The gender perspective in the protection of women human rights defenders – the experiences of Mexico and Honduras.

Protection International, JASS and CEJIL come together in this publication to deepen understanding of violence against women human rights defenders and to demand effective action from states. This publication aims to identify how the gender perspective has been incorporated into practices, strategies, regulations and programmes for the protection of human rights defenders in Honduras and […]

The Worldwide Growth of National Policies for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

[5 August 2022] Over the years, and especially since 2012, we have seen a growing number of countries adopt national public policies for the protection of human rights defenders (HRDs). For the purposes of this work, it is broadly understood that public policies for the protection of HRDs includes any piece of legislation, decree, policy […]

Germain Rukuki: Timeline of the Case

In July 2017, the human rights defender Germain Rukuki was arrested in his home and later charged with “rebellion”, “threatening state security”, “attacking the authority of the State” and “participation in an insurrectionist movement”, although no conclusive evidence was ever presented to back the prosecution’s counts. Four years later, Germain has been released from prison. […]

“Gestalt Notebook” for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

Protection International Mesoamerica has produced a “Gestalt Notebook” for the work of protecting women human rights defenders. This publication arose from need to remotely accompany networks of defenders within their territories during the COVID-19 pandemic. The publication contains exercises that aim to respond to the experiences, thoughts and emotions of the defenders from home in […]

Criminalisation of human rights defenders: Categorisation of the problem and measures in response

Criminalisation of Human Rights Defenders – Categorisation of the problem and measures in response aims to provide responses to protection challenges for criminalised HRDs, civil society organisations and rural communities. To this end, the report illustrates the interplay among legal instruments, socio-political contexts, practices by state authorities and non-state actors, which altogether ultimately contribute to […]

Annual Report 2013

In 2013, Protection International (PI) continued to support the work of Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) across the world and help make their environments safer. The following Annual Report gives concrete examples of PI’s work throughout the world in 2013, but specifically focused on capacity building, research projects, working with duty bearers on the development of national public policies protecting HRDs and ensuring the implementation of existing protection policies for […]

Protection of Human Rights Defenders, Best Practices and lessons learnt

In recent years several governments have developed specific national mechanisms to protect defenders, all of them in countries seriously lacking in protection for human rights defenders. These mechanisms (laws, action policies, offices) have been established under pressure from (and with the cooperation of) national and international human rights organisations, with essential legal support from the […]

Legislators and Human Rights Defenders

A Parliamentary guide to inform members of parliament from around the world on how they can contribute to the protection of human rights defenders. The risks for Human Rights Defenders increase when they work in conflict zones or in countries where acts perpetrated against them go unpunished. Confronted with such a situation, the development of […]