Summary and Introduction

On September 10-12, 2003, over 120 human rights defenders from more than 64 countries met for three days in Dublin Castle, for the Second Dublin Platform of Human Rights Defenders. The meeting was organised by Front Line, with interpretation in Arabic, English, French, Spanish and Russian.

The meeting welcomed a number of distinguished speakers, including Hina Jilani, the UN Secretary General's Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders, Bertrand Ramcharan, Acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael McDowell TD, Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform of the Government of Ireland, and Judge Maureen Harding Clark, Judge at the International Criminal Court. The meeting was also delighted and privileged to hear contributions from the poet Seamus Heaney, Nobel Laureate, and Liam O'Flynn, who played two pieces of traditional pipe music.

This was above all a meeting of human rights defenders, however – an opportunity to

* affirm what has been achieved and struggled for; * reflect on the rich and often painful experiences that participants shared with one another; * mourn all those who have suffered and died for the cause of human rights or because their rights have been violated, and notably Sergio Vieira de Mello, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who was murdered by a bomb in Iraq on 23 August of this year; and finally to * analyse and prepare for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

We are very grateful to Robert Archer, Executive Director of the International Council on Human Rights Policy, for synthesising and drawing together the many strands from the discussions in Dublin into this report. He has succeeded in capturing the substance of the discussions in a manner which stimulates further reflection on the issues. Any errors which have crept into the report remain the responsibility of Front Line.

The report draws out some of the main themes and concerns that participants identified during the three days of discussion, in plenaries, workshops and, more informally, during breaks. It is not a formal conference report, and does not claim to be a complete or representative record of what was said. The information is organised thematically and not chronologically (see the Platform Programme ). All quotations are drawn from the meeting, but for obvious reasons we have not attributed most of the quotations to individuals.

We hope this report reflects the spirit of the meeting as well as some of its content.

Mary Lawlor

Director