Collaboration

Using humor to put an oppressive government in a lose-lose situation

The nonviolent civil-resistance movement initiated by Otpor! in Serbia used satire and other unconventional ways of successfully spreading its message of resistance against the tyrannical regime of Slobodan Milosevic.

The Milosevic regime ruled over Serbia and Yugoslavia for about 13 years. To maintain control, the Milosevic regime was infamous for arbitrary arrests, beatings, imprisonment and even murder of avid opponents.

Using participatory education to empower communities to exercise their human and civil rights

Education for Life (ELF) uses an accelerated learning system approach with grassroots educators and leaders to contribute to grassroots community empowerment throughout the Philippines. They want grassroots communities to have more power to decide their development, including control of their resources. This empowerment includes the organization of people in the community and access to lifelong education. The key component is an organic grassroots leadership that can be a partner to outside institutions such as NGOs and national government agencies.

Using documentation to draw up a ‘blacklist’ of unacceptable political candidates and moving the public to vote against them

People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD) worked with a coalition of civic organizations to establish criteria by which to identify corrupt politicians and to campaign against those politicians in order to improve citizen involvement and politician responsiveness in South Korea.

Using a popular referendum to oppose impunity

The Comisión Nacional Pro-Referéndum (CNR) organized a referendum in Uruguay for the public to vote on the congressional decision to grant impunity to human rights abusers employed by the military.

Nearly every Uruguayan was affected by human rights abuses during the brutal dictatorship from 1973 to 1984. During that time many political dissidents were watched, tortured, and killed. The military and police detained 55,000 people (1 in 50 of the total population) and 300,000 people went into exile either out of fear or because of the rapidly deteriorating economy.

Using a Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) tool to inform and assess external policy measures

The Humanist Committee on Human Rights (HOM) in the Netherlands is developing a Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) tool to assist governments and other policy-making bodies in the systematic translation of general objectives into priorities and action on human rights and democratic development.  

The HRIA contains eight levels of procedural implementation that allow stakeholders to assess and forecast the impact of policy, programs and projects on human rights situations and apply retrospective analysis on existing practices.  

Using a code of conduct to protect labor rights in the garment industry

The Netherlands-based Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) engages industry, retailers and consumers to promote the rights of garment workers.

The CCC is a consortium of European trade unions and human rights and development organizations formed in the Netherlands in 1990 as a result of increased awareness of poor working conditions in factories worldwide. The CCC is attempting to change this situation by targeting the garment and sportswear industries and raising consumer awareness.

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Collaboration