Many different actors need to play their part in protecting and securing an enabling environment for HRDs. However, this requires stronger coordination and more effective use of the mechanisms that currently exist.
There is an increasingly important role for the private sector to play, amid growing opportunities and expectations for responsible companies to be part of conversations about protecting human rights. Many of the challenges that HRDs and civil society organisations face are also relevant for private sector, and both have an interest in operating under the rule of law.
However, parts of the private sector need to become more attuned to the ways that their services may be used to facilitate reprisals and repression of HRDs. The financial sector has a role to play in ensuring HRDs retain access to banking services even when they are denied access to identity documents or operate under sanctions regimes. The tech sector has a role in designing its products and services with the challenges faced by HRD in mind.
Governments need to build habits and mechanisms of coordination in protecting HRDs and in responding to transnational repression. Several cities around the world have also gained a reputation for providing safety and support to HRDs, and there is potential for them to work together and share experience with each other. At the UN level, there is a need for stronger coordination across different frameworks and institutions, while country offices need to conduct themselves in a way that creates safe spaces for HRDs at risk instead of isolating them further.
Proposals for action:
- States should strengthen coordination within government on how to ensure protect HRDs at a national level, including between national human rights institutions and relevant ministries.
- States should develop strategic protection networks to coordinate with each other in protecting HRDs at risk and to share best practice – both between embassies in countries where HRDs are at risk, and at capital level. They should also share knowledge in responding to transnational repression of HRDs and ensuring that perpetrators are held accountable, including through strengthening awareness-raising for law enforcement agencies on repression in host countries.
- Companies should implement heightened human rights due diligence in identifying risks to HRDs in conflict and taking responsible to protect them from harms arising from the context in which they are operating.
- Companies should also use a mixture of public and private diplomacy to advocate for the rule of law and an enabling environment for HRDs.
- Cities offering protection or temporary relocation schemes for HRDs should seek to establish a network with other such cities to exchange best practice.