English PDF - East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders ...

Conference Report: Resources and Proceedings 51for Human Rights Defenders, Ms. Hina Jilani, to country embassies in Ireland, and in some casesto the Irish or other embassies in the country. With urgent appeal requests, it is good to be amember of a national human rights network, who can send urgent appeal requests out on yourbehalf and a regional network such as the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights DefendersNetwork. Information used in the urgent appeal request needs to be well researched and verified.The source must be trusted and the information has to be reliable and independent.Front Line’s experience has shown that it is essential to establish a working relationship with anetwork of national and international networks, human rights organisations (like AmnestyInternational, Article 19, Reporters without Borders, etc.), church groups and parliamentariangroups within national Parliaments or the European Parliament who can mobilize support for thecampaign and who are committed to human rights, justice and peace issues. It is worth taking thetime to establish a good working relationship with regional and international organisations, sothat when a human rights defender is at risk, the organisation can be contacted with ease. FrontLine has found it useful to prioritise countries where you will concentrate your lobby work andcampaigns.When making this choice this it is necessary to take into consideration which countries providethe most development aid or development cooperation finances to your country as this indirectlyportrays their potential influence of exerting pressure. It is also helpful to make contact withdevelopment agencies operating on the ground or in the country of the donor and ask them tolobby the donor Government on your behalf. Targeting missionaries and justice and peaceorganisations is another recommendation we make. The aim is to target groups that will mobilisesupport when needed and assessing who is committed to human rights issues and will keep themomentum of campaign going if a case is submitted which is not resolved immediately. Whenpresenting a case of a human rights defender to such entities, it is good to draw a profile, whichwill draw attention to the case and will increase the chances of media coverage.It has to be noted that it is difficult to get the international media interested in cases of humanrights defenders being persecuted. This should be kept in mind when profiles are written as theultimate aim, is to get the international media to take up the case. The correspondent for yourcountry for the different international newspapers like Le Monde, the Guardian, the Times needsto be targeted. Good contacts with the international radio stations – like BBC World Services andRadio France International need to be established.Front Line has realised that a feature article is sometimes a good way to get coverage on the caseof a human right defender in the media. When doing a feature article, the personal story can helpin getting coverage. Getting information on the family of the human rights defender, like if he orshe is married, does he or she have children, their personal background aims at showing thepublic that this is not just another statistic case but human life. A good quality photograph canhelp receive coverage and can mean that the case will be more likely to be taken up. In cases ofrape and torture it is ethically important that to obtain consent of the victim if he or she wantstheir photo to be used in a campaign. It is important to verify that the human rights defenderwants public coverage and for how long he or she wants it. It can be difficult to control aninternational campaign if the human rights defender or the organization decides that campaigningwill be or has become counter productive.These days, unfortunately for many, it is more likely that a case is taken up if it is featured on awebsite. It gives the impression that of a reliable organisation that has the capacity and resourcesespecially if website features updated cases. So the internet gives a sense of security to peoplewho are researching. The aim of reporting cases on the internet should be presentation of a case ina dispassionate tone, with no emotion. The information should be presented clearly and in an