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Are they all heroes? 

Many of us hope that the human rights year 2018 will be more than just fine party speeches, and that Norway will raise its voice when activists are threatened, killed, imprisoned and gagged in the countries they work in.




(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)

Jan Eggum sings about the heroes and wonders where they are, in his song from far back. Today, unfortunately, many heroes sit behind bars, get travel bans and experience black campaigns, have difficult working conditions and are killed to stand up for human rights.

In 2017, over 300 human rights defenders were killed around the world. Civil society is almost strangled in several countries, even in countries with strong Norwegian political involvement. What is our equivalent?

70 years since the human rights declaration. Despite grim numbers, 2018 is an anniversary year for human rights. This year, the world is celebrating that it is 70 years since the UN adopted the World Declaration on Human Rights. Not only that, the UN Declaration for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders celebrates 20 years. This lesser-known document is in many ways the job description of everyone who engages in realizing the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Universal Declaration.

Despite grim numbers, 2018 is an anniversary year for human rights.

Where the World Declaration points to states' responsibility to respect, protect and promote human rights, this declaration focuses on you and me, individuals and groups. It focuses on people's participation and contributions. The Declaration promotes everyone's right to – and responsibility – to engage and be a human rights advocate.

Over the past 30 years that the Norwegian Human Rights Fund has supported local human rights defenders in the front line, the development has been tremendous. Never before has the human rights movement been as large as it is today.

The situation worsened. But the trend is not linear, and in recent years we have seen a reduction in the scope of civil society and trade unions in many countries, which was also emphasized through a recent survey of our beneficiaries.

Disappointingly, many of them responded that the national situation had worsened during 2017, and 68 percent reported that there were laws and regulations that limited how organizations perform their work and that violate human rights obligations in their country.

Some would argue that this is just a reaction to the strengthening of the human rights movement and the fact that the methods have been effective.

UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Michel Forst, describes human rights defenders as follows: "They are 'Gandhis' and 'Mandelas'. They are 'Rosa Parks' and 'Malalas'. ”But, as he also says, they are also ordinary people, lawyers, women activists, journalists and community leaders who go to great lengths to promote freedom.

His message is that you don't have to be a full-time activist and risk your life to call yourself a human rights defender. We all have a role to play in making the World Declaration a reality for all people.

solidarity must be emphasized. Many of us hope that this year's human rights year 2018 will be more than fine party talk, that Norway and the Norwegian business community will also speak out when activists are threatened, killed, imprisoned and raped in the countries they work in. That there will be a global popular solidarity uprising for the right to talk, tweet, think and work for human rights, so no one is wondering where the heroes are.

sandra.petersen@nhrf.no
sandra.petersen@nhrf.no
Petersen is Managing Director of the Norwegian Human Rights Fund (NHRF)

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