Critical perspectives on the security and protection of human rights defenders

Abstract

Since the United Nations General Assembly's adoption of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders in 1998, there has been considerable effort to recognise and protect the right of individuals, groups and communities to promote and protect their own rights and the rights of others. Over time, a multi-level, multi-actor international protection regime for the rights of human rights defenders has emerged, derived from the international human rights regime. Actors in this goal-driven regime adopt a human security approach, emphasising the importance of having a holistic, multi-dimensional understanding of ‘security’. In this article, we note positive developments in state commitment to the protection of defenders, as well as the debates, tensions and contestation that continue to exist. We emphasise the need for critical appraisal of the construction, function and evolution of this protection regime as well as its multi-scalar social and political effects, both intended and unintended. We highlight three specific areas where critical scholarship is needed to understand the nature of this protection regime, discussing the contributions of authors in this special issue: the definition and use of the term ‘human rights defender’; the effectiveness of protection mechanisms; and the complex relationship between repression, activism and risk. In conclusion, we identify key areas for further research related to human rights defenders, stressing the need for the development of theory and practice related to their ‘risk’, ‘security’ and ‘protection’.

Keywords:

• human rights defenders
• risk
• security
• protection
• regime

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the external reviewer (Lutz Oette) and associate editor (Lars Waldorf) for their helpful comments on the articles in this special issue.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributors

Karen Bennett is Senior Research Fellow in Human Rights and Director of the Human Rights and Social Justice Research Institute (HRSJ) in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at London Metropolitan University, London, UK.

Danna Ingleton is Research and Policy Advisor for the Individuals at Risk team at Amnesty International's International Secretariat.

Alice M Nah is a Lecturer at the Centre for Applied Human Rights at the University of York.

James Savage is the Human Rights Defenders Programme Director at Amnesty International UK.

Notes

1. Adopted by UN General Assembly Resolution 53/144, 9 December 1998, A/RES/53/144.

2. Michel Forst, Human Rights Defenders (Front Line Defenders, 2008), http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/files/en/Background%20to%20the%20UN%20Declaration%20on%20Human%20Rights%20Defenders.pdf.

3. Stephen D. Krasner, 'Structural Causes and Regime Consequences: Regimes as Intervening Variables’, International Organization 36, no. 2 (1982): 185.

4. UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, Commentary to the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, July 2011, 5.

5. UN General Assembly Human Rights Council, Resolution 27/31, Civil Society Space, A/HRC/RES/27/31 (3 October 2014); UN General Assembly Human Rights Council, Resolution 24/21, Civil Society Space, A/HRC/RES/24/21 (9 October 2013).

6. Inmaculada Barcia, Our Right to Safety: Women Human Rights Defenders' Holistic Approach to Protection (Toronto: Association for Women's Rights in Development, 2014); Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development, Claiming Rights, Claiming Justice: A Guidebook on Women Human Rights Defenders (Chiangmai, 2007); Inmaculada Barcia and Analía Penchaszadeh, Ten Insights to Strengthen Responses for Women Human Rights Defenders at Risk (Toronto: Association for Women's Rights in Development, 2012).

7. UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, 'Safe and Enabling Environment for Defenders’, A/HRC/25/55, 23 December 2013.

8. East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, ‘Networks for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders: Notes from the Field', Journal of Human Rights Practice 5, no. 3 (2013): 522–34; Vanessa Kogan, ‘Protecting Human Rights Defenders in the North Caucasus: Reflections on Developments from 2009 to the Present’, Journal of Human Rights Practice 5, no. 3 (2013): 500–11.

9. Todd Landman, ‘Holding the Line: Human Rights Defenders in the Age of Terror’, British Journal of Politics & International Relations 8, no. 2 (2006): 123–47.

10. For a discussion of these debates see: David Chandler, ‘Resilience and Human Security: The Post-Interventionist Paradigm’, Security Dialogue 43, no. 3 (2012): 213–29; Taylor Owen, ‘Human Security – Conflict, Critique and Consensus: Colloquium Remarks and a Proposal for a Threshold-Based Definition’, Security Dialogue 35, no. 3 (2004): 373–87; Roland Paris, ‘Human Security: Paradigm Shift or Hot Air?’, International Security 26, no. 2 (2001): 87–102.

