Protection International
Encyclopedia
Protection International (PI) is an international non-profit organisation dedicated to the protection of human rights defenders
(HRDs). Its stated mission is to enhance the security and the protection of "threatened civil society actors with non-violent means, especially those who fight for their legitimate rights and for the rights of others as they are guaranteed by the international humanitarian law
and the human rights conventions".
Protection International began its activities in 1998 as the former European Office of Peace Brigades International
(PBI-BEO) and is headquartered in Brussels. Working on the principle that "human rights defenders are one of the main actors fighting against impunity in the name of justice", PI runs field projects in several countries (the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda
, Nepal
, Thailand
, Colombia
, Guatemala
, Honduras
) and conflict-stricken zones such as the East
and Horn of Africa
in collaboration with local partner organisations.
It provides human rights defenders (i.e. trade unionists, journalists, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals defenders, members of anti-corruption organizations, etc.) with training, knowledge and tools, such as the Protection Manual for Human Rights Defenders ", to develop protection measures into their work and enable them "to defend all human rights". Protection International also aims at mobilising the national and international community (parliaments, governments, the United Nations
, the media and public opinion
).
office of Peace Brigades International
(PBI-BEO). In October 2007, PBI-BEO officially became Protection International, after a separation with the PBI organisation carried out by common consent. Nevertheless, current activities run by Protection International are the logical result of defenders protection initiatives which began more than a decade ago.
In 1998, it organised a hearing in the Plenary of the European Parliament
where human rights defenders from Colombia and Guatemala witnessed. Since then, PI supports the development and implementation of "new tactics and tools for the protection of HRDs by improving their own security strategies, thus also enabling them to improve their protection of others"(victim groups, witnesses, Internally Displaced People communities, women's HRD's, LGBTI, among others).
From 1999 to 2002, PI organised public seminars on International Observation Strategies for INGO
s and other stakeholders throughout Europe. At the same time, training activities on security and protection of HRD's were held in more than twenty countries (among others, Mexico
, Guatemala
, Colombia
, Brazil
, Peru
, Honduras
, Bolivia
, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda
, Kenya
, Ingushetia
, Serbia
, Indonesia
, Nepal
, Sri Lanka
, India
and Thailand
).
From 2004 onwards, the organisation launched short and long-term activities in Asia
, Africa
and Latin America
. Notably, it openend in 2006 a first #Protection Desks in Nepal
, which is a permanent local structure whose objective is to diagnose human rights related threats, train local human rights defenders organisations and monitor their activities. Since then, #Protection Desks have been opened in Colombia, Guatemala, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
While developing its presence in sensitive areas, PI began working in 2003 with members of Parliaments in various European countries on the adoption of resolutions and motions on the protection of defenders. As a result, PI assisted the Belgian Parliament and Senate in designing and adopting in July 2003, a global reach resolution which asked the Belgian Government to "request its diplomatic missions to observe carefully and systematically the situation of human rights defenders in the countries where they're working."". In 2004, the Bundestag
adopted a similar resolution and Spain followed in 2007 by voting its own legislation .
In the last few years, Protection International developed itself quite rapidly. From August 2008 to December 2009, it delivered trainings about security and protection measures for nearly 1500 HRD in its working countries. Moreover, it provides on a daily basis advice to 600 HRDs and their organisations through its permanent Protection Desks and liaise with international institutions such as the African Commission on Human and People's Rights (ACHPR) and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders in order to design and implement new protection mechanisms.
In 2009, PI also issued its first annual report which represents "years of experience in field protection".
In every activities, Protection Line follows international standards in international human rights law and especially the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders(1998), The EU Guidelines on HRD and the UN Guiding Principles for IDPs
(Deng
's principles).
While it put the emphasis on the improvement of human rights defenders abilities regarding the handling of security, protection and psychosocial training, both for themselves and the beneficiaries of their work, PI's Global Protection programme also focuses itself on political action and advocacy, in order that the national and international authorities and other key actors involved in protection issues enforce their obligations in terms of human rights defenders protection.
