New Tactics in Human Rights

The New Tactics in Human Rights Project promotes tactical innovation and strategic thinking within the international human rights community. Strategic and tactical thinking, long used by business and military strategists, is an effective means for the human rights movement to expand options and possibilities of what can be done. Innovative tactics are emerging that may more effectively advance human rights and end persistent human rights problems. Many innovations have been valuable, yet are not well known outside their regions.

The New Tactics in Human Rights project promotes the use and sharing of as wide a range of tactics as possible. The project grew out of the experience of creating new tactics and a treatment center that advocates for the protection of human rights from a unique position—one of healing and reclaiming civic leadership. The New Tactics in Human Rights project includes:

Tactical map created during New Tactics strategy session- An interactive Web site NewTactics.org with an online community of over 3,500 human rights practitioners in more than 130 countries. Users have access to a database of nearly 200 human right tactics.

- Monthly Tactical Dialogues are hosted on a broad range of human rights advocacy topics.

- Tactical Notebooks that offer step-by-step examples of implementing tactics and strategies in promoting human rights, including information on how the tactic example might be adapted to other situations.

- The award winning New Tactics in Human Rights: A Resource for Practitioners workbook which offers 100 examples that illustrate the breadth of tactics being used by the international human rights community – downloadable and available in part or whole in seventeen languages.

- In-person training as well as periodic offerings of small grants which provide technical assistance to human rights groups around the world.

New Tactics in Action
Anti-discrimination laws enacted after a long struggle are often just the first step toward equality. Will the law be put to the test, and how?
 
When Serbia enacted an anti-discrimination law in 2009, the Regional Centre for Minorities (RCM) turned to the tactical notebook, Testing for Discrimination. This notebook provides a case study of a Hungarian human rights group that used “testers” to see whether employers and public accommodations were treating minorities and non-minorities the same. In the Balkans, RCM translated the notebook into Serb-Croatian, Albanian, and Macedonian and distributed 500 copies in each language.
 
RCM convened a strategy session where activists agreed to focus initial anti-discrimination efforts on access to public spaces, a severe problem in the region. As they work toward more fair and just societies, the resources of New Tactics provided a key tool.

Links

New Tactics in Human Rights: A Resource for Practitioners
New Tactics in Human Rights Database
New Tactics in Human Rights Monthly Dialogues
New Tactics in Human Rights Tactical Notebooks

What We Do

Healing

We heal victims of torture through unique services and professional care worldwide.

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Training

We strengthen partners who heal torture survivors and work to prevent torture.

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Advocacy

We advocate for the protection & care of torture survivors and an end to torture.

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