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Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders were adopted by the Council of the European Union in June 2004 and revised in December 2008. These guidelines represent a committment by the EU to support and protect human rights defenders in third countries (i.e. countries outside the EU). Amnesty International believes that the full and effective implementation of the Guidelines could make a considerable contribution to improving the situation of human rights defenders. For that reason, it is undertook a two-year project to monitor and advocate for the implementation of the Guidelines, focussing on a number of specific countries.

I was a consultant to the project from August 2005 to June 2008. My tasks were:

Carry out research to assess the implementation of the guidelines in the focus countries, mainly through interviews with local European diplomats and human rights defenders. In 2006, I carried out field research in Russia, Ethiopia and Turkey.
Draft reports containing findings and recommendations for the fuller and more effective implementation of the guidelines.
Advise Amnesty International in relation to lobbying the EU to give support and protection to human rights defenders in third countries.

Starting in August 2005, I carried out and coordinated research into EU support for human rights defenders outside the EU. Activities of EU institutions in Brussels, EU member states, and EU missions abroad were assessed. Findings and recommendations were presented in a discussion paper submitted to the UK EU Presidency. I presented the discussion paper and took part in a panel discussion during a workshop with EU representatives and NGOs at the Sixth EU Human Rights Discussion Forum held in London on 8-9 December 2005. The recommendations and workshop outcomes formed one of the main inputs for the Austrian EU Presidency's evaluation of the implementation of the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders in May 2006.

Panel discussion, EU Human Rights Discussion Forum, 9 December 2005, London

The first public report, entitled Ensuring protection? The European Union and human rights defenders, was published in May 2007. In June 2007, at the invitation of German Section of Amnesty International, I presented the report to the EU Presidency (German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin), discussing the findings and recommendations with ten Federal Foreign Office staff. In September 2007, at the invitation of the Netherlands Section of Amnesty International, I presented the report to the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This meeting resulted in the Ministry agreeing to further discussions with Amnesty International with a view to ensuring improved implementation of the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders in the focus countries. The second and final report, entitled European Union: Rising to the Challenge of Protecting Human Rights Defenders, was published in June.2008.