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Power and Protection

Defending rights in hostile contexts

Por JASS & Fund for Global Human Rights

In recent years, repression and violence against human rights defenders have escalated and space for civil society has ‘closed.’ Activists and organizations around the world have worked hard to respond. But faced with worsening conditions, many of us are questioning assumptions and rethinking the adequacy of our approaches.

What is driving violence and closing the space for civic participation and dissent?
With so many resources dedicated to protecting human rights defenders, why are they at greater risk than ever?
What do we need to understand about the shifting dynamics of power and violence?
Do we recognize and value the knowledge and strategies of the women activists and grassroots organizations challenging this violence?
Are we challenging and changing the narratives that undermine activism, democracy, and rights?
What can we learn from community organizations and activist networks about what they are already doing to protect their communities?

The global pandemic has sharpened these questions and created even more hostile contexts for human rights defenders. Many countries have responded with militarization, increased repression against dissent and anti-democratic measures. Inequalities have deepened, and an increased burden has been placed on care workers, the vast majority of whom are women. Human rights defenders are working with reduced contact and capacity to move about and mobilize collectively. These increased challenges underline the urgency of rethinking current strategies of protection, even as we anticipate a post-COVID world.

With this knowledge page, we hope to contribute to continued discussion and invite shared learning on these critical questions. Below you will find insights from the work of JASS, the Fund for Global Human Rights and our many partners and allies. In particular, the page reflects our four cross-sector dialogues with community activists, NGOs, and donors from around the world:

Defending Rights in Hostile Contexts (2019). Insights from Southern Africa: an analysis on the shifting political and power dynamics, convened as a dialogue between grassroots activists, human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists and donors.
“Protection of Human Rights Defenders against Non-State Actors: Context, Analysis and Strategies, in Mexico City, January 2017
“Defending Rights in Hostile Contexts: A Multi-regional Conversation on Understanding and Confronting the Crackdown against Activists and Civic Space” in Johannesburg, South Africa, November 2017

“Women play a fundamental role in the defense of territory and in implementing strategies of collective protection. As part of the same struggle, they have questioned the structures of discrimination and demanded the eradication of unequal power relations.” Aura Lolita Chávez Ixcaquic and Marusia López Cruz

Violence and restrictions are not new; what is new is the extreme and pervasive nature of today’s crackdown on civil society. We are seeing a deadly convergence of:

growing state repression and intolerance for dissent
the rising power of non-state actors (such as extractive industries, organized crime)
the unregulated scramble for natural resources, land and water
the backlash against women, LGBTI communities, indigenous defenders, and others challenging social norms and those in power

Together, these trends pose serious threats – not just to activists and their movements but also to human rights, civil society, and democratic institutions as a whole.

‘On one hand, we see a growing export orientation, privatization, deregulation and the push for free trade agreements. In response, there is a rise in movements (labor, civil society), which in turn leads to new laws on association and a crackdown on people power.’ Southeast Asian activist

Communities and movements are leading the resistance to closing space – challenging the abuses of power and promoting alternatives that protect and sustain all life.

“Indigenous, peasant and rural women are exercising the right to defend rights in hostile territories, in unsafe spaces, besieged by militarization, the illegal drug trade, and powerful corporate businesses.” Lolita Chávez Ixcaquic, Intervention at UN headquarters. New York. 2018

‘For us, “development” is a life in peace, living in harmony, living with the things we produce ourselves.’ Adelaida Cucue Rivera, Mexico

More about the Challenge

Understanding power is vital to protecting activists and movements. JASS’ power analysis reveals the forces and changing power dynamics behind escalating violence and the crackdown on civil society.

Private interests – extractive industries, fundamentalist groups, narco-traffickers – are gaining new levels of power over and within governments at all levels.
Under a range of pretexts – including threats to ‘national security’, ‘development’ and ‘traditional values’ – governments are constricting civic participation and overriding human rights.
The power of social prejudice and fear is used strategically to criminalize dissent and legitimize repression.
Power inequalities and identity (including gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality) increase the levels of vulnerability and violence that activists experience.

