The Role of NGOs in the

protection of human rights

Adam Bodnar

Poznao, 6 September 2010
Course on International Protection of Human Rights

What is NGO?
NGO is a non-governmental organization
NGOs are part of the civil society
Civil society is a broader term includes also churches, religious
associations, trade unions, interest groups, organizations of employers etc.
NGOs are intermediary between individuals and the government in
transmitting ideas and concepts
Different types of NGOs:
International and national
Main-stream or focused on selected issues
Grass roots organizations
Different scope of activities
Activist organizations vs. think tank organizations
NGOs acting in a public interest vs. NGOs pursuing particular interest (e.g.
lobbying NGOs)
Some NGOs are concentrated on protection of human rights
Most NGOs independent from government (as compared to GONGOs)


Examples of human rights NGOs
International
Amnesty International
Human Rights Watch
Interights
International Committee of Red
Cross
European Human Rights
Advocacy Center
Fair Trials International
Mental Disability Advocacy
Center
International Lesbian and Gay
Association (ILGA)
Article 19
Reporters without Borders
Open Society Justice Initiative

National
American Civil Liberties Union
Reprieve (UK)
Liberty (UK)
Statewatch (UK)
Helsinki Foundation for Human
Rights (Poland)
Campaign Against Homophobia
(Poland)
Article 42 (Georgia)
Georgian Young Lawyers
Association
Legal Education Society
(Azerbaijan)
Memorial (Russia)

Activities and methods
Depending on mission and scope of operation NGOs use different
methods in order to protect human rights
Over the years the role of NGOs grows (e.g. rapid development of Human
Rights Watch)
NGOs understand sometimes differently the notion of human rights
(possibility of abuse)
Most important features of NGOs dealing with human rights
Credibility
Public trust and confidence
Responsiveness
Independence
Dynamism
Why: NGOs may have impact:
they do not make political decisions
NGOs are responsible before the society and their sponsors
NGOs are transmitter of views of the society to the government
Four basic methods
Monitoring
Advocacy
Strategic litigation
Education

Monitoring
NGOs role of watchdog controlling the government and other
institutions (also private institutions)
Monitoring:
Selected issue
Day to day monitoring (e.g. freedom of speech)
Controlling compliance with certain standards (e.g. controlling prisons
in certain area)
Preparation of reports on compliance with human rights on the basis
of monitoring
Results: (i) reports, (ii) interventions, (iii) raising awareness, (iv)
accountability
Examples:
HRW report on violations of human rights in Russian-Georgian conflict
MDAC report on guardianship laws and incapacity in Bulgaria
HFHR report on disciplinary responsibility of prosecutors in Poland

Purposes of monitoring
to help people (monitoring + intervention)
to have independent data and be a reliable source for media
to compel the government to change the law or practice
to compel business to change practices (e.g. sale of palm oil)
to show violations to international community (e.g. cluster
ammunition in conflict in Georgia)
to prepare reports to international bodies (e.g. European Union,
Council of Europe, United Nations organs, Universal Periodic
Review)
Shadow reports alternative reports prepared by NGOs in response to
official governmental reports submitted to international organs
- e.g. shadow report under the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights
- reports submitted to the Human Rights Council within the UPR

Barriers to monitoring
Sometimes need of cooperation with government (e.g.
controlling prisons)
Serious monitoring requires human resources, time and
money
You cannot expect results immediately it is rather long-
term investment
Monitoring in conflict zones (or concerning certain issues)
may be risky and life threatening: example: Chechnya
In order to be influential, sometimes NGOs may need a
special status at a certain international organization (which
is usually difficult to obtain for smaller organizations), e.g.
consultative status at the Council of Europe
consultative status at the ECOSOC - UN
Advocacy
Advocacy means arguing on behalf of a certain
issue, idea or person
Changing the attitude of government
Showing the problem
Convincing the society
Advocacy usually is implemented by NGOs, but
may be implemented by a group of individuals
(e.g. individuals fighting for abolition of death
penalty in a given country)
Advocacy means fighting for sth, but without an
intent to be elected for public position

Example of advocacy
Cluster Munition Coalition
Methods:
Signing letters and petitions
Building international
coalitions
Informing the public opinion
on the problem
Convincing famous persons
to support activities
Public events and protests
Organization of conferences
and other events
Engaging people into actions
The Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC)
is an international coalition working to
protect civilians from the effects of
cluster munitions.

The CMC has a membership of around
300 civil society organisations from
more than 80 countries.