In July 2006, PI organised a conference with 30 Congolese HRDs, Michael Matthiessen, Javier Solana
's personal representative for human rights and the ACHPR's Special Rapporteur, Reine Alapini. En 2006, PI produced "Les armes de l'impunité" ("The Weapons of Impunity"), a documentary that recounts the assassination of Pascal Kabungulu, a Congolese human rights defender, who worked for the "Ligue des Droits de l'Homme dans la Région des Grands Lacs" (The Human Rights League of the Great Lakes) and the Protestant NGO "Héritiers de la Justice" (Heirs of Justice), and denounces the systematic intimidation or physic violence against the defenders who documented the abuses committed during the Second Congo War
.
In May 2009, Protection International requested a re-trial of the Maheshe Case.. Serge Maheshe was a Congolese journalist working for Radio Okapi
, the radio supported by the Monuc, who was assassinated in Bukavu in June 2007. According to Protection International, the trial "which took place in front of the Military Juridictions of Bukavu both at first instance and at appeal, respected neither the norms of a fair and equitable trial nor led to the manifestation of truth. In spite of this, three civilians were sentenced to death in May 2008". The organization recounts the whole observation of the appeal trial in a comprehensive report entitled "Rapport d’observation du procès d’appel «Maheshe» devant la cour militaire du Sud-Kivu (R.D. Congo) et suivi des recours". The work and the call for re-examination and re-trial of Protection International was deemed by the Belgian journalist Colette Braeckman, specialist of the DRC
, "all the more relevant as Didace Namujimbo, another journalist from Bukavu who also worked for the Monuc -which didn't take any civil action for both of its contributors- was assassinated in similar circumstances in 2008"
In August 2009, after the assassination of Bruno Koko Chirambiza, journalist at the Bukavu private station Radio Star Protection International, along with four other NGO's (Action des chrétiens pour l'abolition de la torture, Fédération de l'action des chrétiens pour l'abolition de la torture, Frontline et Diakonie), asked the Congolese authorities to put an end to impunity, claiming that "the situation of journalists and human rights defenders in the DRC is more and more worrying".
Human Rights Defenders
Human rights defender is a term used to describe people who, individually or with others, act to promote or protect human rights. Human rights defenders are those men and women who act peacefully for the promotion and protection of those rights....
(HRDs). Its stated mission is to enhance the security and the protection of "threatened civil society actors with non-violent means, especially those who fight for their legitimate rights and for the rights of others as they are guaranteed by the international humanitarian law
International humanitarian law
International humanitarian law , often referred to as the laws of war, the laws and customs of war or the law of armed conflict, is the legal corpus that comprises "the Geneva Conventions and the Hague Conventions, as well as subsequent treaties, case law, and customary international law." It...
and the human rights conventions".
Protection International began its activities in 1998 as the former European Office of Peace Brigades International
Peace Brigades International
Peace Brigades International is an NGO, founded in 1981, which "protects human rights and promotes nonviolent transformation of conflicts". It primarily does this by sending volunteers to accompany human rights defenders whose lives are at risk in areas of conflict and to provide training in...
(PBI-BEO) and is headquartered in Brussels. Working on the principle that "human rights defenders are one of the main actors fighting against impunity in the name of justice", PI runs field projects in several countries (the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
, Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
, Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
) and conflict-stricken zones such as the East
East Africa
East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...
and Horn of Africa
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa is a peninsula in East Africa that juts hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. It is the easternmost projection of the African continent...
in collaboration with local partner organisations.
It provides human rights defenders (i.e. trade unionists, journalists, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals defenders, members of anti-corruption organizations, etc.) with training, knowledge and tools, such as the Protection Manual for Human Rights Defenders ", to develop protection measures into their work and enable them "to defend all human rights". Protection International also aims at mobilising the national and international community (parliaments, governments, the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, the media and public opinion
Public opinion
Public opinion is the aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs held by the adult population. Public opinion can also be defined as the complex collection of opinions of many different people and the sum of all their views....
).
History
Protection International is the former European UnionEuropean Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
office of Peace Brigades International
Peace Brigades International
Peace Brigades International is an NGO, founded in 1981, which "protects human rights and promotes nonviolent transformation of conflicts". It primarily does this by sending volunteers to accompany human rights defenders whose lives are at risk in areas of conflict and to provide training in...
(PBI-BEO). In October 2007, PBI-BEO officially became Protection International, after a separation with the PBI organisation carried out by common consent. Nevertheless, current activities run by Protection International are the logical result of defenders protection initiatives which began more than a decade ago.
