Attacks against human rights defenders

Violence is a process, as well as an act. A violent attack against a defender does not take place in a vacuum. Careful analysis of attacks often shows that they are the culmination of conflicts, disputes, threats and mistakes which have developed and can be traced over time.

Attacks against defenders are the product of at least three interacting factors:

1. The individual who takes violent action. Attacks on defenders are often the product of processes of thought and behaviour we can understand and learn from even if they are illegitimate.

2. Background and triggers which lead the attacker to see violence as an option. Most people who attack defenders see attacking as a way of reaching a goal or solving a personal problem.

3. A setting that facilitates the violence, allows it to take place or does not stop it.