An example is the research I did for Amnesty International on the European Union's implementation of the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders. For this research, I interviewed dozens of diplomats and human rights defenders in Guatemala, Ethiopia, Russia, Tunisia and Turkey. This research resulted in two reports. The first report, entitled Ensuring protection? The European Union and human rights defenders, was published in May 2007. The second report, entitled European Union: Rising to the Challenge of Protecting Human Rights Defenders, was published in June 2008.
I monitored the situation of HRDs and looked in detail into specific cases of violations of HRDs' rights in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, visiting areas such as Gaza, Hebron, Nablus, Bethlehem and Jerusalem in the Occupied Territories and Haifa and Tel Aviv in Israel. Fact-finding led to lobbying meetings with local representatives of the European Union and member states.
In November 2005, I carried out a week-long mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo for the Irish organization Front Line to research the support and protection given to local human rights defenders by the European Union. The mission was carried out in collaboration with Amnesty International. I presented the findings and recommendations to improve support to local HRDs to an EU Heads of Mission meeting. A report was published by Front Line and the recommendations formed the basis of lobbying efforts by Amnesty International in 2006.
Further back, in 1994, I spent half a year as an electoral observer as part of the United Nations Operation in Mozambique, researching the political rights rights situation in the field, reporting on them, and taking measures to address and prevent violations.
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