WK 412 New applications for fact-finding methods

Fact-finding methods have been the backbone of human rights work for decades. Explore examples of how tried and true methodologies have been adapted to emerging human rights issues and can give others ideas for exploring new territories.

Panelists

Featured Tactic: Jennifer Prestholdt, Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, USA Complementary Presentations:

• Bea Bodrogi, Legal Defense Bureau for National Ethnic Minorities, Hungary
• Renato Alves, Human Rights Observatories Network, Brazil

Featured Tactic

Adapting traditional human rights fact-finding methodology to emerging human rights issues Jennifer Prestholdt, Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, USA

• View Jennifer Prestholdt’s PowerPoint presentation 18,350 KB
• Read the outline of her presentation
• NEW: in Cantonese
• Read the tactical notebook Familiar Tools, Emerging Issues

Minnesota Advocates develops practical and sustainable strategies for adapting human rights monitoring methods to emerging human rights issues. With the help of hundreds of volunteers, Minnesota Advocates has monitored human rights conditions and produced more than 50 reports documenting human rights practices in more than 20 countries. Minnesota Advocates uses traditional human rights monitoring methods to document human rights abuses, but has made a practice of adapting the methodology to address cutting-edge human rights issues. Its findings on violence against women in Mexico, Nepal and 12 countries in Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States have been published in reports that include analyses of each country’s legislation related to women’s rights and of the local law enforcement system, as well as recommendations on bringing laws and practice into conformity with international human rights obligations. Minnesota Advocates has recently adapted the methodology it uses overseas to investigate and document the difficulties that refugee and immigrant women in Minnesota face in gaining services and protection from domestic violence.

Complementary Presentation

Bea Bodrogi, Legal Defense Bureau for National Ethnic Minorities, Hungary

• View Bea Bodrogi’s PowerPoint presentation 54 KB
• Read the outline of her presentation
• Read the tactical notebook Testing for Discrimination

The Legal Defense Bureau for National and Ethnic Minorities in Hungary uses a method of testing to collect evidence when there is an allegation of discrimination in order to bring a court case. Testing involves sending out two job applicants with similar characteristics and qualifications but of different ethnicities. The applicants record questions that were asked at the interview and how they were treated. The test coordinator can then evaluate whether or not discrimination has taken place.

Complementary Presentation

Renato Alves, Human Rights Observatories Network, Brazil

• View Renato Alves’s PowerPoint presentation 299 KB
• Read the outline of his presentation

Developed in Brazil and Venezuela, the Human Rights Observatories gather qualitative information on human rights in communities affected by violence and poverty. Through community groups, the project trains small groups of young observers to write reports about day-to-day violations, the local impact of public policies and possible local measures to solve the problems. Including community groups in human rights work helps empower communities and opens broader venues for disseminating information about human rights.