OSCE/ODIHR trains human rights defenders on how to identify, monitor and report rights violations in safe and secure way

Twenty-five human rights defenders from Eastern and Central Europe, the Western Balkans and Turkey learned how to identify, monitor and report human rights violations during a five-day training workshop organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) between 17 and 21 October 2016 in Budva, Montenegro. Participants discussed the challenges they face in their day-to-day work and explored strategies to improve the safety and security of their teams and beneficiaries.

“Human rights work is becoming an increasingly challenging endeavor and human rights defenders require adequate preparation, specific technical skills and significant substantive knowledge in order to carry out their important work,” said David Mark, ODIHR Human Rights Adviser. “It is in this context that ODIHR works to strengthen the capacities of human rights defenders to effectively safeguard human rights and fundamental freedoms.”                               

The workshop was designed to help human rights defenders improve the accuracy and objectivity of their work, adopt effective advocacy strategies and establish security protocols to protect themselves against physical threats and keep their data safe.

“Since many of the NGOs I work with do not have the capacity to conduct thorough human rights monitoring training for their members, I found ODIHR’s training particularly useful,” said Julia Bako, a participant from Hungary. “It provided well-structured information about and solid methodologies for human rights reporting, which I will definitely use in my work. The training also inspired me to continue defending human rights.”

As part of its wider plans to work with human rights defenders, ODIHR will continue to provide similar training workshops in the region, as well as in Central Asia, the Caucasus, Western Europe and North America.

In 2014 ODIHR published the Guidelines on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders in its effort to contribute to the protection of the human rights of those who are at risk as a result of their human rights work.