NATIONAL ACTION 3: Raise awareness of the rights of Human Rights Defenders D. Conduct awareness-raising campaigns among HRDs NHRIs can play a critical role in awareness raising campaigns among HRDs. For example, some people who defend human rights are not aware of international frameworks that protect HRDs, or what the definition of an HRD includes. Others have not engaged with international or regional human rights mechanisms or bodies, and others are not connected to networks or movements. Your NHRI should therefore carry out these activities to provide HRDs with information relevant to the protection of their rights. Your NHRI could convene meetings (conferences, workshops, dialogues) or publish resources (online sites, booklets, reports) on some of the following topics: • What and who are HRDs and what are their rights? • Developing your protection capacities: • National and international legal framework relevant to HRDs. • National and international mechanisms available for the protection of HRDs. What are they and how to use them? • How to use the legal system to protect your rights and the rights of others. Tips on strategic litigation. Case Study: Protection International (PI) published a video titled “10 Steps to Improve your Protection While Defending Human Rights”42 and has protection manuals and other resources for HRDs.43 It has also organised meetings between defenders of different regions to discuss experiences and best practices.44 If your NHRI intends to carry out training activities on these topics, the “Guide for facilitators” prepared by Protection International may be useful. The Guide contains practical advice to structure and prepare workshop sessions related to the protection of HRDs.45 Whatever activity you decide to carry out, you should ensure that these forms of capacity strengthening are actually empowering HRDs and not discouraging them by being paternalistic and overbearing. Capacity strengthening can be counterproductive when:46 • It ignores or doesn’t understand the lived experiences of the HRDs and the context surrounding their work. • It takes a prescriptive approach to risk analysis: • It ignores the particular needs and identities of each specific HRD. • It doesn’t take into account power relations and characteristics of HRDs that by themselves and when intersecting with one another lead to particular vulnerabilities (e.g. gender, SOGIESC, race) • It proposes “one size fits all” protection measures. • It directly or indirectly discriminates against certain HRDs by effectively excluding them from protection measures 42 www.protectioninternational.org/en/videos/10-steps-improve-your-protection-while-defending-human-rights 43 www.protectioninternational.org/en/defender-tools/publications-new-protection-manual-human-rights-defenders 44 www.protectioninternational.org/en/videos/collective-power-regional-exchange-thai-and-indonesian-hrds 45 https://www.protectioninternational.org/en/protection-manuals/guide-facilitators 46 https://www.protectioninternational.org/sites/default/files/2017-Roundtable-report-EN.pdf pp. 6,7, 9, 10, 12, 14 25