Protecting human rights defenders: analysis of the Inter-American Court of Human Right’s jurisprudential lines on human rights defenders and the right to defend human rights
Protecting human rights defenders: analysis of the Inter-American Court of Human Right’s jurisprudential lines on human rights defenders and the right to defend human rights
Date
2023
Authors
Williams Manzanarez, Rebeca María
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Abstract
Protecting Human Rights Defenders is a complex task requiring the State to assure a safe
environment to exercise the right to defend human rights freely, including adopting adequate and
effective protection measures. This research will analyze the jurisprudential guidelines established by
the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to explore the scope of the term human rights defender, and
the right to defend humans for compiling standards to implement those measures. The Court has
adopted these as guarantees of non-reparation to prevent the commitment of violence against human
rights defenders, and consequently strengthen the democratic structure. As it will be discussed,
currently the protection strategies implemented in the region so far, are guided by a view of
securitization of the right to defend human rights, that limits the risk analysis leaving aside crucial
element for the design of the protection strategies, such as the particularities of the defender's identities.
The previous makes necessary to contribute to the discussion of the implementation of a broader and
critical approach. In that regard, this study would also be done based on reports from international and
regional organizations for the protection of human rights and the main debates of civil society
organizations and defenders about the protection measures.
Key words: human rights defenders, right to defend human rights, public polices, protection
mechanisms.
Description
Second semester University: University of Deusto, Bilbao
Keywords
human rights defenders,
human rights,
protection,
public policy,
Inter-American Court of Human Rights