The Role of NGOs in the
protection of human rights
Adam Bodnar
Poznań, 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:
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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 longterm 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
• Methods:
Example of advocacy –
Cluster Munition Coalition
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.
– 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
International and national advocacy
• International advocacy – typical topics
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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)
– Bączkowski 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
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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)
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different additional functions (raising awareness, education on
rights, involvement of civil society)
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it does not replace legislative reforms but may speed them up
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elimination of unjust loopholes in the legal system
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best education for human rights lawyers
domestic courts are usually not prepared for purely legal,
professional argumentation
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pressure on enforcement of judgments issued by domestic and
international courts
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Steps in strategic litigation
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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
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European Court of Human Rights
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Council of Europe Committee on
Social Rights
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E.g. Belarussian cases
Inter-American Court of Human
Rights
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E.g. Interights vs. Croatia
UN Committees (esp. Human Rights
Committee)
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Possibility to submit third-party
intervention (e.g. Grzelak v. Poland
case)
Communications to the Committee of
Ministers (enforcement stage)
E.g. access to information cases
European Court of Justice (esp.
discrimination cases, EU citizenship
cases)
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Tadao Maruko case and ILGA
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Constitutional courts
– Representation of victims
– Standing for NGOs as amicus curiae in
Poland and in other countries (e.g.
Georgia, Slovenia)
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Supreme courts
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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
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the most powerful human rights court in the world
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individual enforcement of judgments:
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restitutio in integrum (e.g. Assanidze v. Georgia, Sławomir Musiał v. Poland)
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re-examination or re-opening of a case (e.g. Cudak v. Lithuania)
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payment of just satisfaction (e.g. L. v. Lithuania)
general enforcement – prevention of further violations
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change in law (including Constitution) – (Kiss v. Hungary, Tysiąc v. Poland, Kudła v. Poland)
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change in practice (e.g. use of pre-trial detention)
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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
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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