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Our Rights, Our Safety Toolkit for Defenders Launched

Channel grantee Just Associates (JASS) launched a new 5-module toolkit for women activists and defenders everywhere: Our Rights, Our Safety: Resources for Women Human Rights Defenders

Commissioned by Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, Michel Forst, the toolkit draws on his recent report on women human rights defenders. The toolkit is an accessible, engaging, and useful avenue for any group of activities/defenders to assess risk, power dynamics, individual and collective vulnerabilities and forms of resilience, and to strengthen approaches to collective protection.

In particular, the manual celebrates the different faces of human rights work and builds on the crucial contributions of women to the international human rights system. It functions to assist and allow people to reflect on how women’s security and well-being is affected by the work of human rights defending–and why it is critical to develop safety and security measures accordingly. Additionally, the kit helps individuals to bridge the gap between international mechanisms and grassroots communities while creating more effective strategies. It explains how women activists can employ the exposure of the related patterns of violence, discrimination, inequality, and injustice.

JASS published this toolkit with support from another Channel grantee partner Central American Women’s Fund (FCAM), along with International Service for Human Rights and Calala Women’s Fund.