The CMC supports the initiative known
as the Oslo Process to prohibit cluster
munitions and assist affected
communities.
International and national advocacy
International advocacy typical topics
Abolishing death penalty
Release of political prisoners
Counteracting HIV/AIDS
Abuse of human rights by corporations
Anti-terrorism legislation and human rights
Domestic violence
National advocacy, examples:
Availability of contraceptives and access to abortion
Ratification of an international convention by a given country (e.g. CoE
Convention on Access to Documents, UN Convention on Rights of People with
Disabilities)
Establishing ombudsman or equality body, reform of the constitutional court
Protection against hate speech

EFFECTIVE ADVOCACY MAY NEED MONITORING
Strategic litigation
The objective of strategic litigation is to make
significant changes in law or legal practice through
litigation of the carefully selected cases
Famous examples of strategic litigation:
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (segregation in schools)
D.H. and others v. Czech Republic (discrimination of Roma children in
schools)
Bczkowski and others v. Poland (ban of assembly organized by LGBT
groups)
Opuz v. Turkey (domestic violence)
Nachova and others v. Bulgaria (burden of proof in racially motivated
killings)
Advantages of strategic litigation
effect of scale (with one case you may resolve the whole problem)
sometimes litigation is sufficient to resolve the problem (even if
you do not win the case)
different additional functions (raising awareness, education on
rights, involvement of civil society)
it does not replace legislative reforms but may speed them up
elimination of unjust loopholes in the legal system
best education for human rights lawyers
domestic courts are usually not prepared for purely legal,
professional argumentation
pressure on enforcement of judgments issued by domestic and
international courts

Steps in strategic litigation
Identification of a problem
Selection of a good case
Start of proceedings
Representation of victim in court proceedings
Informing the public opinion on the strategic
character of the case
Winning the case (usually long-term process)
Monitoring of an enforcement of judgment by
the government
Reality is much more complicated than the above model

Strategic litigation courts and
international organs
European Court of Human Rights
Possibility to submit third-party
intervention (e.g. Grzelak v. Poland
case)
Communications to the Committee of
Ministers (enforcement stage)
Council of Europe Committee on
Social Rights
E.g. Interights vs. Croatia
UN Committees (esp. Human Rights
Committee)
E.g. Belarussian cases
Inter-American Court of Human
Rights
E.g. access to information cases
European Court of Justice (esp.
discrimination cases, EU citizenship
cases)
Tadao Maruko case and ILGA

Constitutional courts
Representation of victims
Standing for NGOs as amicus curiae in
Poland and in other countries (e.g.
Georgia, Slovenia)
Supreme courts
Usually different role than
constitutional courts
Ordinary and administrative courts
Effective instruments:
constitutional complaint
action for damages
access to public information (e.g. TASZ
v. Hungary, CIA rendition project in
Poland)
Unlawful detention complaints
Length of proceedings complaint

SELECTION OF METHODS DEPENDS
ALWAYS ON A SPECIFIC CASE
Enforcement of ECtHR judgments
the most powerful human rights court in the world
individual enforcement of judgments:
restitutio in integrum (e.g. Assanidze v. Georgia, Sawomir Musia v. Poland)
re-examination or re-opening of a case (e.g. Cudak v. Lithuania)
payment of just satisfaction (e.g. L. v. Lithuania)
general enforcement prevention of further violations
change in law (including Constitution) (Kiss v. Hungary, Tysic v. Poland, Kuda v. Poland)
change in practice (e.g. use of pre-trial detention)
judicial practice (direct and indirect application of the ECtHR e.g. extradition cases)
Interlaken process bringing the Convention back home
role of the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of
Europe in supervision of judgments enforcement
role of NGOs in enforcement proceedings

Examples of current strategic cases
Non-appointment of 10 judges by the President of Poland
and threat to judicial independence
Access to statistical information on wiretapping and
surveillance in Poland
Criminal responsibility for the insult of the President of
Poland
Access to the profession of prosecutor by a person using
wheelchair
Farcas v. Romania: access to public buildings for persons
with disabilities (Interights)
Vejdeland v. Sweden: freedom of speech vs. hate speech
due to sexual orientation (Interights)
Zhovits v. Kazakhstan: fair trial of human rights defender
(OSJI)
Education
Education on human rights is an important element of NGOs activities
Education is a priority for many organizations. In some countries it is the
only method to advance human rights
You can educate on: human rights standards or skills how to advance
human rights (for other NGOs or activists)
Human rights education may be subject of manipulation
e.g. Compass handbook,
situation in CIS countries so called horizontal approach to human rights
Education has only indirect and long-term impact on human rights
protection
Special educational methods:
Law clinics (e.g. at universities)
Street law
Education through personal involvement (workshops, actions, individual small
projects)
Monitoring projects with the personal involvement of students (e.g. Court
Watch project)

Funding
NGOs watch dog activities usually must have independent
financing
institutional grants vs. project grants
International donors: Open Society Institute, Ford Foundation,
McArthur Foundation, Sigrid Rausing Trust, Trust for Civil
Society in CEE
Domestic donors: law firms, individual donors, some
corporations (CSR practices)
International organizations: European Union, EFTA, Swiss
Cooperation Fund
Special status of NGOs 1% of tax from individuals
usually most advanced and strategic activities need long-term
financing in order to be effective

Thank you for attention





Adam Bodnar, Ph.D., LL.M.
Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights
Ul. Zgoda 11
00-018 Warsaw, Poland
a. bodnar@hfhr.org.pl