The authors -- from diverse walks of life and human rights issue areas -- recount their personal experiences in these detailed tactical notebooks. Although their backgrounds and situations differ, all used innovative tactics to help address an urgent human rights situation. Read these notebooks to learn how a tactic was actually implemented, what factors influenced its use, and the challenges that surfaced along the way. We hope these examples of how tactics were used in sometimes dangerous, real-life situations will help you think tactically, to consider adapting these tactics to your own context, and adding these tactics to your own tactical repertoire.

The same notebooks can be accessed in a Grid View with sortable columns.

You can also download the bundled collection of Tactical Notebooks available in these languages (updated as more become available):

2007-04-01 in English (Warning: this is a 20MB zipped file)
2007-04-01 en Francais (Attention: Dossier .zip de 1MB)

NEW: Action Theatre: Initiating Changes

by Motahar Akand, Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK), Bangladesh

Research for Action: A region-wide participatory research process to build participation, awareness & advocacy on trade policies
by Chubashini Suntharalingam, Southeast Asian Council for Food Security and Fair Trade (SEACON), Malaysia

Engaging the Media: Building support for minimum wage reform
By Jee Hyeon Kim, Korean Women Workers Associations United (KWWAU), Korea

Police Training: Opening the door for professional and community-oriented policing
By Dr. Arie Bloed, Forum Asia Foundation / AIHR, Thailand

Engaging Key Stakeholders: Ensuring the right to HIV/AIDS education and health care services
By Syed Asif Atlaf Chowdhury, CARE-Bangladesh and Roy Romesh Chandra, Bangladesh Truck Driver’s Federation, Bangladesh

Access to Justice: Creating local level, citizen action mediation bodies to ensure human rights
By Dinesh Narayan Suddhakar, Center for Victims of Torture (CVICT), Nepal
In Nepali

Human Rights Advocacy Utilizing Religious Perspectives and Opinion Leaders: Promoting National Human Rights Education in Indonesia
By Mashadi Said, National Working Group for Human Rights Dissemination and Promotion (NWG), Indonesia
In Bahasa

Las mujeres pazharemos - movilizándonos contra la guerra: Actoras políticas, desobedientes civiles*
(Women Making Peace - Mobilizing Ourselves Against the War: Civil Disobedient Political Women - English Introduction)
By Amanda Lucia Camilo Ibarra, Ruta Pacifica, Colombia
(*Available in Spanish only / Únicamente en espanol)

Asumiendo nuestra propia defensa: La red de defensores comunitarios por los derechos humanos*
(Taking on our Own Defense: The Chiapas Network of Community Human Rights Defenders - English Introduction)
By Miguel Angel de los Santos, Chiapas Network of Community Human Rights Defenders, Mexico
(*Available in Spanish only / Únicamente en espanol)

Expanding Access to Justice: The Instituto Pro Bono in São Paulo
By Marcos Fuchs, Instituto Pro Bono, Brazil
In Bangla

In Russian

Uncovering Evidence: The Forensic Sciences in Human Rights
By Luis Fondebrinder, Equipo Argentino de Antropologos Forenses, Argentina
In Russian (short version)

Open Memory: Cooperating to Facilitate Access to Human Rights Information
By Damian Ferrari, Memoria Abierta, Argentina

In Bangla
En Espanol

Together We Are Stronger
By Erika Bocanegra, Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos, Perú
En Espanol

De la protesta a la propuesta: La incidencia política en instancias gubernamentales* (PDF)
(From Protest to Proposal: Civilian Influence Over Government Mechanisms)
By Paulino Montejo Silvestre, COIAB, Brasil
(*Available in Spanish only / Únicamente en espanol)

Las iniciativas populares* (PDF)
(Popular Initatives)
By María Batch, Poder Ciudadano, Argentina

(*Available in Spanish only / Únicamente en espanol)

Public Audiences: Creating Space to Recognize Victims of Internal Conflict in Peru
By Sofia Macher, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Peru
En Espanol

The Human Rights Education Program for Women
By Liz Ercevik Amado, Women for Women’s Human Rights, Turkey

A Call to End Corruption: One Minute of Darkness for Constant Light
By Ezel Akay, Citizens’ Initiative, Turkey

In Bangla

In Russian

Testing for Discrimination: Identifying and Prosecuting Human Rights Abuses
By Bea Bodrogi, Legal Defense Bureau for National and Ethnic Minorities (NEKI), Hungary

In Bangla

In Georgian

In Polish
In Russian
In Ukrainian

Making the State Pay: Mobilizing Public Resources for Victims of Human Rights Violations
By Camelia Doru, ICAR Foundation, Romania

