Silencing the Defenders - Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative

“Silencing the Defenders”, the 2009 report of CHRI’s Advisory Commission to the Commonwealth Heads of
Government, owes a great deal to the support and belief of many people. It is impossible to mention everyone
by name, but those below deserve particular thanks.
Most especially we would like to thank the many human rights defenders who shared their experiences and
often went out of their way to provide information for the report. It is their unceasing struggle in the cause of
human rights, in the face of often grave risks to their own personal security, to which this report is dedicated.
Special appreciation goes to our devoted and diligent writer researcher Heather Collister who worked consistently
to bring this report to fruition, oversaw the publication and identified sources and networks throughout
the process.
The daunting and thankless task of coordinating the collection of hundreds of case studies from across the
Commonwealth was undertaken by Marisa Dowswell whose sterling efforts form the backbone of this report.
The project was ably supported by the research assistance provided by a rolling team of interns whose shortterm
connections to the project were outweighed by their commitment and enthusiasm. Much appreciation
goes to: Shipra Chauhan, Sheila Myung, Surbhi Singh, Natasha Price, Sakshi Srivastava, Brooke Beasley, Praveena
S. Nair, Elisa Mussack, Ravi Bains, Kshitij Bansal, Rachna Misra and Anne LeMesurier.
Chenthilkumar Paramasivam as always designed the report to the very highest professional standards.
CHRI expresses its gratitude to the photographers Daniel Wildman, David Knudsen, Luciano Tirabassi, Lize Rixt
and Falk Kuckert for giving us permission to use their images.
Particular gratitude goes to Swayam Cheta Mohanty whose ready and capable provision of IT support kept the
project on track throughout power failures and system crashes. In addition, Anand Kumar, Mohan Sundaram
and all CHRI’s administrative staff assisted the project in various capacities, and ensured its smooth running.
Outside experts provided gratefully received advice and answers to queries, in particular, Richard Bourne,
Agnes Ebo’o, Orsolya Toth and Alice Verghese. Thanks must go to those who took the time to read all or part of
the report in its draft stages and whose feedback significantly improved the final version: Alison Duxbury, Paul
Gready, Neville Linton and Zohra Yusuf.
Finally, special thanks goes to Lucy Mathieson, Programme Coordinator for the Human Rights Advocacy
department at CHRI, whose unswerving commitment, steady guidance and encouragement saw the project
through from its beginnings to a successful conclusion.
CHRI is deeply appreciative of the ongoing support of its institutional donors Ford Foundation and Sir Dorabji
Tata Trust. This report is also supported [in part] by a grant from Foundation Open Society Institute (Zug). CHRI
sincerely acknowledges the help and support of all throughout the writing of this report, and assumes full
responsibility for the opinions expressed here.
Maja Daruwala
Director, CHRI
6 CHRI 2009 REPORT: SILENCING THE DEFENDERS •