In many circomstances, talking about human rights and citizen participation would harm policy makers and local governments, as individuals and /or institutions.

Thank you for joining WITNESS and the New Tactics community for an online dialogue on Archiving Human Rights for Advocacy, Justice and Memory from May 16 to 22, 2012!  The commitment of the featured resource practitioners to participate in this dialogue is now over - however, it is still possible to add comments below.  We will write a summary of this dialogue which will be posted on this dialogue page by July 2012.  Check back then!

Description of dialogue topic:

Archiving and preservation have long taken a backseat to more urgent aspects of human rights documentation and advocacy, but that is beginning to change. Human rights archives are increasingly playing a pivotal role in advocacy, restorative justice, historical memory, and struggles against impunity. At the same time, however, archivists and activists alike are grappling with the mounting challenges posed by the proliferation of digital documentation. How can we ensure that the critical documentation created today will be preserved and accessible in the future?

In this dialogue, we will explore the tactics and methods used by archivists to preserve human rights information.

This toolkit was inspired by the workshops held in Asia and Africa for the partners and members of the Violence is not our Culture (VNC) campaign.

Improving human rights is the goal of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and now there’s a toolkit to help make the covenant more useful and powerful. A global coalition of NGOs has put together a Toolkit for Action to promote the covenant’s Optional Protocol, which allows citizens who are denied rights in their home countries to pursue justice at the international level via the United Nations. The protocol, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2008, has been signed by more than 30 countries.

Rauol Wallenberg Institute of Human rights and Humanitarian Law (RWI) is offering an eight month National Human Rights Institution (NHRI) Fellowship. The aim of the fellowship programme is to expand the understanding of the role NHRIs play in promoting and protecting human rights, to support research associated with NHRIs, and to help facilitate dialogue between NHRI scholars and practitioners.

Human Rights Watch administers the Hellman/Hammett grant program for writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry who have been victims of political persecution and need financial support.

The grant is intended for writers who make a living primarily from writing. It also considers activists who write to improve human rights issues.

This Scholars at Risk training opportunity will prepare scientific associations to respond to alleged violations of the human rights of scientists. Combining case study, role play and guided discussion, the session aims to equip scientific associations to act effectively in defense of the welfare of scientists around the world.

Maps for Making Change is a two-month project specifically designed for
activists and supporters of social movements and campaigns in India. It
provides participants with an exciting opportunity to explore how a
range of digital mapping techniques can be used to support struggles
for social justice.

Nonviolence training provides civil society organizations with
essential peacebuilding skills and concepts. These skills and concepts
focus on ways to increase social mobilization and countervailing power.
Nonviolence training aims to empower marginalized groups so that they
can assert their rights, create their own opportunities, and access
resources.

The European Commission’s (EC) thematic programme, ‘Investing in People’ with its broad approach of reducing poverty has an important theme of promoting gender equality “which includes women’s empowerment.