Enhancing the Security and Safety of Human Rights Defenders: A Toolkit

Nelson Mandela. Harriet Tubman. Malala Yousafzai. Berta Cáceres. These names, just a few among countless other revolutionary names, come immediately to mind when the term “human rights defender” or “human rights activist” is mentioned. Human rights defenders have been around for as long as human rights, and humans themselves, have existed. And for as long as defenders have sought to challenge, disrupt, and re-distribute ill-gotten power, other actors have fought them, sometimes in life-threatening ways.

This paper seeks to accomplish two things in response to that reality. First, it will provide an overview of the dangers to human rights defenders globally. And second, it will provide a toolkit with tips and strategies for protecting the security and safety of human rights defenders and making it possible for their necessary work to continue.

Corporate Accountability International, as an organization challenging corporate power, is intentional about keeping its members and information as secure as possible. Corporate Accountability International is also acutely aware of the fact that corporations have both the means and the motive to do whatever is necessary to disrupt the work of this organization and organizations like it. Therefore, many of these recommendations are ones that have been implemented internally and have proven to be, while not foolproof, generally quite practical and effective.

Before exploring these recommendations, it is important to first establish a base-level definition of human rights defenders to understand the ways in which they can be threatened and stripped of their rights. This will help inform our understanding of why it is absolutely essential that their security and safety be protected at all costs.