Human Rights Defenders

‘Open doors’ for empowering voices and understanding the most critical issues

Among the pressing human rights challenges for Europe as discussed at the FRA Forum 2024 under a valuable cross-generational perspective, it is worth highlighting insights on election impact, civic space promotion and protection, as well as digitalisation and AI impact.

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Introducing Curated #6: EMA students’ reflections on conversations about ‘rights in motion’

Welcome to our sixth Curated series, which provides a space to reflect on conversations developed in the context of the Fundamental Rights Forum 2024 in relation to various issues concerning some pressing human rights challenges of our time and the significance of preparedness to overcome them.

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Can human rights lawyers and legal academics support human rights defenders in new ways?

Understanding human rights law as a discourse of preventative practice, rather than remedy, can support preparedness in the face of large-scale emergencies, like the ecological crisis, but also in the face of ‘everyday’ emergencies faced by human rights defenders.

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Ocean defenders are environmental human rights defenders

Those who are protesting against unsustainable uses of the ocean or exclusionary approaches to marine conservation should be recognised and protected as environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs), due to growing awareness of the interdependence between a healthy ocean and human rights.

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Deliberative democracy: Facilitating environmental protection

The interplay between states and corporations is complex because of the increasingly blurred line between their spheres of influence. It is worth exploring the benefits of deliberative governance as a means of transparency in the decision-making process that fosters public participation and effective environmental protection.

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How to better protect HRDs from SLAPPs: A practical defence guide for European lawyers

SLAPPs are destructive to civil society and public interest. Training and awareness-raising activities appear to be the best strategy at our disposal to effectively tackle abusive lawsuits and respond to the shrinking space for civil society in Europe.

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Can conceptualising whistleblowers as ‘human rights defenders’ improve their protection under the ECHR?

Whistleblowing, particularly on issues that relate to human rights, is an important means of keeping governments accountable. Some whistleblowers could also be viewed as carrying out the function of a human rights defender. This designation can help improve their protection under the ECHR.

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Human Rights Defenders in courtrooms: The case of Poland

Summoning activists to courtrooms, combined with the decline of the rule of law and attacks on the independent judiciary, is a serious weapon against human rights and democracy. It is worth highlighting selected cases from Poland (2015-2023) and their implications.

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Introducing Curated #5: Supporting and Protecting Human Rights Defenders

Welcome to our fifth Curated series, which addresses human rights defenders in relation to selected issues about their recognition, support and protection, by drawing on the discussions developed in the context of the 2023 AHRI International Conference.

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Challenges, Lights and Shadows of Xiomara Castro's Government in Honduras

After 12 years of social and democratic erosion under previous regimes, Xiomara Castro´s government has the chance to make structural transformations in Honduras. It is worth exploring three main axes to analyse what the new government has done and what needs to be done.

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