In 1998, it organised a hearing in the Plenary of the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
where human rights defenders from Colombia and Guatemala witnessed. Since then, PI supports the development and implementation of "new tactics and tools for the protection of HRDs by improving their own security strategies, thus also enabling them to improve their protection of others"(victim groups, witnesses, Internally Displaced People communities, women's HRD's, LGBTI, among others).
From 1999 to 2002, PI organised public seminars on International Observation Strategies for INGO
Ingo
Ingo is a first name in contemporary Scandinavia and Germany, and a historical name in France. It is the male version of the name Inga, used in the same region, and as a name for a tropical plant....
s and other stakeholders throughout Europe. At the same time, training activities on security and protection of HRD's were held in more than twenty countries (among others, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
, Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, Ingushetia
Ingushetia
The Republic of Ingushetia is a federal subject of Russia , located in the North Caucasus region with its capital at Magas. In terms of area, the republic is the smallest of Russia's federal subjects except for the two federal cities, Moscow and Saint Petersburg...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
).
From 2004 onwards, the organisation launched short and long-term activities in Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
and Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
. Notably, it openend in 2006 a first #Protection Desks in Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
, which is a permanent local structure whose objective is to diagnose human rights related threats, train local human rights defenders organisations and monitor their activities. Since then, #Protection Desks have been opened in Colombia, Guatemala, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
While developing its presence in sensitive areas, PI began working in 2003 with members of Parliaments in various European countries on the adoption of resolutions and motions on the protection of defenders. As a result, PI assisted the Belgian Parliament and Senate in designing and adopting in July 2003, a global reach resolution which asked the Belgian Government to "request its diplomatic missions to observe carefully and systematically the situation of human rights defenders in the countries where they're working."". In 2004, the Bundestag
Bundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
adopted a similar resolution and Spain followed in 2007 by voting its own legislation .
In the last few years, Protection International developed itself quite rapidly. From August 2008 to December 2009, it delivered trainings about security and protection measures for nearly 1500 HRD in its working countries. Moreover, it provides on a daily basis advice to 600 HRDs and their organisations through its permanent Protection Desks and liaise with international institutions such as the African Commission on Human and People's Rights (ACHPR) and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders in order to design and implement new protection mechanisms.
In 2009, PI also issued its first annual report which represents "years of experience in field protection".
Objectives
Broadly speaking, Protection International's objective is "to contribute to ensuring fulfilment of national and international obligations for the protection of human rights defenders – people who, individually or together with others, take action to promote or protect human rights". Concretely it focuses itself on two goals :- To promote wider knowledge, improved decision-making and increase the effective use of field protection strategies for and by the main stakeholders in protection.
- To directly support the work of all stakeholders in the effective use of field protection.
In every activities, Protection Line follows international standards in international human rights law and especially the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders(1998), The EU Guidelines on HRD and the UN Guiding Principles for IDPs
IDPS
IDPS may refer to:*Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems*A graphics server software: iDPS...
(Deng
Francis Deng
On 29 May 2007, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the appointment of Dr. Francis M. Deng of the Sudan as the new Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide, a position he holds at the level of Under-Secretary General....
's principles).
While it put the emphasis on the improvement of human rights defenders abilities regarding the handling of security, protection and psychosocial training, both for themselves and the beneficiaries of their work, PI's Global Protection programme also focuses itself on political action and advocacy, in order that the national and international authorities and other key actors involved in protection issues enforce their obligations in terms of human rights defenders protection.
Protection International's Work
According to the Annual Report 2008 foreword, Protection International's role is not "to replace governments" in their responsibilities to protect human right's defenders but well to "advise defenders on improving their security by following tried-and-tested procedures" and to complement the work done by other NGOs and international institutions in this field. Therefore, PI covers a wide range of activities :- Protection Capacity Building and Training through analysing the risks faced by HRDs in various contexts, managing their security and transferring knowledge and tools
- Protection research : publication of manuals and informations to develop best practices
- Advocacy : dissemination of information among key actors in human rights issues , organization of debates and involvement of media, parliaments and trade unions, acting as an alarm to local authorities when they tend to forget their international obligations and commitments on HRDs protection
- Video Advocacy : production of testimonies and portraits of HRDS, showing their working environments, work experience (threats and challenges faced, achievements reached)
- Setting-up of Protection Desks that will be used as local centres in collaboration with partner networks and organisations.
