Front Line Training in Personal, Organisational & Digital Security

Front Line continues to conduct training workshops and has assisted human rights defenders to deliver their own peer-based training activities in Personal & Organisational Security and Digital Security.

Further Information

Since July, Front Line has conducted training workshops in Personal and Organisational Security and Digital Security for human rights defenders in North Africa and for Latin American women human rights defenders (Cuenca, Ecuador) from rural areas who are defending their right to consultation in cases of natural resource exploration / exploitation.

The objective of all Front Line workshops is to train human rights defenders in security issues, including risk assessment and the elaboration of practical and functional personal security plans.

Since June, workshops have been held in North Africa and Ecuador. Human rights defender-led training workshops were also held in Kazakhstan and Democratic Republic of Congo.

Personal & Organisational Security for Women Human Rights Defenders – Ecuador, Sept 19th-22nd, 2011

Participants included 9 HRDs (8 women / 1 man)

The workshop was carried out in Cuenca, Ecuador and was addressed to women human rights defenders from throughout the country.

All participants were from rural zones and were engaged with the defence of their right to consultation in cases of natural resources exploration / exploitation. Several have faced attacks from the Ecuadorian Government, which is committed to the concession of protected zones (moors, water fountains, etc.) to multinational enterprises in different provinces of the country.

Some of the participants have faced jail, trials for terrorism, and arbitrary detentions. Others have been beaten, threatened or intimidated.

Identified threats included:

• Imprisonment
• Prosecution
• Death
• Physical and psychological assault by forces and the pro-mining community
• Isolation within the community
• Loss of employment
• Disintegration of the organisation
• Disgrace by smear campaigns and spurious charges

The objective of the workshop was to train WHRDs in security issues, including risk assessment and the elaboration of practical and functional personal security plans. Participants developed strategies related to the strengthening of their organisations, improvement of their communications network, security and utilisation of legal advice, the implementation of campaigns to draw public support of their work and, the right to protest and association, among others.