Together We Are Stronger

bharris — Fri, 25 May 2007 20:08:19 -0500

Together we are Stronger

By Erika Bocanegra, Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos, Perú
Download full notebook in English and Spanish below.

Peru’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. We always talk about the importance of bringing ourselves together in order to have more strength and greater impact, but few have been able to achieve this as successfully as the Coordinadora.

Unfortunately, the global experience of the human rights movement is filled with coalitions that have failed as a result of division as well as lack of advocacy. 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.

The Coordinadora is a coalition of 63 human rights organizations in Peru. Founded in 1985, it has survived by its ability to join together and adapt itself to the changing political environment. The Coordinadora is composed of diverse organizations–urban and rural, Catholic and Evangelical church groups, national and regional focuses, among others. This broad variety in institutional profiles has legitimized CNDDHH at both the national and international level.

Among the strengths that have made the Coordinadora a significant reference point for the defense and promotion of human rights in Peru, and throughout the Americas, is the ability to make innovative political decisions while maintaining its unity, adhering to principles that guide their actions and utilizing mechanisms to find agreement about priorities in order to act with coordination because "together we are stronger."

*Note: You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the files marked with an asterisk (*). You can download a free version of this program from www.adobe.com.

Making the State Pay

bharris — Fri, 25 May 2007 20:08:08 -0500

Making the State Pay

By Camelia Doru

Download the full notebook below.

In this notebook, we read about the efforts of the ICAR Foundation to mobilize public resources for a socially marginalized group – victims of torture. The Foundation recognized that many citizens had suffered torture during the communist regime, and created an organization to provide treatment and care to the thousands of torture survivors. While there was international support, the Foundation knew that provision of this care was actually the responsibility of the state itself. The notebook outlines ICAR’s effort to pressure the Romanian government to pay for rehabilitation of torture survivors even though it was not willing to officially assume responsibility for past abuses. In effect, ICAR forced the state to begin to fulfill its moral and legal responsibilities as laid out in international and national laws. ICAR’s story provides ideas about how to pressure a state to carry out its obligations to a socially marginalized group and compel it to take a step toward justice.

In October 1991 the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) invited me to Budapest to take part in the first inter-national symposium in Eastern Europe on "Doctors, Ethics and Torture." During this symposium I met people from all over the world, people engaged in providing medical rehabilitation to victims of torture under many different circumstances and often in politically adverse conditions. This experience, along with the support I received from IRCT colleagues, encouraged me to create a non-governmental organization in Romania to address the terrible problem of torture. I knew there would be po-litical resistance, but I also saw that I could count on professional international training, management and financial support. The ICAR Foundation was registered in April 1992. Its name commemorates the Greek mythological figure Icarus, who needed help after successfully escaping from long imprisonment and finding that his wings did not survive the heat of the sun. Our logo contains the wings as a symbolic representation of the Icarus.

We began to search for resources that would allow us to provide services for the thousands of torture survivors in Romania.Throughout the subsequent decade of work, we have found our international colleagues and donors to be crucial. The treatment and care of torture survivors, however, should not depend on the interna-tional community. We believe that this work is the moral and political responsibility of the state itself. What I will describe in this notebook is our long-term strategy to pressure and persuade Romanian local and central governments to start accepting this responsibility.

We opened our first center in 1993 with only three doctors, two supporting staff, and a budget of US$20,000. We saw 85 clients, and our private and international supporters covered all expenses. In 1994 and 1995 our attempts to mobilize public resources began to succeed as we convinced local government officials to provide premises for our operations; we now estimate the value of this local government contribution at over US$100,000 per year. More recently we also obtained government support in prescribing free medicines for our clients – a public contribution worth over US$150,000 per year. By 2002, the ICAR Foundation had grown to three centers with a staff of more than 50. We provide services for 2,000 clients and receive annual international contributions of US$300,000.

*Note: You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the files marked with an asterisk (*). You can download a free version of this program from www.adobe.com.

lobbying

Together We Are Stronger