Defending Human Rights: A Resource Book for Human

themselves and the protection of their right to
defend human rights.
The protection strategy and action in favour of
human rights defenders should be understood as all
those efforts including political, legal and practical,
which help improve the environment in which
human rights defenders operate.
The most effective protection measures are those
that have collective implications and those that are
driven by political will. Promoting and protecting the
right to defend human rights is basically protecting
not only the right to do human rights work but also
to protect those doing the work and protecting the
work itself. In other words, it is about protecting the
legal rights as well as the physical integrity of the
person and the work environment.
(B) A broad approach to the definition of
the term ‘human rights defenders’
The Declaration does not mention anywhere in
the text the term ‘human rights defender’. It refers
to ‘’Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society’’.
Of course, this is a reflection of the difficulty that
existed during the negotiation and drafting process.
Not only the period it took to adopt this Declaration
was too long but also the title of the Declaration
reveals the difficulty that characterized the whole
process. However, the absence of a one sentence
definition could imply that there is opportunity
for the mandate holder to adopt an inclusive and
broad-based approach to the target group.
Whatever the case may be, the following issues
need to be retained in considering who comes
under the protection of the Declaration.
Human rights defenders are identified above all by
what they do and it is through a description of their
actions and of some of the contexts in which they
work that the term can best be explained.
Human rights defenders must be defined and
accepted according to the rights they are defending
and according to their own right to do so, providing
they do so by peaceful means. What is most
important in characterizing a person as a human
rights defender is not the person’s title or the name
of the organization he or she works for, but rather
the human rights character of the work undertaken.
Many people serve as human rights defenders even
if their day-to-day work is described in different
terms, for example as “development”. Many
people act as human rights defenders outside any
professional or employment context.
In Africa, human rights defenders include persons
who may not define themselves as such, but whose
operations in activism or academia or otherwise as
a consequence promote the respect of human rights
in Africa.
The term “human rights defender” is a term
used to describe people who, individually or with
others, act to promote or protect human rights.
It has been used increasingly since the adoption
of the Declaration on human rights defenders
in 1998. Until then, terms such as human rights
“activist”, “professional”, “worker” or “monitor”
had been most common. The term “human rights
defender” is seen as a more relevant and useful
term. The examples usually given of the activities
of human rights defenders are not an exhaustive
list. The critical test is whether or not the person is
defending a human right.
(C) A regional approach to implementation
of the Declaration
The holder of the UN mandate has always expressed
the need to implement the UN Declaration from
a regional approach and this was Ms. Hila Jilani’s
message to the African Commission on Human and
Peoples’ Rights session that was held in Pretoria in
May 2002. The responses from the Americas, the
EU and Africa are encouraging. The challenge in this
regard, is the Middle East and Asia where there is no
similar regional body.
Putting this approach into practice, Mrs. Margaret
Sekaggya and her counterpart Mrs. Reine Alapini-
Gansou at the African Commission for Human
and Peoples’ Rights (see below) undertook a joint
country visit to Togo in 2008. The UN and African
Special Rapporteurs have also issued joint press
releases. These practices give greater visibility and
weight to their recommendations, and attempts
are underway to encourage such cooperation
more broadly between the UN and African special
procedures.
(D) Contacts with human rights defenders
First and foremost, the Special Rapporteur tries to
be accessible to human rights defenders themselves
by:
Defending Human Rights: A Resource Book for Human Rights Defenders | 2nd Edition 5