Human Rights Perception Index (HRPI) 2018

The human rights movement is facing heavy pressure, but local grassroots organizations remain optimistic for their continued work. The recent HRPI shows how human rights defenders experienced their situation in 2018.
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The NHRF Human Rights Perception Index (HRPI) measures the perception of the human rights situation on the ground among NHRF-supported local grassroots organizations. In 2017, the first annual HRPI survey was sent to NHRF grantees to ask about their perceptions of the current human rights situation in their local contexts. The second annual survey was sent in 2018 and the data collected gives us an interesting insight into how human rights defenders experience their work on the ground, and how they feel about their continued work in 2019.

We sent the second annual survey to 60 organizations and were pleased at the high response rate: 51 organizations, or 85% of the ones invited, participated in the survey - indicating that organizations are still eager to share their experiences with us, just like they were last year.

Survey questions

As in the 2017 HRPI, the participants were asked five questions, focusing on changes to the human rights situation, laws and policies that affect civil society organizations’ work, and thoughts on future human rights work.

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When asked about insights into the human rights situation in their country, 62% of the respondents answered that they perceived a negative change in the overall human rights situation in their country. However, only 48% report a deterioration at the local level, which is an improvement of 8% from last year.

Operating under pressure

Several reports indicate that the human rights movement is currently facing heavy pressure from a sweeping legal crisis, wherein new, negative laws are adopted to limit human rights work worldwide. We were interested in understanding how NHRF-funded organizations operate within this context.

In 2018, 45% of the organizations answered that existing laws restrict civil society organizations and contradict the countries’ human rights obligations. While this percentage is still dishearteningly high, it is nevertheless a 23% decrease from last year, where 68% reported such restrictive laws. 46% also report changes in national laws and policies that affect the organizations – this, too, is a decrease from last year, but still indicates that things are changing rapidly in this area. In numerous countries worldwide, laws have recently been passed to reduce the right to social protest, assembly, and freedom of opinion. Additionally, existing laws are often either misapplied or not applied at all, in detriment of people’s fundamental rights.

An optimistic outlook on the future

Despite these challenges, 86% of the respondents are positive about their continued work in 2019, a slight increase from last year. One grantee, when asked to elaborate on this optimism, explained that “we will continue any way”. This perseverance and positive outlook sends an encouraging message of resilience – and once again demonstrates how human rights defenders are not easily deterred in their important work!

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The Mexican lawyers collective I(dh)eas uses strategic litigation in their work for the defense of human rights.

HRPI 2019

The NHRF will continue to index human rights perceptions through the HRPI, which will be sent out again early next year to document the changes we will continue to see throughout 2019.

More information about last year’s HRPI can be found here