1.5 Beyond Emergency Support: Fostering Holistic Support for Human Rights Defenders
1st November, 11:15 am – 13:15 pm, Room: Anggerik 1&2
Background: Human rights defenders (HRDs) in Asia persistently grapple with escalating challenges amidst the rising repression. Over recent years, the rise of autocratic regimes has stifled dissenting voices, particularly those calling for democracy and respect for human rights, or simply against community who defend their land and environment.
Civil society, especially those focusing on human rights, has extended emergency support to at-risk HRDs on international, national, and local level. There is a noticeable increase in initiatives aimed at supporting defenders and civil society organisation at risk – a positive development while also shows that the need on the ground continues to increase.
Emergency supports can take place in form of relocation, security measures, legal fees, family support, and other form of support addressing the immediate meed of defenders in responding to threats and attacks they face. However, intensified repression complicates accessing this support due to the multifaceted nature of this repression. This includes risks tied to obtaining funds from organisations often located abroad.
While funders strive to keep pace with these changes and demands on the ground, they often grapple with internal challenges, finding it hard to adapt swiftly, especially when engaging with crisis context or grassroots human rights movements without clear structure.
Considering these challenges and the evolving needs on the ground, we need to consistently revisit one key question: how we can strengthen existing efforts to ensure that HRDs are not perpetually on the defensive mode, but are instead resilient, well-equipped with the necessary skills and resources to challenge repression.
Objectives
- To evaluate current responsive strategies addressing attacks against HRDs and human rights movement.
- To identify new methods or ways to strengthen existing methods of supporting defenders, for sustained resilience.
This post was originally published on FORUM-ASIA.