In Bangla
In Russian

Making the Global Local: Applying Global Agreements to Local Enforcement of Human Rights Laws
By Columbus Igboanusi, League of Human Rights Advocates, Slovakia

In Bangla

In Russian

Educating the Next Generation: Incorporating Human Rights Education in the Public School System
By Kozara Kati and Robert Gjedia, Albanian Center for Human Rights, Albania

Making Sense of the Information Wilderness: Library and Information Services for the Improvement of Human Rights Work
By Sasa Madacki, Human Rights Center at the University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

In Bangla

Breaking the Silence: Using Popular Culture to Engage Young People in Human Rights Reporting
By Rafal Pankowski, Nigdy Wiecej, Poland
In Georgian

Making Allies: Engaging Government Officials to Advance Human Rights
By Boris Pustyntsev, Citizens’ Watch, Russia

In Bangla

In Cantonese

En Espanol
En Francais

In Urdu

Plan B: Using Secondary Protests to Undermine Repression
By Zorana Smiljanic, Otpor!, Serbia

Rebuilding Communities: Training Trauma Survivors to Help Communities Heal after Atrocities
By Binta "Neneh" Barry and Nancy L. Pearson, Center for Victims of Torture, Sierra Leone

A Mock Tribunal to Advance Change: The National Tribunal on Violence Against Women in Nigeria
By Mufuliat Fijabi, BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights, Nigeria

In Bangla

Le Théâtre populaire pour briser le silence autour des violences faites aux femmes*
(Using Popular Theater to Break the Silence around Violence Against Women - English Introduction)
By Oulimata Gaye, Résau Africain de Développement Integré (RADI), Senegal
(*Available in French only / Seulement en français)

Promoting Human Rights Professionalism in the Liberian Police Force
By Cecil Griffiths, Liberia National Law Enforcement Association (LINLEA), Liberia
En Espanol
In Russian

Using Government Budgets as a Monitoring Tool: The Children’s Budget Unit in South Africa
By Lerato Kgamphe, Idasa/Children’s Budget Unit, South Africa

Powerful Persuasion: Combating Traditional Practices that Violate Human Rights
By Emile Short, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Ghana
En Francais

Complementary Strengths: Western Psychology & Traditional Healing
By Lucrecia Wamba, Rebuilding Hope, Mozambique

I’ll Walk Beside You: Providing Emotional Support for Testifiers at the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission
By Glenda Wildschut and Paul Haupt, Desmond Tutu Leadership Academy, South Africa

NEW: Tandem©: Cross-Cultural Exchange Between Police and Migrants
By Maria Hirtenlehner, International Centre for Cultures and Languages (ICCL)

Human Rights and the Corporation: The Development the Human Rights Compliance Assessment
By Reed Addis, Danish Institute for Human Rights, Denmark

Sending Out an SMS: A Rapid-response Mobile-Phone Network Engages a Youth Constituency to Stop Torture Fast
By Anneke Bosman, Amnesty International, the Netherlands

Reparations: Using Civil Lawsuits to Obtain Reparation for Survivors of Human Rights Abuses and Challenge the Impunity of Human Rights Abusers
By Sandra Coliver, Center for Justice and Accountability, United States

The Dilemma Demonstration: Using Nonviolent Civil Disobedience to Put the Government Between a Rock and a Hard Place
By Philippe Duhamel, Operation SALami, Canada
In Russian

International Monitoring Bodies: Powerful Tools for Leveraging Local Change
By Paul Mageean, Committee on the Administration of Justice, Northern Ireland
In Russian

Side by Side: Protecting and Encouraging Threatened Activists with Unarmed International Accompaniment
By Liam Mahony, Peace Brigades International, USA

Leveraging the Money: Enforcing Human Rights by Influencing Financial Institutions By Ulrich Mueller, Food First Information and Action Network, Germany
In Russian

Society as Mediator for Conflict Resolution: Elkarri’s Peace Conference
By Tamara Muruetagoiena, Elkarri, Basque Region, Spain

Familiar Tools, Emerging Issues: Adapting Traditional Human Rights Monitoring to Emerging Issues
By Jennifer Prestholdt, Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, USA
In Polish
In Russian
In Ukrainian

Recipe for Dialogue: Corporate Training for Building Relationships with Indigenous Communities
By Jo Render, First Peoples Worldwide, USA

The Power of Place: How Historic Sites Can Engage Citizens in Human Rights Issues
By Liz Sevcenko, Tenement Museum and International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience, USA
En Espanol
In Russian (Short Version)