Resilience Strategies for a Sustainable Human Rights Movement: Presentation OMCT Report

Human rights defenders around the world are working in an increasingly hostile environment under immense pressure. They are resisting repression, attacks, torture, intimidation and other violent tactics that are used with impunity to silence dissenting voices and discourage communities, activists, and human rights defenders from continuing to fight.

Despite everything, the movement keeps going. “Whenever there is oppression, there will be resistance”1. Confronting abuses of power, political violence and an unfavorable environment for justice deeply harms human rights defenders and their communities, affecting their lives on an individual and collective level.

The report “Resilience Strategies for a Sustainable Human Rights Movement” is the result of a collaborative effort involving human rights defenders, SOS-torture network members and OMCT partners, as well as professionals, who came together in 2021 and 2022 to share their reflections, knowledge, experiences, practices and strategies regarding sustainability, psychosocial support, holistic care, collective practices, connection and resilience.

The aim of this report is not to locate the origins of oppression in the minds of the people being harmed or to pathologise people's responses and acts of resistance2, but to reflect on the need to provide integrated and holistic support, especially to the most vulnerable human rights defenders, in order to contribute to a safer, more sustainable and better-protected human rights movement, while seeking justice and transforming the system of oppression that causes harm.

This session will be divided into two parts:

1. First, we will share a brief presentation the OMCT report, 'Resilience Strategies for a Sustainable Human Rights Movement', highlighting the key elements of the report, such as the importance of a structural and political analysis to acknowledge the struggle of human rights defenders resisting oppression and violence; Best practices to nurture care, connection, psychosocial support and collective ethics to support HRDs, and Some conclusions to build integrated approaches to protection for HRDs.
2. Then, we will hold a panel discussion with expert voices representatives of three of the organizations that contributed to this report back in 2021 – Public Verdict Foundation, El Nadeem Center and Defend Defenders – expanding the conversation to include updated reflections, experiences, and practices from the ground in the current global context.

Relevant document 

Psychosocial support: a guidebook for human rights defenders (available in EN, ES, FR, AR – RU version will be released and also added to the web soon).

Languages spoken: English & French
Interpretation available: EN / FR / ES / RU / AR