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

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.