“To understand how different forces gain and maintain control of decision-making and resources, and heavily influence social norms and narratives, we look at three interconnected forms of power.” John Gaventa and Lisa VeneKlasen

Power can also be positive. Activists and communities standing up for human rights are building and transforming power, to have a greater say in decisions, challenge inequalities and protect themselves.

“The power of women generates community, and that is what the extractive industries fear. We not only lead defense of land in our territory, but also in our lives, in our beds, in our houses and communities.” Lolita Chávez Ixcaquic

Transformative power strategies recognize and foster:

‘power within’ – confidence, self-esteem, casting off shame and oppressive beliefs
‘power with’ – solidarity and the collective power of people together
‘power to’ – capacity to act, speak out and make change
‘power for’ – visions, demands, and dreams that motivate our work

KEY INSIGHTS

Understanding power enables us to pinpoint the interests, collusion and conflicts among key actors and better tailor our strategies and protect against violence and backlash.
There is much to learn from social movements and communities who integrate safety as an integral part of organizing for collective leadership and power.

MORE ABOUT POWER

“MCH3 POWER: Concepts for Revisioning Power for Justice, Equality and Peace”, an accessible report on power, justice and peace, in JASS’ Making Change Happen- 2016 series.
Resources and tools on power from JASS' We:Rise Movement Building Reimagined
JASS Toolkit, “Behind the Scenes of Extractives: Money, Power and Community Resistance” (2021)
For more on resource use to confront crisis, see: "Why we must overhaul the funding of social movements", by Tatiana Cordero Velásquez, Mónica Enríquez-Enríquez. OpenDemocracy (2021).
IDS Working Paper: "Power, Violence, Citizenship and Agency: A Colombian Case Study". Published by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS)

‘Traditional protocols and measures that secure offices, provide cameras and panic buttons and protect individuals most at risk continue to be important, but protection and security in the face of the new political landscape demand strategies that improve the sustainability and resilience of communities, organizations and movements.’ Ana Paula Hernández, Fund for Global Human Rights (FGHR) Ana Paula Hernández was killed in a car accident on April 17, 2019 with two others in Guatemala as she carried out her exemplary work supporting human rights defenders. We will always remember her and honor her contribution to this work.

‘Collective protection goes beyond the sum of aggregated individual protections. It has to do with control in territories, decisions, sovereignty. It is rooted in rituals, habitual practices that generate information and collective understanding.’ Enrique Eguren, Protection International

Restrictions and violence are intended to silence and shut down organizing and opposition. Social movements and activism act as countervailing forces, vital to sustaining civic space and citizen voice.

Frontline human rights defenders and their organizations are not just the targets of violence, they are also innovators of effective protection strategies. Their strategies focus on building community cohesion and organization, crucial to making themselves safer. Collective and community-based protection:

recognizes the collective impact of violence
fosters unified and resilient communities and organizations
draws on the wisdom that communities already have to protect themselves and respond proactively to risk
builds trust and supports shared leadership – with women at the center
supports networks, coalitions, and other forms of connectedness

Collective protection fosters resilient communities and organizations, committed to mutual care and capable of organizing themselves creatively and safely to resist and challenge violence.

Examples:

Women activist networks: the Young Indonesian Women Activists’ Forum (Forum Aktivis Perempuan Muda Indonesia – FAMM), a network of 350+ young women from across Indonesia who provide personal and strategic support to one another for greater collective power and safety.
Autonomous forms of community security: The Indigenous Guards in Columbia and Community Police Force in Guerrero, Mexico, alternative, independent models of community policing that create a justice system more responsive to the needs of the people.
Communal practices: The Quiché people of Guatemala defend their territory primarily through decision-making assemblies, communal care, economic solidarity, community guard forces, and emergency communication plans, enabling them to both prevent extractive companies from entering and create an alternative way of living.

For NGOs and donors, supporting collective protection means expanding the focus from mostly legal and emergency needs, to include support for the preventative and transformational work that helps communities, organizations, and movements build their resilience, voice and safety.

