Civil Society and Networks

Through partnerships with civil society organisations, it is the objective to strengthen the role of the civil society and its ability to promote and protect human rights. The focus is on the role of civil society in ensuring human rights protection by promoting and defending the rights of vulnerable groups and people in vulnerable situations; Promoting popular participation and involvement in governance through mobilization of rights-holders and representation of their concerns; Strengthening justice and the rule of law through promoting a human rights standard setting at a national level as well as the establishment of mechanisms of accountability and access to justice.

Ongoing Activities

Studies and conferences:

  • The role of NGOs in emerging democracies revisited (publication)
  • Mainstreaming gender in human rights

Training and seminars:

  • Management Conferences (capacity building of DCHR partners in the field of organisation, team building, strategic planning and fundraising skills)
  • Women's human rights and gender issues (capacity building)

Projects and consultancies with partners:

  • Policing in Human Rights Standards, Tanzania (police training and capacity building)
  • Human Rights and Democracy, Angola (formulation mission, consultancy)
  • Country Strategy on Human Rights, Cambodia (SIDA advisory Team, consultancy)
  • Human Rights Ressource Centre, Malawi (establishment)
  • Programme for Human Rights Capacity Building Measures in Mozambique (development of training manuals for police, for teachers on childrens' rights, and capacity building of local NGO's)
  • In-service Training of Child Labour, Nepal (application of drafted manual in provincial training activities)
    ZLSC Documentation Service, Zanzibar (building up documentation facilities)
  • Hunan University Research Centre for Human Rights and Rule of Law, China (open university course)
    Hunan Women's Federation, China (capacity building, promotion of rights-based approach - DCHR Human Rights Co-Operation Programme in China)
  • Guangxi Women's Federation / China Association of NGO's (capacity building, promotion of rights-based approach - DCHR Human Rights Co-Operation Programme in China)
  • Human Rights Training of the Police in Albania
  • Advocacy for Lawyers on Gender and Sexual and Reproductive Rights (EU Daphne project in partnership with the Spanish and Irish Family Planning Associations)
  • Human Rights Training and Awareness, Vietnam (drafting of teaching material on basic human rights)Pilot Project, Police, Cambodia (preparing a strategic planning process through dialogue, training etc.)
  • Revue Nigérienne de Droit, university manual and NGO, Niger (support for development, capacity building)
  • Balkan Human Rights Network, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia (strategic intervention, establishment of sub-network of women's and human rights organisations, monitoring and reporting)

Programmes and Projects