A group of Burmese laborers who were forced to work on a pipeline project in Myanmar successfully filed suit against two co-venturers in the pipeline project, Unocal and Total.  They claim that the two transnational corporations knew and profited from the fact that the military of Myanmar was using violence and intimidation to relocate villages, enslave farmers, commit rape and other torture, steal land and force persons to work on the pipeline.  With the help of lawyers from organizations such as Earthrights International, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the International Labor Rights Fund, as well as several private law firms, the case continues to make its way through the channels of federal and state court as the first human rights case against a company to be adjudicated in the United States.  Since 1996, the case has set several important precedents that will affect similar human rights cases in the future.

The Centro de Documentación y Archivo (CDyA) opens police files to the public to contribute to justice and healing in Paraguay.  The discovery of an immense cache of files in a small Paraguayan police station by a former political prisoner in December 1992 led to the creation of the CDyA.  This archive is commonly known as the “Archive of Terror” because of the nature of the files it contains.  These files document prisoners’ detention experiences in detail and have been used to corroborate individuals’ stories of detention during several Latin American dictatorships, to confirm the disappearance of citizens, and as evidence in the prosecution of former police and military personnel in several Latin American countries.

ICAR Foundation in Romania mobilized public resources for the victims of human rights violations in order to get the State to take full responsibility for its actions by acknowledging and treating former political prisoners justly and humanely. Over nearly a decade, ICAR succeeded in getting the State to use public resources to assist in providing first the physical premises for torture treatment centers, and then the right to free medicines and insurance coverage for the specialized care and services that torture survivors required.

Citizens' Watch in Russia builds collaborative relationships with influential bureaucrats within the Russian administration, taking government officials and bureaucrats out of the role of opponent and turning them into partners in advancing human rights. These relationships encourage the development of a democratic and participatory connection between the state and its citizens, one in which human rights are respected and the government functions to serve the people, rather than to rule over it.  Citizens' Watch encourages administration officials to become advocates for human rights by providing them opportunities to travel to seminars, conferences and meetings with international colleagues and providing them with the resources and support to make change within their departments.

Cities for Peace is a coalition of local elected officials and concerned community members working to get City Councils and other civic bodies to pass resolutions against a US led war on Iraq.  Although the group focuses on the anti-war effort, this tactic has also been used to show local opposition to a variety of federal actions, such as investment in apartheid and the curtailment of civil liberties under the Patriot Act.  By the end of February 2003, 113 cities and counties had passed resolutions and over 90 new campaigns were underway.

In 2002, Poder Ciudadano (Citizen Power) collected signatures on two petitions that, through a constitutional provision, obligated the Argentine Congress to consider community-proposed legislation.  The constitutional provision requires the Congress to deliberate over any proposed legislation brought before it by community members or organizations, but such legislation must bear the signatures of 1.5 percent of Argentine citizens in at least six of 24 districts.  Using this tactic, it focused its efforts on  two problems that have had widespread effects in Argentine society recently – pensions of privilege, a system of excessive retirement benefits for former government officials, even those known to be corrupt and most recently, hunger, especially of children and pregnant women.  By late 2002, both proposals were passed by the Congress with some modifications.

Tactic Information

Intervention type: 

Intervention Tactics - Persuasion

Objective: 

Collecting signatures for a referendum that compels the legislature to consider human rights-based legislation

Sector initiating tactic: 

Civil society

Sector intended to affect: 

Government

In the late 1990s, in decisions regarding former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, governments in Spain and Britain used international law to determine that perpetrators of crimes against humanity cannot claim immunity from charges against them. Spanish courts invoked the principle of universal jurisdiction to order Pinochet’s arrest; this principle holds that every state has an interest in bringing to justice the perpetrators of crimes against humanity, no matter where those crimes take place or by whom. Pinochet’s challenges to this warrant were overturned by the British House of Lords, which argued that because Chile had ratified the 1984 UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatments or Punishments, he could not claim immunity from charges of torture. Although Pinochet was ultimately allowed to return to Chile, where he was excused from trial for medical reasons, the decisions by the Spanish and British courts helped demonstrate that there is no immunity from prosecution on charges of torture, that such crimes can be prosecuted anywhere in the world under the principle of universal jurisdiction, and that national courts can be used to force states to fulfill their obligations under international law.

Since 2001, Brazil's Instituto Pro Bono has worked to persuade individual lawyers and law firms to provide free legal services for nonprofit organizations and people in need.

For a detailed exploration of this tactic, please click on the following link to consult our tactical notebook, <b><a href="http://www.newtactics.org/en/ExpandingAccesstoJustice">Expanding Access to Justice</a></b> by Marcos Fuchs.

Tactic Information

Intervention type: 

Restorative Tactics - Seeking redress

Objective: 

To convince major law firms to donate their legal services and connecting them with NGOs in need of legal services

Sector initiating tactic: 

Legal community

Sector intended to affect: 

Legal community

The Chiapas Community Defenders Network (Red de Defensores Comunitarios por los Derechos Humanos or Red in Spanish) trains young indigenous community members throughout areas of Zapatista support in Chiapas to monitor and defend their human rights.  Defenders are trained through monthly seminars covering topics on the theories and concepts of human rights work as well as practical skills to ensure human rights violations are documented, reported and prevented.

For a detailed exploration of this tactic, please click on the following link to consult our tactical notebook, <b><a href="http://www.newtactics.org/en/TakingonOurOwnDefense">Taking on Our Own Defense: The Chiapas Network of Community Human Rights Defenders</a></b> by Miguel Angel de los Santos.

The Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) helps victims of torture by using United States Federal Laws to bring civil charges against their torturers, regardless of country in which the torture took place. In the summer of 2002, a Florida jury awarded $54.6 million to three Salvadoran survivors who were tortured by Salvadoran security forces between 1979 and 1983.  These three individuals sued the generals who commanded the soldiers that tortured them, applying the doctrine of Command Responsibility, where a foreign commander is held liable for the actions of his troops.

For a detailed exploration of this tactic, please click on the following link to consult our tactical notebook, <b><a href="http://www.newtactics.org/en/Reparations">Reparations</a></b> by Sandra Coliver and Moira Feeney.