Strategies for Survival: Protection of Human Rights Defenders
Human rights defenders are some of the bravest people in the world. Every day they face the challenge of survival in situations where simply to be a human rights defender is to put your life on the line.
This report is the result of a project to gather examples of best practice in security and protection from the human rights defenders communities in Colombia, Indonesia and Zimbabwe. In each country human rights defenders have been forced by the nature of the repression they have faced to develop creative and resilient strategies for protection. The choice of countries also reflects a diversity of political and human rights contexts.
Identifying the right mix of approaches requires an ongoing and reflective process and in talking to human rights defenders in each country, it was clear that there is no one- size-fits-all approach to protection. Nevertheless it also became clear that there is a huge reservoir of knowledge and experience among the community of human rights defenders. By gathering and sharing that experience Front Line hopes that this report will help human rights defenders to learn from each other and continue their vital work with a greater degree of security.
