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6 May 2008
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Learn about participants in the 2007 Human Rights Defenders Policy Forum, and about the status of human rights in their countries.


 

Watch international human rights defenders tell their stories >

 


Carter Center Photo: D. Hakes

Human rights defender Marcel Wetsh'okonda stands outside the Global Rights office in Kinshasa, the DRC, where he works to pass human rights legislation in the troubled country. Wetsh'okonda attended the Human Rights Defenders conference at The Carter Center in May 2006.
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The Carter Center Human Rights Program


The commitment to human rights and preventing violations of these rights is one of the Carter Center's founding principles. The Center undertakes a range of activities to promote and protect human rights around the world:
  • Providing a platform for courageous and effective human rights activists, sometimes called "defenders," to get their message about their country's human rights struggle to policy-makers and the public
  • Supporting human rights defenders who are persecuted for their efforts to advance human rights in their societies
  • Strengthening international human rights systems by helping to push for reforms at the United Nations aimed at better fact-finding and reporting on violations by the organization, wherever they occur
  • Joining with Congolese, Israeli, and Palestinian civil society leaders in the advancement of peace and the protection of human rights
  • Urging abolition of the death penalty

The Center's work to promote human rights takes many forms:

Advancing Human Rights Through Policy Forums

The Carter Center participates in hosting Human Rights Defenders Policy Forums, which bring together human rights activists from a number of countries. President and Mrs. Carter, the U. N. high commissioner for human rights, and the special representative on human rights defenders have keynoted these conferences. The first forum in 2003 urged governments not to abandon civil liberties and the rule of law as security efforts are increased during the war on terrorism. In 2005, the group stated unanimous concern that the war on terrorism was being used as a pretext for restricting freedoms in many countries, including the United States, and for silencing and targeting human rights defenders. Defenders at the 2006 forum emphasized that respect for human rights is integral to strong democracies. Most recently, defenders challenged faith communities to protect human rights at the 2007 forum.
 
Read more about the 2007 Human Rights Defenders Policy Forum.

Supporting Defenders and Victims of Human Rights Violations

President and Mrs. Carter have supported human rights defenders by appealing personally to heads of state on behalf of those who are persecuted for their courageous work for more than 20 years. The Carters often take their human rights concerns to heads of state in personal meetings and through letters. They use this avenue of personal diplomacy and occasionally make public appeals on behalf of individuals or about specific issues such as torture.
 

Strengthening Human Rights Systems

President Carter was a strong proponent for the establishment of the post of high commissioner for human rights at the United Nations, and the Center has worked closely with each of the high commissioners. In 2006, President Carter and other Nobel Peace Prize laureates gave voice to the need for reform of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. (Read a Q&A with Karin Ryan on the new U.N. Human Rights Council.)

(Read President Carter's March 2007 statement to the U.N. Human Rights Council.)
 
The Center and President Carter also have been strong supporters of the International Criminal Court. The Center sent representatives to Rome in 1998 for the negotiations on ICC statute and collaborated with other international nongovernmental organizations to build global support for the court. President Carter sent dozens of letters to heads of state, encouraging them to ratify the ICC statute. The court was formally established in 2002. 

 

Protecting Human Rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

In spring 2007, the Center began work on a justice sector and NGO capacity building project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The project includes human rights training for police and judges, assistance to the ministry of justice on preparation of performance reports for international treaty bodies, and assistance to local NGOs preparing independent, alternative reports to accompany those of the government. The Center has also launched an NGO resource center in Kinshasa called Human Rights House, which provides support and networking resources to local human rights NGOs through both technical and organizational training workshops and material support. The Center worked in collaboration with Columbia Law School's Human Rights Clinic to complete a review of mining contracts in the DRC at the invitation of the Congolese government and in collaboration with Congolese civil society organizations.

 

(Read the Carter Center's November 2007 report that detailed the problems found during the review and gave recommendations for next steps.) 

 

Peace with Justice in the Palestinian Territories

The Carter Center observed Palestinian elections in 1996, 2005, and 2006. The Center maintains a small presence in Ramallah focused on the ongoing monitoring and analysis of critical issues on democratic development.  Public reports on these issues help to provide the U.S. public and the international community with current and factual information on the continued obstacles to peace. Read More….

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View webcast: Carter Center Hosts Discussion on Middle East Peace and Private Screening of "Man From Plains" >>


Urging Abolition of the Death Penalty

Mrs. Carter has urged abolition of the death penalty in the United States and asked governors and parole boards to commute the death sentences of juveniles and mentally ill individuals around the country for 30 years. In 2004, President Carter joined a Nobel laureates "friend of the court" brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing successfully against the use of the death penalty against individuals who committed their crimes before the age of 18. (Read the Nobel laureates' brief about the juvenile death penalty.) Mrs. Carter contacted state legislators and wrote newspaper editorials in several states in support of proposed laws to ban the juvenile death penalty. (Read Mrs. Carter's editorials on this subject.) Given geographic and racial disparities in the imposition of capital punishment at the national level and in several states, President and Mrs. Carter support a moratorium on death penalty prosecutions at the federal level and in those states.
 

(Read about the Carter Center's participation in the Reebok Human Rights Award.)