A global observatory
on national policies on defenders’ protection

Protection International Research and training unit
Research and text by María Martín Quintana and Enrique Eguren Fernández

Protection of human rights defenders: Best practices and lessons learnt
Part I: Legislation, national policies and defenders’ units

Protection International, 2011

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. Thesemechanisms (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 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.

At Protection International, this development has led us to study these national initiatives: what are they and what do they consist of? How did they come about, how do they work and what is their impact on the protection of defenders? We set up a study group (made up of protection lawyers and experts) and carried out a large number of interviews with men and women defenders as well as government officials in 16 countries on three continents. We also embarked on a process of compiling and analysing legal enforcement instruments at the national level (while examining existing universal and regional ones). During the study we only found national non-governmental initiatives of this type in Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru (Central and South America), in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (Africa) and Nepal (Asia). While there may be several organizations working on protection-related matters and making important contributions, only Guatemala (UDEFUGUA), Uganda (EHAHRDP) and Colombia (Somos Defensores Programme) have three defender units specifically set up by civil society. They are pioneers in the field and together with the Protection Desks established by PI and supporting organizations (such as Peace Brigades International), are among those civil society groups whose sole mission is the protection of defenders on the ground.

You can download the contents from the links below:

Contents and Introduction

Chapter 1: Description and analysis of legislation and institutions for the protection of defenders at international and regional level

Chapter 2: Description of national legislation and institutions for the protection of human rights defenders

Chapter 3:Analysis of national laws and authorities protecting human rights defenders

Chapter 4: State structures and mechanisms for the protection of human rights defenders