Mission Statement

Rights & Democracy (International Centre for Human Rights test Democratic Development) is an independent Canadian institution created by an Act of Parliament. It has an international mandate to promote, advocate and defend the democratic and human rights set out in the International Bill of Human Rights. In cooperation with civil society and governments in Canada and abroad, Rights & Democracy initiates and supports programmes to strengthen laws and democratic institutions, principally in developing countries. Click here for more information about us.

 

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

The following sections provide a more detailed enumeration of the Strategic Objectives of each thematic or programming area.

1. Democratic Development

Programming Objective

To promote democratic development and practices through human rights, with particular emphasis on strengthening the participation of citizens in processes that enhance their rights; to augment the capacity of state institutions to protect and promote rights.

Strategic Objectives

1. Support civil society and other non-state actors to promote and protect human rights, and to influence institutions, mechanisms and public policies so that democratic practices are encouraged and reinforced.
2. Strengthen state institutions to enable states to meet their human rights obligations.
3. Support the development of legal norms that reinforce human rights and democratic development.
4. Undertake, support and participate in dialogues and research activities on democratic development and its link to human rights.

Rights & Democracy currently focuses its democratic development activities on the following countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa (while Rights & Democracy does not class countries in specific categories, its programming combines characteristics from states that are “in transition,” “fragile” or have dictatorial regimes):

Bolivia, Burma, China, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Indonesia, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan (South), Zimbabwe.

2. Economic and Social Rights

Programming Objective

To help reduce the gap between human rights in principle or law and human rights as enjoyed by the most vulnerable and excluded sectors of society, especially those living in poverty; particular emphasis is placed on the consequences of foreign investment, and the right to an adequate standard of living.

Strategic Objectives

1. Develop and promote human rights impact assessment (HRIA) tools, principally for communities and civil society organizations, and in this process build their capacity to better defend their economic and social rights.
   
   • Create, update and disseminate HRIA tool for foreign investment projects, particularly investment that is supported by public international financial institutions.
   • Apply HRIA to specific projects, working with civil society (principally communities) and where appropriate the private sector, while building capacity to use the tool.
   • Share lessons of the practical application of the tool with all interested stakeholders and actors.
   • Promote binding norms at the national, regional and international levels for corporate social accountability, particularly on social and economic rights.
     
     
2. Defend and promote the human right to an adequate standard of living.
• Contribute to the protection of the right to an adequate standard of living as a key component of development and related economic policies.
• Promote the practical application of the Food and Agriculture Organization Guidelines on the Right to Food, including the right to water, in specific countries; explore possible links to the human right to social security.
• Support the capacity of rights-holders to obtain effective remedies for human rights violations through legislative or judicial processes.
  
3. Defend and promote the human rights of migrant workers.

• Promote the economic and social rights of migrant workers, with special attention to the most vulnerable.
• Strengthen regional and local capacity to monitor and document cases of human rights violations.
• Support the capacity of migrant workers to obtain effective remedies for human rights violations through legislative or judicial processes.
  

The economic and social rights programming includes the following countries:

China, Nepal, Haiti and Malawi.

3. Women’s Rights

Programming Objective

To reinforce the leadership and capacity of women’s rights activists to deal with the effects of militarization and fundamentalisms. To condemn crimes and violence against women during armed conflicts and support investigations and legal processes to obtain justice. To promote the integration of gender-specific mechanisms in transitional justice.

Strategic Objectives

1. To reaffirm that women’s rights are human rights.

• To promote the implementation of civil, political, economic, cultural and social rights, notably in the areas of recourse, forced marriages and ex-combatant unwed mothers.
• To promote and defend women’s rights by supporting the work of regional and international mechanisms.
• To organize training and educational activities on the rights of women as human rights.

2. To end the impunity for crimes of sexual violence.

• To support the establishment and implementation of a justice in which women’s rights are integrated by international and national courts, and the creation of a jurisprudence acknowledging the wide range of sexual crimes against women and young girls during conflicts.
• To reinforce the ability of activists to document women’s rights violations internationally, regionally and locally (writing and utilising manuals on the right to remedy, including the Nairobi Declaration principles).
• To support, through national campaigns, the recognition of the right to remedy, including reparations for women and young girls surviving crimes of sexual violence.

3. To support women’s movements in dealing with the consequences of militarization and fundamentalism.

The women’s rights programming includes the following countries:

Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and possibly Algeria.

4. Indigenous Peoples’ Rights

Programming Objective

To contribute to the implementation of indigenous peoples’ rights. To facilitate the use of international instruments by indigenous organizations to defend their rights. To enhance the participation of indigenous women in political processes by strengthening their organizations and training their leaders.

Strategic Objectives

1. To contribute to the implementation of indigenous peoples’ rights.

• To support the creation of jurisprudence specific to indigenous women linking their rights as women to their rights indigenous persons.
• To support the contribution of indigenous peoples, and in particular of indigenous women, to peace-building processes.
• To encourage dialogue between indigenous organizations and governments to implement legal norms.
• To increase the awareness of indigenous peoples’ rights among non-indigenous civil society and human rights organizations.

