Defending the Human Rights Defenders
| Author | Yvonne Donders |
| DOI | 10.1177/016934411603400402 |
| Published date | 01 December 2016 |
| Date | 01 December 2016 |
| Subject Matter | Column |
Netherlands Q uarterly of Human Ri ghts, Vol. 34/4, 282–288, 2016.
282 © Netherlands I nstitute of Human Rig hts (SIM), Printed in the Net herlands.
COLUMN
DEFENDING THE HUMAN
RIGHTS DEFENDERS
Y D*
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, tran sgender, and intersex (LGBTI) rights activ ists from Uganda,
Kyrgyzstan a nd Senegal, lawyers from Russia a nd Congo, journalists from South
Somaliland a nd Palestine; this is just a sa mple of human rights defenders who have been
welcomed for a temporary stay in the Netherla nds within the Shelter Cit y programme. It
is one of the agship programmes of Dutch human rights foreign polic y. While praised
for helping certain indiv idual human rights defenders, there are also cr itical questions
posed: How are people selected for the Shelter City progra mme? Is it money well spent
to support certain individuals for a limited amount of time and whose number is
inherently limited? Would it not be better to support larger groups or organisations
defending human rights? And does protection of human rights defenders by foreign
States not conceal the fact t hat they should primarily be protected by the home State?
1. WHO QUALIFY AS HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
Since the adoption of the 1999 UN De claration on Human Rights Defenders,1 this
special group of persons is receiving increased attention internationally. e full
title of the Declaration is much longer and reads: Declaration on the Right and
Responsibility of Indiv iduals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect
Universally Recogni zed Human Rights and Fundamenta l Freedoms. e abbreviated
title is more common, and internationally established t he concept of “human rig hts
defenders”.
e term “human rights defenders” is now commonly used in international
organisations such as the UN and the EU, although other terms continue to be
employed, such as human rights activ ists, human rights professionals, or huma n rights
workers. ere is no speci c de nition of who is or can be a human rights defender.
* Yvonne Donders is a member of the Ex ecutive Board of the Net herlands Quar terly of Human Rights,
and Professor of Inter national Human Rig hts and Cultural Di versity, Faculty of Law, University of
Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
1 General Assembly Resolution A/RES/53/144, Declaration on the Right an d Responsibil ity of
Individuals , Groups and Organs of Society to Pro mote and Protect Universally Recogni zed Human
Rights and Fundam ental Freedoms, 8March 199 9.
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