Human Rights Defenders Project

Lawyers, activists and organizations working to defend human rights around the world are often the targets of threats, harassment and attack. In many cases human rights defenders are persecuted by state officials or institutions, or by individuals acting with state complicity. In cases of violent attacks or threats, a culture of impunity often protects the perpetrators from being held criminally accountable. Such impunity in any society implicitly sanctions the targeting of human rights defenders and weakens the rule of law.

For many years, the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights has advocated and campaigned in support of lawyers and activists persecuted for their defense of human rights. In addition to gaining considerable expertise in this type of work, the Lawyers Committee has come to appreciate the value of focusing on individual cases. Our intervention can help tip the balance in critical situations. Focusing on the situation of human rights defenders puts a human face on human rights issues and illuminates broader structural problems that are the root causes of human rights violations the organization is fighting to eliminate.

The Lawyers Committee believes that for there to be real change towards greater respect for human rights and the rule of law, it has to come from within societies.

Human rights defenders are the driving forces behind progressive change. But they take an enormous personal risk in doing their work. Politically motivated lawsuits, jail sentences, physical mistreatment, threats and intimidation - even assassination - are among the hazards they face in conducting peaceful advocacy activities or in speaking out about repressive government practices. The need to protect human rights defenders has been increasingly recognized by international and regional organizations, including the United Nations, which created the post of Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights defenders.

In many countries where the Lawyers Committee has active program work, our partners in the local human rights community are themselves targets for persecution. By calling attention to such cases we support local activists and enable them to carry out their activities free from intimidation or restrictions. We also enhance progress in each of our program areas and promote the broader aims of our organization.

The Lawyers Committee has long-standing and highly regarded expertise in extending a lifeline to frontline human rights defenders when they come under attack. We advocate at the national and international levels for the protection of defenders and for their persecutors to be held accountable. The range of action that we take includes:

• Telling our defenders’ stories to diplomats and government officials at the highest levels\
• Talking to the media about these cases and generating exposés.
• Reaching out to other human rights organizations, our network of lawyers and other advocates by providing background information, alerts, and sample appeal letters to enable our allies to take action.
• Honoring those who are threatened at our annual awards dinner, and nominating them for other prestigious awards.
• Bringing our defender colleagues to Washington, D.C. and the United Nations to testify about their work and the underlying problems in their societies that make their work necessary.
• Sending delegations of advocates on missions to the countries where activists are attacked.
• Supporting national, regional and international mechanisms that contribute to the creation of an enabling environment for human rights defenders.