craft a list of principles for “Redefining the Risk Approach”. The risk approach has become a foundational element of building protection strategies for human rights defenders (HRDs) all over the world. It is repeatedly used and considered by defenders themselves, the United Nations General Assembly, United Nations Special Rapporteurs, the Inter-American Commission, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, regional human rights organizations, as well as constitutional courts in various countries.

State protection mechanisms are also encouraged to utilize the risk approach, but we realized that we also need minimum standards for doing so. Thus, the Risk Analysis and Protection Plan Principles were created. This video explains the value of these principles and why we need governments and practitioners to adopt them to improve the protection of HRDs in practice.

The Risk Analysis and Protection Plan Principles are currently available in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Arabic, which can be found in the following link: Redefining the Risk Approach: Designing and implementing a human rights defender-centric approach to protection.

Risk approach animated video

The following video helps to explain the risk approach through an interactive animation, which can also be found in Spanish and French. This video was created under a Creative Commons license and is freely available for use with proper accreditation.

Participating organizations and institutions include: