» What we do

We work to make visible and to accompany the work of human rights defenders and to denounce the persecution they suffer. We do that through education, awareness raising, and political and social advocacy, with the aim of improving knowledge, promotion and the defense of human rights.

» How we do it

Twice a year, we invite a group of human rights defenders in Catalonia, for a period of between one and two weeks, to participate in several awareness-raising, political advocacy and communication activities with the aim of disseminating their work and the importance of supporting their struggles.

» The main activities we carry out

Awareness raising activities in the municipalities

Opening and closure events

Political advocacy meetings

Meetings with social organizations

Interviews with the media

Preparation of materials to raise awareness about their struggles

» Other project actions

Institutional statement

Every year, the participating municipalities commit themselves to an institutional declaration, to maintain and to expand public policies to support human rights defenders, in solidarity with their commitment to promote and to protect human rights through non-violence, and in rejection to the threats, persecution and murders they suffer.

Joint campaigns

We also carry out joint campaigns to demand the release of human rights defenders who have been unjustly deprived of their liberty for their work of denunciation and for their activism.

Monitoring and dissemination

Throughout the year, we monitor and disseminate the task, the situation and the context of the defenders who have participated in the project.

» Why we do it

The defense of human rights is an obligation which all democratic administrations must assume and which must be carried out on a global and on a local scale. Municipalities play a fundamental role in promoting and guaranteeing human rights.

In solidarity with and in support of the struggles for human rights that are being promoted and maintained throughout the world, we want to value the work of human rights defenders. Many of these human rights defenders have lost their lives for having claimed and exercised universal rights and for having questioned economic and political interests that motivate the violations of rights by different agents. Others have lost their freedom. And the work of thousands of them is criminalized in order to silence their struggles.

It is for these reasons that we demand full respect for the rights of defenders to carry out their work without risks or threats and we are committed to disseminating their work, facilitating reflection and debate, and building support networks to increase their protection.
For more information, you may read the Institutional Statement of 2020.

» Our objectives

We work to make visible and to accompany the work of human rights defenders and to denounce the persecution they suffer. We do that through sharing knowledge, promotion and the defense of human rights.

To increase empowerment

To increase the empowerment and protection of human rights defenders by strengthening their visibility and to support networks at the international level through political and social advocacy and awareness raising.
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To make conflicts visible

To raise awareness about the roots, the situation and the effects of the conflicts in the places of origin of the defenders, as well as the co-responsibility of the Global North in them.
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To defend human rights

To promote human rights activism among Catalan citizens.