New Tactics Resources



New Tactics Resources

This is a list of resources provided for your group by the New Tactics project. If you would like to add more resources to this page, just 'tag' the pages, notebooks, announcements, dialogues, and tactics with 'ICB'.

Type of Resourcesort iconTitleDescription
Blog entryTruth and Reconciliation Processes: Aiding community healing through addressing impunity

March 26 - April 1

New Tactics in Human Rights’ featured online discussion for March focused on ways in which Truth and Reconciliation processes have and are being implemented to aid community healing. It is not too late to connect, discuss and share with New Tactics’ resource people who have served in a variety of roles related to TRC processes. Join our featured resource people NOW and share your own experiences, insights and questions.

Blog entryEngaging the Media in Human Rights

Featured Dialogue: Engaging the Media in Human Rights

Table of Contents

The following table of contents was developed to make the dialogue easier to navigate. Important themes and different discussions have been highlighted for archival purposes and for new users. The preferred method of viewing the comments is with "Thread list - expanded" option,

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Blog entryUsing Mobile Phones for ActionMobile technology is being used by citizens all over the world. Join these outstanding resource practitioners to share and discuss "Using Mobile Phones for Action".
NotebookAccess to Justice: Creating local level, citizen action mediation bodies to ensure human rightsThe Centre for Victims of Torture (CVICT) in Nepal instituted a tactic to circumvent the problem of police abuse through a process of rights-based community mediation. The tactic trains local people as mediators and resources to their communities on basic laws and human rights. In addition, it has served as a vehicle to empower women to become community leaders by addressing their individual and collective needs.
NotebookUncovering the EvidenceIn this notebook we learn about the ways in which forensic science can unearth human rights abuses from the past and bring closure to families as well as truth to the judicial process.  The Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team has been training human rights NGOs to use forensic tools to advance investigations.  Through this science one can tell if a person was tortured, if the death was accidental or intentional and they can try to indentify the person.
NotebookTogether We Are StrongerPeru’s Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos (National Coordinator for Human Rights, CNDDHH) is globally recognized as one of the most successful and effective coalitions in the world. This notebook analyzes the characteristics of a strong coalition and shows how to successfully fight against an authoritarian government, like that of Fujimori in Peru the 1990s.
NotebookTaking on Our Own DefenseThe model raised by the Network of Community Defenders constructs a new tactic in the defense of human rights. It proposes that victims and their communities become involved by electing their own defenders.
NotebookSide by Side: Protecting and encouraging threatened activists with unarmed international accompanimentIn this notebook we learn about how an international organization called Peace Brigade protects targeted organizations by sending accompaniment of international field workers.  This accompaniment allows these organizations to continue to fight human rights abuses while making it harder for governments to target them because of the international presence.
NotebookSending Out an SMS: A rapid-response mobile phone network engages a youth constituency to stop torture fastIn this notebook text-messages and short message services are used to engage young people to quickly stop torture.  Amnesty International-Netherlands recognized that text-messaging was an easy medium to use to reach out to youth.  It was successfully used to protest torture when the Democratic Republic of Congo arrested a journalist. 
NotebookReparationsIn this notebook we learn how civil laws can be used to hold torturers and other human rights abusers accountable, and to gain reparations for survivors.
NotebookRebuilding CommunitiesIn this notebook we learn about how the Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) created local and and long-term capacity building projects in Guinea and Sierra Leone.  The CVT trained local refugees to be "mental health specialists" and gave them the skills to begin to rebuild their communities.  This notebook may provide tactical ideas to those assisting these communities trying to rebuild their lives.
NotebookPublic AudiencesThis notebook describes the tactics that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Peru implimented to give a voice to victims of governmental human rights abuses.  The purpose of the commission was not an investigation, rather Public Audiences provided victims the opportunity to tell their stories and rewrite history in a sense to include the abuses they suffered.
NotebookPolice TrainingThis notebook discusses how a strategy to work toward promoting community policing in Thailand and other countries in Asia utilized the introduction of a unique, computer-based police training education program to engage and enlist the support of key leadership of the Royal Thai Police (RTP) to champion the training tool.
NotebookOpen MemoryRead how Memoria Abierta (Open Memory), a human rights organization in Argentina, organizes thousands of documents related to the state terrorism and makes them accessible through an online database as a way to raise public awareness about what happened in Argentina from 1976-1983.
NotebookMaking the State PayThis notebook describes how one organization (ICAR) in Romania was able to pressure the government to accept its moral and legal obligation to provide care to torture victims.  The group had international support but they recognized that it was the states responsibility to rehabilitate this socially marginalized group.
NotebookMaking the Global LocalIn the human rights field there is often a gap between local human rights abuses and the international laws and treaties that are meant to prevent these abuses.  The League of Human Rights Advocates in Slovakia recruits members of a disenfranchised population and trains them to become human rights monitors.  These monitors watch for human rights abuses in their own locality and then translate international human rights laws and apply them to their local situations.
NotebookInternational Monitoring BodiesThis notebook demonstrates how international mechanisms can be a powerful tool for organizations trying to bring about change in their community.  This notebook uses the example of Northern Ireland and describes how the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) was able to successfully utilise the UN Committee Against Torture to pressure the UK to establish mechanisms and standards for human rights.
NotebookI'll Walk Beside YouIn this notebook we learn about the the process of creating 'briefers' to accompany victims during the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).  These 'briefers' aided victims before, during, and after they testified by providing psychosocial support and legal support.
NotebookExpanding Access to JusticeUntil a few years ago, there were no legal firms in Brazil that offered free services to people in need. The Pro-Bono Institute has created a new legal tradition in São Paolo, convincing major law firms to donate their legal services and connecting them with NGOs in need of legal services. The Institute has recruited about 140 lawyers and is offering a variety of free services to all kinds of NGOs, including support for important human rights cases.
NotebookComplementary Strengths: Western Psychology and Traditional HealingIn this notebook, we learn about efforts to integrate and maximize knowledge from traditional and western healing methods to reintegrate child soldiers into communities devastated by war.