Examples:

Award or recognize collectives or groups, rather than spotlighting individual ‘heroes’.
Resource and integrate strategies that strengthen collective power, organization, and leadership
Recognize in practice that community cohesion and health are critical to protection.
Support self-organized forms of community safety that don’t depend on state enforcement.
Ensure self-care/wellbeing opportunities for the whole group or family, think creatively about safe spaces within communities, and integrate communities’ own collective rituals as sources of strength.
Understand and integrate strategies to address poverty and basic needs of communities and movements.

KEY INSIGHTS

Social movements and activism are absolutely vital to sustaining civic space and enabling citizen voice.
Collective and community-based strategies are proving to be some of the most effective approaches to protection.

More about movements

"Our Rights, Our Safety": Resources for Women Human Rights Defenders, JASS 2020
JASS' Document with outline and definitions related to Collective Protection, ritual and spaces.
WeRise! – movement-building reimagined; a multimedia toolkit
JASS Making Change Happen series, accessible guides to key questions, particularly Rethinking Protection, Power and Movements
The State of Our Feminist Movements animation. AWID
"ICTs for Feminist Movement Building - An Activist Toolkit" JASS, 2015

‘There are those who continue to believe that a woman’s place is in the kitchen. Community affairs are discussed in circles that are exclusively the domain of men and women have no access. This is used as a reason to exclude women from talks regarding resources.’ Angeline Leguuto, Kenya (AWID: Women Human Rights Defenders confronting extractive industries.)

In addition to the risks that come with civic involvement and activism, women face many forms of gender-based violence and discrimination.

‘I worked hard with this lawyer; we achieved progress in our community. But something occurred there that hurt me a lot. This supposed ally sexually harassed me over the course of four years. He threatened me; he humiliated me when I did not respond to his attempts. So, the day arrived when it was no longer possible for me to continue there and I left.’ Anonymous woman defender, Mexico

Along with gender discrimination, further prejudice based on race, class, ethnicity, and sexual orientation cuts across all aspects of women’s lives – from families and intimate relationships, to public life within community, to state institutions.

‘As someone involved in different organizations but rooted in my identity as woman, African and queer, that is important to the movements I support. I cannot challenge only homophobia – intersectionality is essential … The second problem arises around alignment with left/progressive politics … those are the movements that oppress us the most as feminists. Those are real tensions, especially when it comes to strategizing to have a collective cause.’ Phumi Mtetwa, South Africa

We must face the strengths and weaknesses of our own movements and organizations to confront the fault lines of discrimination and violence that increase our vulnerability and weaken our capacity to advance our agenda for change. To decrease risk and vulnerability, protection strategies need to strengthen women’s leadership, voice, and recognized roles within organizations and movements.

A feminist approach to protection:

recognizes violence, discrimination, and inequality against women activists in both ‘private’ arenas of life – within the family, local community, and organizations – and the more visible and public areas of their lives
supports networks and safe spaces to talk about what affects women activists, and encourages collective efforts to define and create their own protection practices
strengthens women’s confidence and skills to participate politically, develops their capacity for autonomous decision-making, and expands the social recognition of their work, all of which fortify both the activists and their movements
fosters a culture of activism that is rooted in practices of self-care, mutual support, and wellbeing

‘We were finding that women were dropping out of activism because of social and economic pressures. We could see that we needed safe space – not in the sense of a shelter, but something personal, a mental approach to enable people to talk about the repression they are facing.’ Ajeng Herliyanti, FAMM-Indonesia

‘I am very proud to see that women are in all spaces of these collective and individual rebellions. The strong defense of the dignity of indigenous peoples, of social movements, is waged by women. The resistance, whether urban or rural, has grown due to the contribution of women.’ Berta Cáceres, COPINH-Honduras. Berta Cáceres, who received the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize, was murdered in her home on March 2, 2016. She has become a symbol and inspiration for Women Human Rights Defenders throughout the world.

Key insights

The systemic nature of discrimination and violence – related to gender, race, ethnicity, ability and sexual orientation – closes space and compounds risks particularly for women’s activism and leadership.
Safety for women activists also means addressing the discrimination and violence they face within their own families, communities, and organizations.

