The Observatory on Public Policies for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

The FOCUS Observatory on Public Policies for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders is an online platform aimed at monitoring, analysing and promoting good practice in policy developments that governments and other state authorities adopt for protecting human rights defenders and their right to defend human rights on a global level.

Map of public policies

Click on any of the highlighted countries below to browse by location.

Key Elements

Who are human rights defenders? Why is it important to protect them? What is the role of the states in protecting them? In this section, we review all key elements linked to protection policies for human rights defenders.

PI publications

Protection International has been working on public policies since 2007. Over the years, we have gathered our expertise and good practices in research publications, practical tools and reports.

Browse

Browse through the database of document by region, or refine your search by country, type of document and author in the database section.

Latest additions

US Foreign Relations Committee
2023
In March 2023, Senator Robert Menendez, who is chair of the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee proposed  a bill...
Ministério dos Direitos Humanos e da Cidadania
2023
MDHC The challenges for the construction of the National Plan for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders were presented this...
Protection International
2023
On the 4th of March 2018, governments, NGOs, academia and other stakeholders from the Latin American and Caribbean region signed...
Protection International
2023
On the 12th of December 2022, the Congolese National Assembly approved a draft national law on human rights defenders. This...
African Defenders
2023
On the 21st of February 2023 the 36th Ordinary session of the African Union took place in Bishoftu, Ethiopia. During...
Philstar
2023
For the third time in nearly two decades, a bill seeking to protect human rights defenders and punish acts of...
Protection International
2023
It has been 25 years since the first protection mechanism for people at risk due to armed conflict (December 1997)...
Protection International
2023
The defence of human rights in Guatemala is currently going through one of its worst crises since the processes of...