ODIHR-organized event in Budapest equips human rights defenders with new skills to mobilize public support for human rights
Effective methods, tools and skills for communicating about human rights issues in the digital age were the focus of a capacity-building event for human rights defenders from across the OSCE region, which took place in Budapest from 5 to 7 December 2017. The event was organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), in partnership with the Central European University.
More than 150 participants from Budapest and beyond attended the event on the first day, which featured twelve talks by international experts on topics ranging from multimedia storytelling to behavioural psychology. The importance of recent developments and discoveries in these fields for the promotion of human rights was further explored in three panel discussions on the same day. The talks and discussions were livestreamed in English and Russian.
“With the first event of its kind, ODIHR invites human rights defenders and others to join a journey towards new ways of communicating about human rights and fundamental freedoms,” said Katarzyna Gardaphkadze, First Deputy Director of ODIHR. “Because of the hermetic language and old-fashioned means we use, our messages are often not heard. To have the messages of human rights heard and understood by ordinary people, we need to spread these messages in ways that are fit for the 21st century.”
During the second and third days of the event, 29 competitively selected human rights defenders, 19 women and 10 men, attended workshops on gender-sensitive and effective messaging, multimedia storytelling, visualization of data and telling stories with mobile phones. They then used the newly acquired knowledge and skills to address specific human rights communication challenges by creating targeted digital campaigns.
“Communication technologies and techniques are changing fast. This affects the way we create, share and consume knowledge in every part of our lives, including human rights,” said Benjamin Ignac, Digital Communication Manager at the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC). “The ODIHR capacity-building event, Human Rights Communication 2.0, raised awareness about these emerging trends and helped me realize that we need to raise the bar in our efforts to promote justice. The event was very practical because we received not only theoretical knowledge, but also concrete tools and hands-on experience during workshops facilitated by experts in the field.”