Defending Human Rights: A Resource Book for Human

that limitations prevail, and those limitations on
security are the same as those on the human
rights work: scarce resources, few personnel,
improvisation, a high level of pressure and
repression, etc.
Security strategies and work space: A
consent/dissuasion triangle
All security strategies can be summarized in one
sentence: to keep the work space open. For that
we need to seek, as a minimum, consent (of
government, of armed actors and civil society) and
ideally acceptance (a further step).
Speaking strictly in terms of security, the defenders´
work space requires certain consent by the parties
in conflict, especially the armed ones, and ideally a
request from some part of the sectors affected by
the conflict. This consent can be explicit (a formal
permit from the authorities) or implicit, and will
be more solid if an armed actor perceives some
than one armed benefits actor. from the defenders´ work, or lower if he
perceives costs. In this case, the consent will be
given by the political costs carried by an attack on
The level of risk of an NGO is in accordance with the
received threats and vulnerability to those threats,
he perceives costs. In this case, the consent will be given by the political as can costs be seen carried in the by following equation 5 :
n the defenders. All this is especially relevant when defenders are working in a scenario
Risk = threats x vulnerability
pace can be represented as a triangle which relates the continuum consent-acceptance
the defenders. All this is especially relevant when
tinuum deterrence-persuasion:
defenders are working in a scenario with more than
one armed actor.
The work space can be represented as a triangle
which relates the continuum consent-acceptance
and the continuum deterrence-persuasion:
Deterrence
Consent
Persuasion
a
Acceptance
b
Work
space
Risk, threats and vulnerability:
Capacities in security
Risk is an inherent part of the work in conflict
scenarios. There is no widely accepted definition
of risk, but we can say that risk refers to “possible
events, however uncertain, that result in harm” 4 .
In any given scenario, all human rights defenders
may face a common level of danger, but not all
defenders are equally vulnerable under that general
risk merely through being in the same conflict
scene. Vulnerability (the possibility that a defender
will suffer an attack and harm of whatever kind)
varies for each entity, according to several factors,
so that a UN agency is not as vulnerable as a small
national NGO.
Threats are the possibility that someone will harm
somebody else (their physical or moral integrity or
property), through purposeful, often violent action 6 .
Threat assessment is the analysis of the likelihood of
a threat becoming action.
An NGO can face many different threats in a conflict
scenario. The main threats are the ones which are
aimed to hinder or to change the NGO’s work or
influence its personnel’s conduct (‘targeting’).
Targeting is closely related to the work done by the
defenders and by the interests of the armed actors; in
other words, whether a defender becomes targeted
or not depends on the impact of their work on the
armed actors.
The enlargement of workspace can be achieved
with time (following its acceptance by means of Vulnerability (the degree to which defenders are
a strategy of persuasion, which should take into susceptible to loss, damage, suffering and death,
ment of workspace account can planning be achieved for the with needs time of the (following population, its acceptance in the by event means of an of a attack) varies for each defender
persuasion, image, which should procedures, take into integration account etc.), planning or by for an the needs of
or
the
NGO,
population,
and also varies with time. Vulnerability is a
cedures, integration
acceptance
etc.),
by
or
part
by an
of the
acceptance
armed actors
by part
(a
of
difficult relative dimension, because all people and groups
the armed actors (a difficult
balance, represented in space “b”). But normally in are vulnerable, but each one, according to their
presented in areas space of "b"). conflict But normally the space in remains areas of limited conflict to the that space remains circumstance limited and to conditions has their own level
follows from which consent follows of the from armed consent actors, of a the mixture armed of actors, dissuasion a and and persuasion type of vulnerability. For example, a human
space "a"). mixture of dissuasion and persuasion (reduced to 4 López y Luján (2000), pag.23
space “a”).
5 Ver Koenraad van Brabant y REDR en la bibliografía seleccionada.
6 Dworken (1999).
12 Defending Human Rights: A Resource Book for Human Rights Defenders | 2nd Edition
ats and vulnerability: Capacities in security