Women Activists – Power, Violence & Civic Space – Defending Rights in Hostile Contexts
Author: Henrietta Thomson
Date: October 8, 2018
Over the past three years, local activists and international groups supporting them have invested considerable effort in addressing ‘the closing space for civil society’ and protecting human rights defenders (HRDs) and their organizations and movements. And yet, HRDs continue to face enormous risks from escalating backlash. There is a collective sense among all those working on human rights protection, development, and the environment—activists, researchers, donors and local, regional and international organizations—that our current approaches to protection are inadequate. JASS, in collaboration with the Fund for Global Human Rights, have identified the urgent need to question the assumptions guiding activist safety and the defense of civic space, develop a deeper and shared understanding of the causes and actors at the root of the problem, and build effective joint solutions.
From November 15 to 17, JASS and the Fund for Global Human Rights (FGHR) brought together a mix of civil society actors in Johannesburg, South Africa – activists, international NGOs, and donors from around the world – in a learning exchange to deepen our collective understanding of current power dynamics and critically assess and rethink strategies to protect and promote the civic space necessary for movements, civil society, and HRDs. The gathering, Defending Rights in Hostile Contexts: Understanding and Confronting the Crackdown against Activists and Civic Space, was designed to ensure that strategies are shaped by the analysis, aims, and approaches of grassroots activists, those most deeply affected by increased restrictions and violence.
POWER, VIOLENCE, AND CIVIC SPACE
In order to understand and respond to the crackdown against activists and civic space, it’s important to understand power and violence. Both power and violence are always changing and take direct and indirect, visible and invisible forms in both public and private arenas. Read more about JASS’ framework.
Whenever a human rights defender is attacked, his or her entire community is affected. If violence has a collective impact, then responses should be collective as well. This paper begins to explore what community and collective strategies for protection look like, demonstrating how communities in resistence draw from their practices, rituals, and values to create safety in the face of violence and threats.
CIVIC SPACE, ENABLING ENVIRONMENT, AND HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
This paper provides helpful definitions for key terms surrounding the closing space for civil society as well as poses key questions left to explore.
THE POWER OF PUBLIC NARRATIVES
Narratives help us make sense of the world – So why wouldn’t they be important to how human rights defenders and their opposition operate? Read this document for an understanding of how public narratives have been weaponized against activists to silence dissent, and what we can do to change them.
https://justassociates.org/en/defending-rights-hostile-contexts
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