Towards developing a critical and ethical approach for better recognising and protecting human rights defenders

Abstract

The Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms passed in 1998 by the United Nations General Assembly marked a milestone for the defence of human rights. This article considers some of the limitations around the concept of and term ‘human rights defenders’, and sets out some considerations for the development of a critical and ethical approach elaborating on criteria in the declaration of how to better understand and define human rights defenders through their practice. This article argues that such an approach, utilising insights from relevant critical theory, should be developed on the basis of the principles and values that recognise that although rights are universal, they are not applied everywhere in the same way or for all individuals equally. This article posits an approach in which the defender is understood, and constructed, as a relational agent situated in human rights work. Such a focus, this article argues, can not only help defenders, and those who work with them, to better understand and reflect on their experiences and improve their praxis, but can also lead to tangible improvements in the practices and policies employed for protecting human rights defenders throughout the world.