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Human Rights Defenders & Civic Space

Supporting Human Rights Defenders

Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) are individuals, groups of people or organisations who legitimately seek to promote and protect human rights through peaceful and non-violent means.

Through their actions, they help uncover human rights violations, bring them to public attention and call for fair and just solutions. They can also work to empower individuals and communities to understand and claim their fundamental rights.

Because of their actions, HRDs face grave challenges in the countries in which they work. These can include harassment, detention, death threats and torture. People can be silenced by restrictive laws. Some have been disappeared or murdered. Women HRDs can be subjected to sexual violence.

As supporters of a robust civic space and advocates of the most vulnerable and marginalised, HRDs today face an extraordinary set of challenges."

Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders

The APF Regional Action Plan on Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) sets out the regional and national actions that the APF and our members will carry out at a regional and national level over a four-year period to recognise the dignity of defenders and strengthen respect for their rights.

A key regional action in the Plan is to strengthen the capacity of NHRIs in relation to HRDs. To achieve this, we have undertaken a number of initiatives:

  • Delivered a capacity development programme to support NHRIs at the national and regional levels as protectors of HRDs and as HRDs themselves.
  • Developed Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the National Actions in the Regional Action Plan.
  • Facilitated an online course that explored how NHRIs can protect and promote the work of HRDs, and ways in which participating NHRIs can implement the national actions outlined in the Plan.
  • Ran a small grants programme for participating NHRIs to develop case studies on their work on HRDs, as well as an online community of practice for participants to continue to network with one another and collaborate on joint actions beyond the life of the course.
  • Developed a new data tool to monitor and report on the situation of HRDs, significantly contributing to a regional outlook by measuring key human rights indicators. The Right to Defend Rights tool was originally developed by the Danish Institute for Human Rights and adapted for use by APF members.

The APF has recently launched two new toolkits to assist NHRIs in protecting Human Rights Defenders in the Asia Pacific. The toolkits provide practical steps NHRIs can take to enhance the safety and protection of HRDs in the region.

These activities are part of the APF’s contribution to the NHRI.EU Project Phase II, funded by the European Union.

Relates resources and articles

Advancing human rights in our region