2. To support the participation of indigenous women in the democratic process by strengthening their organizations.

• To strengthen women’s organizations to enable them to intervene more efficiently in the political processes of their societies.
• To support the training of indigenous leaders, particularly of women.
• To facilitate exchanges and the creation of networks between women’s indigenous organizations within developing countries and with Canada, and to share their expertise to better defend their rights.

The indigenous peoples’ rights programming includes the following countries:

Bolivia, Colombia, Argentina, Mexico, Panama.

5. Youth Engagement

Programming Objective

To support and encourage – principally through the Student Network within Canadian universities – the participation of youth in the promotion and protection of human rights and democratic development, and to give them opportunities and training to pursue activities in these domains. To host interns and to facilitate their placement within human rights organizations.

Strategic Objectives

The Student Network

• Encourage and support students in Canadian universities to conduct research and undertake educational activities – in consultation with faculty – that promote and reinforce human rights and democratic development universally, and more particularly in the global South.

• Facilitate the linkage of youth in Canada with youth in the developing world, with a particular emphasis on universities and Rights & Democracy programming countries.

Network activities mostly take place within Canada, but also include the following countries:

Burkina Faso, Morocco, Haiti, with possible expansion into other Rights & Democracy programming countries.

Internships

• Interns at Rights & Democracy: to enhance interns’ knowledge of issues related to human rights and democratic development, and to provide them with practical skills related to programming in these domains. To benefit from the research capacity and dynamism of interns.

• Interns placed at other institutions: to provide interns international experience while enabling hosting institutions to benefit from their skills, and enhancing Rights & Democracy’s links with these institutions.

Rights & Democracy currently places interns in the following institutions:

The Danish Institute for Human Rights, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (2), UNESCO, Due Process of Law Foundation (Washington).

6. International and Regional Instruments

Programming Objective

To reinforce international and regional human rights mechanisms within the UN, the Organization of American States and the African Union, and to support civil society participation in such mechanisms. To provide training and support to civil society organizations on the Universal Periodic Review, and to encourage their participation in this process.

Strategic Objectives

1. To engage with specific UN human rights mechanisms to enhance their effectiveness, and to reinforce their connections with civil society.

• Follow the evolution of the Universal Periodic Review, as well as the Human Rights Council, and facilitate the input of civil society in the review process.
• Provide assistance to and collaborate with specific Special Rapporteurs whose work is directly related to Rights & Democracy programming.
• Support the activities of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, particularly its National Institutions Unit and its Civil Society Unit.
• Provide support to the newly established Canadian International Human Rights Network.

2. To strengthen regional mechanisms of human rights protection and promotion in the Americas , principally at the OAS.

• Monitor and support the implementation of specific human rights norms and the inter-American Democratic Charter.
• Support civil society’s participation in the activities of the Inter-American human rights system.

3. Strengthen regional mechanisms of human rights protection and promotion in Africa.

• Monitor and possibly support the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) through financial, human and networking resources.
• Monitor and possibly support the creation and implementation of new regional human rights instruments.
• Support civil society’s participation in the activities of the ACHPR and other regional human rights and democracy reinforcing instruments and norms.

7. Public Engagement in Canada

Programming Objective

To promote within Canada issues and activities related to human rights and democratic development in the global South, to give visibility to outstanding defenders of human rights and democracy, particularly through the John Humphrey Freedom Award, and to educate the Canadian public and policy makers on topics related to the mandate of Rights & Democracy.

Strategic Objectives

1. Grant the John Humphrey Freedom Award to human rights and democracy advocates, and to raise awareness in Canada regarding their activities.
2. Organize and participate in various educative activities to enhance human rights and democratic development knowledge within Canada, particularly of issues related to Rights & Democracy’s programming, through the use of the media, publications, campaigns, consultative groups, conferences and seminars.
3. Work with non-governmental partners to inform the Canadian public of human rights abuses in authoritarian countries.
4. Establish and maintain links with appropriate governmental institutions within Canada – such as the Democracy Council – to coordinate and reinforce Canadian efforts in the strengthening of democracy and human rights in the developing world.
   

8. Rapid Response Mechanisms

Programming Objective

To respond quickly to unforeseen crises and to intervene in critical situations when these arise. To seize important opportunities, especially during periods of change and transition, and to support partners when they face unexpected difficulties.

Strategic Objectives

Urgent Action and Important Opportunities Fund (UAIO Fund)

1. Intervene rapidly in challenging situations and creatively seize opportunities for positive change where and when they present themselves.
2. Reinforce Canada ’s presence at the vanguard of the human rights and democratic movements.
3. Enhance institutional visibility, relevance and engagement in current international affairs.

Solidarity Fund

1. Respond to unforeseen events and strategic opportunities that are related to the successful implementation of projects or programme objectives.
2. Reinforce the impact of Rights & Democracy’s programming by providing additional resources to partners, projects and staff, particularly at critical moments.