Focus Areas

The project will extend legal empowerment and capacity building activities to human and environmental rights defenders in Latin America, Asia and Africa using existing resources developed by Action4Justice, Simmons & Simmons and PBI UK. These resources are designed to equip people on the ground with the practical tools to increase their legal knowledge.

This will be achieved through a combination of tailored training workshops, practical guides and toolboxes, mentoring support, network building, access to legal resources and best practice forums. The project aims to tailor existing resources and strategies to the specific needs of defenders. Its peer to peer approach will seek to share best practice and transfer knowledge.

• Identifying business human rights duties and the rights of communities emerging from the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

• Practical information about national and international mechanisms available for defenders to enforce their rights.

• Support on monitoring, documenting and reporting at domestic/regional and international level.

• Improved protection strategies for vulnerable and disadvantaged communities through legal and human rights education.

• Mock trials and role play scenarios to prepare human rights defenders for adverse litigation.

• Practical training in case-building and access to legal best practice.

• Protection tools available to lawyers, paralegals and other rights defenders.

This project is designed to ensure that focus is given to practical support. We therefore use our workshops as a forum to explore new themes and strategies together with defenders and find opportunities to practice and test these strategies.

Topics identified through consultation with human and environmental rights defenders include:

Legal strategies

• Practical hands-on information and mentoring on legal mechanisms available to access justice.

• Practical understanding of civil, criminal and administrative mechanisms as available options nationally, regionally and internationally with regards to state or corporate violations.

• Practical information and steps on evidence gathering, investigation, documentation, case building, legal data security and reporting tools.

• Access to successful case law across jurisdictions on key human rights, environmental rights and climate justice topics.

Legal redress mechanisms

• Practical understanding of available legal remedies and mechanisms to assure enforcement and implementation of a judgement.

• Use of internal corporate grievance and regulatory bodies to hold bodies accountable.

Alternatives to courts

• Advocacy and campaigning strategies.

• Mediation and negotiation skills.

• Digital initiatives for risk prevention, protection, and human rights monitoring.

• Understanding of protection tools available to lawyers, paralegals, and other rights defenders.

As we connect the international legal community with defenders on the ground, we will facilitate opportunities to build lasting partnerships to develop sustained sources of legal support for the future.

We will help to foster these relationships through:

• Tailored online mentoring and practical guidance to support defenders in applying the legal strategies and tools introduced through online training sessions.

As an outcome of the various workshops and going forward, we will build a centrally accessible library of webinars, training, e-learning, and resources to ensure defenders can access the training they need, whenever and whenever they need it.

By collating our training programmes (and signposting training from other organisations) we will also be able to systematise the creation of new training schemes and better understand what resources are needed.

The online resource will include materials that seek to:

• Facilitate legal empowerment through the development of toolkits to help defenders track, monitor, and gather evidence to facilitate access to justice. substantiate legal action.