What's Being Done On...

Human Rights Networking

The March/May 2005 installment of "What's Being Done On.?" focuses on "Human Rights Networking." It highlights different approaches to networking among organizations promoting and protecting human rights.

Thousands of groups around the world work on various aspects of human rights. Whether focusing on a single human rights issue or a broad spectrum of topics, all of these groups share a common goal: human dignity and respect for rights. To achieve their objectives, they rely on such methods as researching and documenting human rights violations; monitoring, campaigning, and educating the public and other activists about human rights; and networking. Developing relationships enhances the quality of their work, and some groups have formed unofficial or official human rights networks to become more effective.

Such networking allows groups to gather and verify important information on human rights abuses; distribute information among large numbers of people; share knowledge and experiences with each other; and increase the efficiency of their work through shared knowledge, reduced costs, project partnerships, human rights campaigns, and mutual solidarity.

In this Installment:

This installment includes the following case studies that describe four different approaches to human rights networking:

• Human Rights House Network -- established the idea of shared housing for human rights groups to provide increased security and collaboration, while decreasing costs.
• Human Rights Education Associates -- builds its community through various education programs.
• South Asia Human Rights Documentation Center -- relies on its extensive contacts in each region to gather and verify information.
• Jalal-Abad Regional Network in Kyrgyzstan -- reaches out to people in the most remote areas of the country.

Each case study features an interview with a representative of the network. The installment also includes a list of various global and regional human rights networks around the world, a list of online resources, and a list of international intergovernmental human rights institutions. Please note that these are not comprehensive lists. We welcome your suggestions of any other networks or resources that we might add. Please send information via e-mail to the World Movement for Democracy or by fax to (202) 293-0755.

The World Movement would like to thank its interns, Sarah Hunt and Jonathan Mervis, for their assistance in assembling this issue.