11. Betty A. Reardon, ‘Women and Human Security: A Feminist Framework and Critique of the Prevailing Patriarchal Security System’, in Betty A. Reardon: Key Texts in Gender and Peace, eds. Betty A. Reardon and Dale T. Snauwaert, Springer Briefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice 27 (Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2015), 109–28; J. Ann Tickner, Gender in International Relations: Feminist Perspectives on Achieving Global Security (New York: Columbia University Press, 1992).

12. Barcia, Our Right to Safety.

13. Jane Barry and Vahida Nainar, Women Human Rights Defenders' Security Strategies: Insiste, Resiste, Persiste, Existe (Ottawa: Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights; Kvinna Till Kvinna; Front Line Defenders, 2008), 88.

14. East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, ‘Networks for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders: Notes from the Field’, Journal of Human Rights Practice 5, no. 3 (2013): 522–34; Kogan, ‘Protecting Human Rights Defenders in the North Caucasus'.

15. Barry and Nainar, Women Human Rights Defenders' Security Strategies; Jane Barry and Jelena Đorđević, What's the Point of Revolution If We Can't Dance? (Boulder, CO: Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights, 2007); IM–Defensoras, ‘A Feminist Alternative for the Protection, Self-Care, and Safety of Women Human Rights Defenders in Mesoamerica’, Journal of Human Rights Practice 5, no. 3 (2013): 446–49; Audre Lorde, A Burst of Light: Essays (Ithaca, NY: Firebrand Books, 1988).

16. Daniel Joloy, 'Mexico's National Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders: Challenges and Good Practices’, Journal of Human Rights Practice 5, no. 3 (2013): 489–99.

17. For a list of such organisations, see: https://ihrfg.org/sites/default/files/Directory_EmergencyResponseGrants_2014.pdf.

18. Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Swiss Guidelines on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (Bern: Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, 2013), https://www.eda.admin.ch/content/dam/eda/en/documents/topics/aussenpolitik/Menschenrechtsverteidigerinnen_Menschenrechtsverteidiger/2013-Leitlinien-Schutz-Menschenrechtsverteidiger_EN.pdf.

19. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Good Business: Implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, September 2013, https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/236901/BHR_Action_Plan_-_final_online_version_1_.pdf.

20. Draft Law Regarding the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights Defenders, adopted by Ivorian Council of Ministers, 4 September 2013, http://www.gouv.ci/conseil_print_1.php?recordID=173. See also International Service for Human Rights, Côte d'Ivoire: New Law will Strengthen Protection of Human Rights Defenders (16 June 2014), http://www.ishr.ch/news/cote-divoire-new-law-will-strengthen-protection-human-rights-defenders.

21. European Union Delegation to the United Nations, 'EU Council Conclusions on 10th Anniversary of EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders’, 23 June 2014, http://eu-un.europa.eu/articles/en/article_15216_en.htm.

22. Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, ‘OSCE Guidelines on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders', June 2014, http://www.osce.org/odihr/119633.

23. Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Declaration on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict (London, 11 April 2013), https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/185008/G8_PSVI_Declaration_-_FINAL.pdf.

24. UN General Assembly, Resolution Adopted by the General Assembly on 18 December 2013: Promotion of the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms: Protecting Women Human Rights Defenders, 30 January 2014.

25. UN Human Rights Council, Protecting Human Rights Defenders (UNGA, A/HRC/RES/22/6), 12 April 2013.

26. For example, the Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (A/HRC/27/L.27/Rev.1, 24 September 2014).

27. UN Human Rights Council, Safe and Enabling Environment for Defenders.

28. Human Rights Council, Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, A/69/259, 5 August 2014.

29. Amnesty International, Annual Report 2014/15: Republic of India, https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/asia-and-the-pacific/india/report-india/ (accessed 16 June 2015); Aloke Tikku, ‘Home Ministry Cancels Registration of 9,000 Defaulting NGOs', Hindustan Times, 28 April 2015, http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/home-ministry-cancels-registration-of-9-000-defaulting-ngos/article1-1341658.aspx (accessed 16 June 2015). 