- Managing www.protectionline.org, a project website providing informations, documents, publications, press releases and promoting urgent actions for the protection of HRD.
Protection Desks
In the last years, Protection International turned its attention to the setting and development of an original and long-term concept : the Protection Desk (PDs). PDs are permanent structures that provide human rights defenders with the know-how and necessary tools to prioritize security and protection issues in their working plans (i.e. : in a newspaper or a trade union) and to develop their own security plan based on the trainings given by PI's trainers on the field. PDs are developed with other human rights organizations active in the targeted country and local partner organizations. The first Protection Desk opened in Nepal in 2006 and worked with "NGO's working in conflict regions with ethnic minorities, victims and community committees and on security-sensitivie topics like human trafficking".. Since then, Protection International grew substantially and opened new PD's in Uganda, Colombia, Guatemala and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Moreover, the organization is in the preparation of the setting up of a new Protection Desk in Thaïland which should be active in various countries of the region, from Pakistan to Indonesia..Democratic Republic of the Congo
In 2004, Protection International led an observatory mission in DRC and organised two seminars on the EU Guidelines on HRDs . From 2006 until 2007, it went on with the training of defenders : among the beneficiaries, there were 185 organisations of civil socity coming from 13 conflict regions. Along this, Protection International developed regular advocacy activities for an improved protection of HRDs, mainly aimed at European embassies, the MONUC and also national and local stakeholders, especially those involved in the reform of the Congolese Judiciary.In July 2006, PI organised a conference with 30 Congolese HRDs, Michael Matthiessen, Javier Solana
Javier Solana
Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga, KOGF is a Spanish physicist and Socialist politician. After serving in the Spanish government under Felipe González and Secretary General of NATO , he was appointed the European Union's High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary...
's personal representative for human rights and the ACHPR's Special Rapporteur, Reine Alapini. En 2006, PI produced "Les armes de l'impunité" ("The Weapons of Impunity"), a documentary that recounts the assassination of Pascal Kabungulu, a Congolese human rights defender, who worked for the "Ligue des Droits de l'Homme dans la Région des Grands Lacs" (The Human Rights League of the Great Lakes) and the Protestant NGO "Héritiers de la Justice" (Heirs of Justice), and denounces the systematic intimidation or physic violence against the defenders who documented the abuses committed during the Second Congo War
Second Congo War
The Second Congo War, also known as Coltan War and the Great War of Africa, began in August 1998 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo , and officially ended in July 2003 when the Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo took power; however, hostilities continue to this...
.
In May 2009, Protection International requested a re-trial of the Maheshe Case.. Serge Maheshe was a Congolese journalist working for Radio Okapi
Radio Okapi
Radio Okapi is a radio network that operates in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. On an annual budget of US$4.5 million, a staff of 200 provide news and information to the entire urban population of the DRC.-History:...
, the radio supported by the Monuc, who was assassinated in Bukavu in June 2007. According to Protection International, the trial "which took place in front of the Military Juridictions of Bukavu both at first instance and at appeal, respected neither the norms of a fair and equitable trial nor led to the manifestation of truth. In spite of this, three civilians were sentenced to death in May 2008". The organization recounts the whole observation of the appeal trial in a comprehensive report entitled "Rapport d’observation du procès d’appel «Maheshe» devant la cour militaire du Sud-Kivu (R.D. Congo) et suivi des recours". The work and the call for re-examination and re-trial of Protection International was deemed by the Belgian journalist Colette Braeckman, specialist of the DRC
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
, "all the more relevant as Didace Namujimbo, another journalist from Bukavu who also worked for the Monuc -which didn't take any civil action for both of its contributors- was assassinated in similar circumstances in 2008"
In August 2009, after the assassination of Bruno Koko Chirambiza, journalist at the Bukavu private station Radio Star Protection International, along with four other NGO's (Action des chrétiens pour l'abolition de la torture, Fédération de l'action des chrétiens pour l'abolition de la torture, Frontline et Diakonie), asked the Congolese authorities to put an end to impunity, claiming that "the situation of journalists and human rights defenders in the DRC is more and more worrying".