Human Rights are guaranteed under international law but working to ensure that they are realised and taking up the cases of those who have had their rights violated can be a dangerous activity in countries all around the world. Human Rights Defenders are often the only force standing between ordinary people and the unbridled power of the state. They are vital to the development of democratic processes and institutions, ending impunity and the promotion and protection of human rights.

Human Rights Defenders often face harassment, detention, torture, defamation, suspension from their employment, denial of freedom of movement and difficulty in obtaining legal recognition for their associations. In some countries they are killed, abducted or “disappeared.”

Over the last few years, general awareness has increased of the enormous risk human rights defenders face in their work. The risk is easy to identify when defenders work in hostile situations, for instance, if a country’s laws penalise people who do certain types of human rights work. Defenders are also at risk when the law fully sanctions human rights work on the one hand, but fails to punish those who threaten or attack defenders on the other. In armed conflict situations, the risk becomes even higher.

Apart from a few chaotic situations during which a defender’s life may be in the hands of soldiers at a checkpoint, the violence committed against defenders can’t be called indiscriminate. In most cases, violent attacks are a deliberate and well-planned response to defenders’ work, and linked to a clear political or military agenda.

These challenges require human rights defenders to implement comprehensive and dynamic security strategies in their day- to- day work. Giving defenders well-meant advice or recommending that they “take care” is not enough. Better security management is key. This manual does not offer tailor-made solutions ready to be applied to any scenario. However, it does try to provide a set of strategies aimed at improving defenders’ security management.

The most effective security lessons come from defenders themselves - from their daily experiences and the tactics and strategies they develop over time in order to protect others and their own working environments. This manual must therefore be understood as a work in progress which will need to be updated and adapted as we gather more input from human rights defenders.

There are also lessons to be learned from international humanitarian NGOs, who have recently started to develop their own rules and procedures to maintain staff security.

It is important to be aware that the main risk for defenders is that threats often materialise into actual attacks. Aggressors have the will, the means and the impunity to put threats into action. The best tool for protecting defenders is therefore political action to address the one, big, remaining issue: the need for governments and civil society to put pressure on and act against those who day after day threaten, harass and kill defenders. The advice given in this manual is in no way intended to replace the due responsibility of each and all governments to protect human rights defenders.

That said, defenders can significantly improve their security by following a few tried and tested rules and procedures.

This manual is a humble contribution to an aim shared by many different organisations: to preserve the invaluable work that human rights defenders do. They are the primary stakeholders and they are also the main protagonists in this manual.