30. United States Mission to the OSCE, ‘Statement on Draft Legislation in Central Asia Impacting NGO Operating Space’, 22 January 2015, http://osce.usmission.gov/jan_22_15_central_asia.html (accessed 16 June 2015).

31. Thomas Carothers and Saskia Brechenmacher, Closing Space: Democracy and Human Rights Support Under Fire (Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2014).

32. The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, A Mapping of Existing Initiatives to Address Legal Constraints on Foreign Funding (Washington, DC: The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, 1 July 2014).

33. See projects such as the Civil Space Initiative (http://www.wmd.org/projects/civic-space-initiative), the Enabling Environment Index (http://civicus.org/eei/), Lifeline: Assistance Fund for Embattled Civil Society Organisations (https://freedomhouse.org/program/lifeline#.VJoeg7gCB), Making All Voices Count (http://www.makingallvoicescount.org), Digital Defenders Partnership (https://digitaldefenders.org), and the Community of Democracies' Working Group on Enabling and Protecting Civil Society (http://www.community-democracies.org/Working-for-Democracy/Initiatives/Governmental-Bodies/Working-Group-on-Enabling-and-Protecting-Civil-Soc).

34. A leaked report entitled Concerted Efforts by Select Foreign Funded NGOs to ‘Take Down’ Indian Development Projects, from the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs' Intelligence Bureau to Prime Minister's Office, 3 June 2014, was the subject of much media and third-sector commentary. See: Ram Mashru, ‘India's NGO Backlash: Foreign Policy’, Foreign Policy, 21 July 2014, http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/07/21/indias-ngo-backlash/; Salil Tripathi, ‘NGO: Three-Lettered Angels – Livemint’, Live Mint, 18 June 2014, http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/vqgZM09LRCwmp9erDtKGSI/NGO-Threelettered-angels.html; The Hindu, ‘Answering to Law, Not to Caesar’, The Hindu, 18 June 2014, http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/answering-to-law-not-to-caesar/article6123746.ece.

35. Archana Pyati, Karimov's War: Human Rights Defenders and Counterterrorism in Uzbekistan, ed. Neil Hicks (New York: Human Rights First, 2005). The report notes the government of Uzbekistan's use of the term Wahhabi to describe its radical opposition to such Islamic groups perceived as a threat to national security. In April 2014, the Initiative Group of Independent Human Rights Defenders estimated there were 12,000 persons currently imprisoned in Uzbekistan on vague and overbroad charges related to ‘religious extremism’, with over 200 convicted this year alone. See also Human Rights Watch, ‘World Report 2014: Uzbekistan’, 2014.

36. Financial Action Task Force, International Standards on Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation: The FATF Recommendations (Paris: FATF/OECD, February 2012). See also Financial Action Task Force, Best Practices: Combating the Abuse of Non-Profit Organisations (Recommendation 8) (Paris: FATF/OECD, June 2013); Financial Action Task Force, Risk of Terrorist Abuse in Non-Profit Organisations (Paris: FATF/OECD, June 2014); Human Security Collective, European Center for Not-For-Profit Law, and European Foundation Centre, The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Measures to Fight Abuse of NPOs for Terrorist Financing – Draft Position Paper, September 2014.

37. For example, the UN General Assembly only adopted Resolution 68/181 on Protecting Women Human Rights Defenders on 18 December 2013 after a crucial paragraph was removed – one calling on states to condemn all forms of violence against women and to refrain from relying on tradition, religion or custom to avoid obligations for the elimination of violence against women. This wording had already been agreed upon in a previous resolution. See International Service for Human Rights, UN Adopts Landmark Resolution on Protecting Women Human Rights Defenders, 28 November 2013, http://www.ishr.ch/news/un-adopts-landmark-resolution-protecting-women-human-rights-defenders.

