The Bolsa Escola program in Brazil provides families with a monthly stipend so that children can attend school instead of work in the streets. The program, which began in the city of Brasilia, was created with the realization that the working children of today are the poor adults of tomorrow. Bolsa Escola was expanded to a federal program in 2001.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers’ and Exporters’ Association (BGMEA), in collaboration with the International Labor Organization (ILO) and UNICEF, developed the Child Labor Project to eliminate child labor in factories that belong to its 2,500 members, and to provide an alternative to former child laborers in the form of an education program.

Sisters in Islam, as one of the founding members of a joint action group called Malaysians Against Moral Policing (MAMP), has been organizing in response to the growing zeal of the state in policing the morality of citizens.

Education for Life (ELF) uses an accelerated learning system approach with grassroots educators and leaders to contribute to grassroots community empowerment throughout the Philippines.

In Cebu City, more than 70% of the population is classified as urban poor. A group of Non-Government Organizations with programs and services for the urban poor organizations bonded together and worked with urban poor groups to create an alliance, Task Force Tawhanong Pagpuyo (TFT), to respond to the growing numbers of victims who experienced evictions and demolitions of their houses. TFT presented and advocated for alternatives to government development plans that involved wholesale demolition with no alternative relocation sites. TFT organized a conference of urban poor leaders to identify issues and alternative solutions and followed this with research and case studies. These materials were presented to the local government and housing agencies.  Simultaneously, training was conducted for judges who issue the demolition and eviction orders. The alliance succeeded in developing and getting representatives on to a local housing board and assisted in preparing a comprehensive shelter plan for the city.  As a result, guidelines for demolition and eviction were adopted and judges now coordinate with the local housing board to ensure compliance. The number of demolitions and evictions was substantially reduced and when they did occur, relocation sites were identified in advance.

The Children’s Mandate for Peace and the Adults Mandate for Peace (El Madato por la Paz) were symbolic elections in Colombia where children and adults cast ballots for prohibitions of human rights abuses.  It had a strong symbolic effect, demonstrating the public’s disapproval with the current human rights situation and children’s and adults’ desire to strengthen human rights in the country.

Through a drive that encouraged citizens of all political persuasions to sign a petition, the Basque peace group, Elkarri, gave citizens a way to collectively and effectively pressure the Spanish and Basque governments to initiate a peace dialogue.

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/SocietyasMediator">Society as Mediator for Conflict Resolution</a></b> by Tamara Muruetagoiena.

FoodFirst Information and Action Network International (FIAN) uses a human rights based approach to confront investors with the negative impacts and human rights violations caused by companies with loans or equity investment by the investors. The tactic is especially used in a campaign on violations of the right to food by large surface gold mines. The goal of the tactic is either to prevent investments in new mines or to mitigate the impacts of existing mines.

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/LeveragingtheMoney">Leveraging the Money</a></b> by Ulrich Mueller.

The Committee for Administration of Justice (CAJ) used the United Nations Committee Against Torture to raise local human rights issues in Northern Ireland to the international level.  In order to use international mechanisms such as this effectively, a number of other tactics were used including written submissions to the Committee, lobbying in Geneva and monitoring the impact the recommendations of the various Committee reports have had on Northern Ireland in terms of actually improving the human rights situation on the ground.
For a detailed exploration of this tactic, please consult our tactical notebook, "International Monitoring Bodies" by Paul Mageean. To view the notebook, copy the following URL and paste it into your web browser: http://www.newtactics.org/en/InternationalMonitoringBodies

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/InternationalMonitoringBodies">International Monitoring Bodies</a></b> by Paul Mageean.

MAHR uses traditional human rights monitoring methods to document human rights abuses, but has made a practice of adapting this methodology to address emerging human rights issues.  The approach has been used to document violations of women's human rights such as domestic violence, rape, employment discrimination, sexual harassment in the workplace and trafficking in women and girls for commercial sexual exploitation.  The findings on violence against women in 22 countries have been published in reports that include an analysis 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.

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/FamiliarToolsEmergingIssues">Familiar Tools, Emerging Issues</a></b> by Jennifer Prestholdt.