December 2018 marked a milestone for Protection International, with our first ever regional community exchange. Over 4 days in Southern Thailand, defenders of the Southern Peasants Federation of Thailand (SPFT) met with Indonesian defenders from six organisations of buruh tani (farm workers). The objective was to
foster a South-to-South learning exchange, bringing together stories of hope and sharing knowledge on the defense of rights in their respective communities.
Award-winning British freelance photographer Luke Duggleby tells the stories of people in Thailand who sacrificed their lives for their causes, who died trying to defend human rights, as part of a TEDxTalks in Khon Kaen. For Those Who Died Trying is a photo exhibition by Luke Duggleby and co-organised by Protection International and the Canadian embassy of Thailand, which presents photographs of 37 murdered or abducted human rights defenders in Thailand by placing a portrait of the victim, when possible at the exact placewhere they were murdered or went missing.
Ahead of the 20th anniversary of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, Protection International and the Centre for Applied Human Rights (CAHR) of the University of York hosted an international roundtable in Brussels on 12 and 13 December 2017, entitled “Rethinking the protection of Human Rights Defenders”.
#rethinkingprotection #CommunitiesareHRDs
Femicide rate in Guatemala is one of the highest in the world. During the first semester of 2010, 532 women died. Lorena Cabnal : « Behind Russia, Guatemala is the secound country in the world regarding the number of violent deaths. Everyday, impunity increases. 99% of exposed femicide cases remain unpunished : there are big shortcomings in the whole Guatemalan judiciary, regarding law enforcement and access to justice. People who're dispensing justice are reluctant to apply existing tools and there is a lack of understanding of these very tools.
En Mayo de 2008, el Consejo de Derechos Humanos de la ONU nombró a la Sra. Margaret Sekaggya, magistrada de Uganda y ex Presidenta de la Comisión de Derechos Humanos, como Relatora Especial sobre la situación de los defensores de derechos humanos.
There are still human rights defenders in Ehtiopia, in spite of the tremendously difficult situation prevailing there. Their work isn't public and they face many challenges (in terms of security and protection), especially in the regions controlled by insurgent groups. Laetitia Bader (Advocacy Officer for the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project) comments on the Somalia context and explain what should be the role of the European Union to help human rights defenders on the ground.
On April 9th 2009 Ernest Manirumva, number two of OLUCOME, the main association fighting against corruption in Burundi, was assassinated, leaving Burundian civil society shocked and the international community concerned to the utmost. The FORSC, Forum for the reinforcement of civil society, immediately summoned its 146 member associations to launch the campaign "Justice for Ernest Manirumva". With their courage and tenacity, human rights defenders like Pacifique Nininahazwe, managing director of FORSC, maintain the case of Pacifique Nininahazwe on the national and international agenda.
