New methods

Human Rights Laboratory delineates innovative human rights solutions

xv Coloquio DH. Conectas. Laboratorio de direitos humanos

by Sarah Furtado and Pamela Ellen *

Presenting complex information to people with little or no technical expertise is one of the great challenges of human rights movement and hindrances to achieving legitimacy. This was one of the main focuses of the workshop – held on Tuesday, October 3, 2017 – examined and outlined by Dejusticia from Colombia, co-organiser of the 15th International Colloquium on Human Rights.

According to Krizna Gomez, facilitator of the Human Rights Laboratory and research coordinator of Dejusticia, the community needs to be at the centre of the perspective in order to analyse and resolve problems utilising “Human Centred Design” method.

“It starts with the assumption that we do not know what the problem is. However, we acknowledge that it exists and that we can solve it. But it requires humility and optimism to discover it, “explains Gomez. “The idea is to identify the root cause of the issues at hand and map out the hurdles arising from them.”

In addition to the urgency of legitimacy, the laboratory workshop also worked on innovation and focus. At the beginning, the participating groups laid out idea maps, examining some real world humanitarian problems and analysing what organisational parties involved. From there, they worked backward deconstructing end results until reaching to the core of the issue(s) according to the needs of each organisation. After that, establishing the fundamental problem, they concentrated on the suggestion of solutions.

At the end of the workshop, each group proposed their strategies to tackle the problem by engaging local authorities, building community dialogues and empowering victims as articulators of the challenge itself.

“Human rights promotion do not require justifications, but with all the changes culminated by governmental withdrawals around the world, there is a need of legitimising our works,” says César Rodriguez-Garavito, executive director of Dejusticia. “Our intention is to generate collaboration and implement innovation among activists, avoiding competitiveness, promoting mutual assistance and always following the transformations that take place,” concludes César.

About the Colloquium

Between October 2 and 6, 80 human rights activists from 31 countries are gathering in São Paulo for the 15th International Human Rights Colloquium. The objective of the event is to discuss the theme “Human rights: crisis or transition?”, share experiences and propose solutions to face setbacks at local, regional and global levels.

This year, Conectas organises the meeting with Forum Asia (Thailand), the Human Rights Centre of the University of Pretoria (South Africa) and Dejusticia (Colombia).

*Sarah Furtado and Pamela Ellen are volunteer journalists from the coverage group of the 15th International Human Rights Colloquium.