HMB organised a training on international human rights mechanisms

Date published: 12/21/2020

2020 has been a particularly challenging year for civil society in Turkey, Europe, and the world at large. Amidst the already increasing attacks on human rights, the Covid-19 pandemic has had an additional adverse impact on the shrinking civil space, the tools accessible to human rights defenders, and their overall safety. The CIVICUS Monitor report “People Power Under Attack 2020” states that a great number of people worldwide find themselves in an increasingly limited space to engage with their civic freedoms. In 2020, no major improvements were seen in Europe, with notable cases of infringement on civil liberties in Poland, Hungary, and Belarus. Major restrictions were especially felt concerning censorship of journalists, activists, and CSOs, as well as regarding women’s and LGBTQI+ rights. 

Hafiza Merkezi Berlin is dedicated to challenging this shrinking civil space and to support human rights defenders in their work. An important way to do so is by encouraging them to be more directly engaged with international human rights mechanisms that are accessible to them, as well as the relevant stakeholders that can support their work. Existing normative frameworks and working procedures of some international bodies do not provide sufficient channels and opportunities for civil society involvement. They are highly professionalized and departmentalized. An important step for the support of civil society actors is therefore strengthening their understanding of the what, where, who, and when of advocacy work within these organisations. To enable this, we organised the first Hafiza Merkezi Berlin Advocacy Training on International Institutions and Human Rights from 30.11. – 04.12.2020. 

HMB chose ten participants from Turkey that represent a diverse group of civil society actors from all over the country. They are engaged in a range of topics, such as defending human rights defenders, Kurdish conflict, women’s and LGBTI rights, and rule of law. These ten participants followed the four-day training and attended sessions on the most relevant international organisations and their mechanisms for them. The following sessions were conducted: 

• Advocating for Human Rights at the European Union – Tommaso Nodari, Civil Rights Defenders
• The System of Human Rights Protection within the Council of Europe and ECtHR – Dr. Esra Katiman, Izmir University of Economics
• Strategically Engaging with UN Human Rights Mechanisms: An Introduction – Hannah Sobocinski and Vincent Ploton, ISHR

Additionally, we aimed to strengthen their advocacy skills, by conducting two sessions on using international databases to gain information on a range of issues as well as on how to write effective policy papers:

• Using Databases for International Advocacy – Friedehelm Weinberg, HURIDOCS
• How to Write Effective Policy Papers – Adnan Ćerimagić, European Stability Initiative

We are very happy to have conducted a successful first training. We are dedicated to further strengthening human rights defenders to amplify their voices. Although having access to all relevant information and regularly improving hard and soft skills is an important step to ensuring the sustainability and efficiency of advocacy, we are very well aware of the fact that it is not only the lack of knowledge that creates the biggest obstacle. Power structures underlying the existing systematic global order, might not automatically create equal and just societies as we want. It is a struggle in itself to transform these mechanisms and force them to act in line with human rights. Thus, HMB also wants to encourage a critical discussion about the discussed mechanisms, their potential role, as well as limits in today’s changing political circumstances. Interesting insight from each of our trainers can be found on our Instagram.