More about women and gender

AWID is an international, feminist, membership organisation committed to achieving gender equality, sustainable development and women’s human rights
DefendHer: Standing Together for Justice
Intersectionality: defined in JASS' Feminist Movement Builders Dictionary
JASS Making Change Happen series, accessible guides to key questions, particularly Rethinking Protection, Power and Movements
Mesoamerican Women Human Rights Defenders Initiative
A Feminist Alternative for the Protection, Self-Care, and Safety of Women Human Rights Defenders in Mesoamerica, Mesoamerican Women Human Rights Defenders Initiative. 2013.

Narratives exist in the terrain of invisible power – beliefs, norms, worldview. They shape how we make meaning, how we understand what is happening and why, how we define right and wrong, and our sense of who and what matters.

‘Many political leaders frame policy decisions as security interests, manipulating fear and anxiety to justify war and reduce civil liberties while obscuring the economic interests.’ JASS, ‘Making Change Happen 3: Power’

‘Worldviews and narratives are an arena of power. We choose to participate or we cede power. We ignore longer-term narrative shifts at our own peril, both because it allows the dominant ones to remain unchallenged, and because we risk unintentionally reinforcing dominant power narratives.’ Dave Mann, Grassroots Policy Project

‘Fear is a new political ideology, influencing people to vote against their own interests.’ Lisa VeneKlasen, JASS

Those who want to preserve the status quo promote a different story from those who seek to change it. This contestation is not new. But today, narratives are used in increasing deceptive and dangerous ways to justify repression and the closing of civic space. States and private interests activate the power of social prejudice and fear using narratives to:

criminalize, silence, and isolate activists
undermine community support for activist agendas and civil society as a whole
reinforce discrimination, sexism, racism, and classism
legitimize repression and restrictions

Negative narratives portray activists as backward, anti-development, and dangerous. They frame civil society as elitist, unaccountable, and undermining of tradition. Over time, these arguments re-shape expectations about what is normal and acceptable. Such narratives also marginalize the perspectives and proposals of the communities bringing the most to the table.

Strategies for protection need to include the development of contrasting narratives that build strong popular support for civil society and activist movements. Activating different values requires more than smart and well-framed communications campaigns. A compelling narrative gives voice to an inspiring vision of change and celebrates the efforts of human rights defenders and social movements. Ultimately, our narrative strategies must renew hope and belief in systemic change.

‘Our narratives must connect with the public about why they should care about civic participation and activism, social movements, and human rights in a general way, but more importantly, what we all have at stake in their vitality and protection.’ James Savage, FGHR

‘We also need to work much more on changing narratives. Powerful voices are winning the battle by instilling fear, and by discrediting and delegitimizing the actions of people who are fighting for justice. We need to spread a positive narrative that encourages more people to defend human rights and protect organizations and social movements.’ Marusia López Cruz, JASS Mesoamerica

‘People who don’t know the kind of insecurity we confront every day can’t imagine how hope or a sense of a better future helps us to survive.’ Daysi Flores, JASS – Honduras

Key insights

Narratives are used in increasing deceptive and dangerous ways to justify repression and the closing of civic space
We don’t need a ‘counter-narrative’ – something reactive that risks validating the views it challenges – but rather a compelling narrative, a positive vision and values that affirm the contributions of civil society, human rights defenders, activism, and the good of our societies.

More about narratives

Narrative Power & Collective Action: Conversations with people working to change narratives for social good. Vol 1 and Vol 2. Oxfam. (2020)
"Human rights defenders in conflict and post-conflict situations" UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders (2020)
The Power of Public Narratives, JASS, FGHR

Hope lies in the many activists, human rights defenders, NGOs and donors, who are engaged in the questions presented here. This page exists to help fuel the growing collective rethinking and re-strategizing that is necessary as we face deep challenges. We all need preventive, long-term, and systemic solutions both outside and inside our movements. We welcome your comments, additions, suggested resources, and participation to this email: jass@justassociates.org