38. The language used by these states during debate of resolutions on human rights defenders and on civil society at UNHRC 25 and 27, for instance, repeatedly refers to the ‘responsibilities’ of human rights defenders and CSOs to ‘act within domestic law' (without acknowledging that said domestic laws often contravene international human rights law), accuses human rights defenders and CSOs of allowing themselves to be manipulated by foreign funders seeking to undermine national sovereignty, or of pursuing ‘erroneous ideologies’, and insists they act ‘ethically' and with greater ‘transparency and accountability'. Coming from states that use laws to restrict freedoms of association, assembly and expression to criminalise and prevent dissent, this represents an ominous, thinly veiled message.

39. Criticism has been made by NGOs and even UN Special Procedures of states blocking NGOs through deferral by the Committee on NGOs that scrutinises NGO applications for ECOSOC status. See: http://www.ishr.ch/sites/default/files/article/files/letter_to_us_secretary_of_state_re_idsn.pdf (accessed 16 June 2015).

40. See for example: Gwen Burnyeat, ‘On a Peak in Darien: Community Peace Initiatives in Urabá, Colombia’, Journal of Human Rights Practice 5, no. 3 (2013): 435–45; Cynthia Soohoo and Cynthia Hortsch, ‘Who Is a Human Rights Defender? An Essay on Sexual and Reproductive Rights Defenders', University of Miami Law Review 65, no. 3 (2011): 981–98; Kate Sheill, ‘Human Rights, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identity at the UN General Assembly’, Journal of Human Rights Practice 1, no. 2 (2009): 315–19; Lauri R. Tanner, ‘Kawas v. Honduras – Protecting Environmental Defenders', Journal of Human Rights Practice 3, no. 3 ( 2011): 309–26.

41. Robert M. Cutler, ‘De-authoritarization in Uzbekistan?: Analysis and Prospects,’ in Irina Morozova (ed.), Towards Social Stability and Democratic Governance in Central Eurasia: Challenges to Regional Security (Amsterdam: IOS Press, 2005):120–41.

42. Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights Defenders: Protecting the Right to Defend Human Rights, Fact Sheet No. 29, 2004.

43. These questions are raised by Raghad Jaraisy and Tamar Feldman, ‘Protesting for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory: Assessing the Challenges and Revisiting the Human Rights Defender Framework’, Journal of Human Rights Practice 5, no. 3 (2013): 421–34.

44. Enrique Eguren and Champa Patel, ‘Towards Developing a Critical and Ethical Approach for Better Recognising and Protecting Human Rights Defenders', The International Journal of Human Rights 19, no. 7 (2015): 896–907.

45. Barcia, Our Right to Safety.

46. Karen Bennett, ‘European Union Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders: A Review of Policy and Practice towards Effective Implementation’, The International Journal of Human Rights 19, no. 7 (2015): 908–934.

47. Martin Jones, ‘Protecting Human Rights Defenders at Risk: Asylum and Temporary International Relocation’, The International Journal of Human Rights 19, no. 7 (2015): 935–960.

48. Masa Osama Amir, ‘A Study of the Experience of Women Human Rights Defenders in Eleven Egyptian Governorates', Journal of Human Rights Practice 5, no. 3 (2013): 460–77; Kogan, 'Protecting Human Rights Defenders in the North Caucasus’.

49. Elisa Nesossi, ‘Political Opportunities in Non-Democracies: The Case of Chinese weiquan Lawyers', The International Journal of Human Rights 19, no. 7 (2015): 961–978.

50. Laura Lyytikainen and Freek Van der Vet, ‘Violence and Human Rights in Russia: How Human Rights Defenders Develop their Tactics in the Face of Danger, 2005–2013′, The International Journal of Human Rights 19, no. 7 (2015): 979–998.

51. Alice M. Nah, Karen Bennett, Danna Ingleton and James Savage, ‘A Research Agenda for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders’, Journal of Human Rights Practice 5, no. 3 (1 November 2013): 401–420.; also, notes from the Expert Roundtable on Innovative Thinking for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders – meeting organised by Amnesty International, the University of York's Centre for Applied Human Rights, London Metropolitan University's Human Rights and Social Justice Research Institute, and the International Service for Human Rights, Geneva, 12 March 2014.

52. Stephan Haggard and Beth A. Simmons, ‘Theories of International Regimes', International Organization 41, no. 3 (1987): 491–517.