HS - Holistic Security
Title
HS - Holistic Security
Subject
The Holistic Security Manual
The Holistic Security Manual is founded on the understanding that 'security' is a deeply personal, subjective and gendered concept. When we work to bring about positive social change, we can face persistent threats and attacks which impact upon our physical and psychological integrity, and often affect our friends and families. However, taking an organised approach to security can help us to sustain ourselves and our work.
This manual is the first to adopt an explicitly 'holistic' approach to security and protection strategies for human rights defenders. This means that rather than looking separately at the importance of our digital security, psycho-social well-being and organisational security processes, it attempts to integrate them and highlight their interrelatedness.
The manual is designed to guide a process of establishing or improving security strategies for individuals, collectives or organisations. The content is divided into four Sections: Prepare, Explore, Strategise and Act, which are conceived as steps in an evolving, cyclical process and should be regularly revisited as part of our ongoing strategic planning. The chapters which appear on this website are summarised versions of those in the manual, which can be downloaded and read offline.
The Holistic Security Manual is founded on the understanding that 'security' is a deeply personal, subjective and gendered concept. When we work to bring about positive social change, we can face persistent threats and attacks which impact upon our physical and psychological integrity, and often affect our friends and families. However, taking an organised approach to security can help us to sustain ourselves and our work.
This manual is the first to adopt an explicitly 'holistic' approach to security and protection strategies for human rights defenders. This means that rather than looking separately at the importance of our digital security, psycho-social well-being and organisational security processes, it attempts to integrate them and highlight their interrelatedness.
The manual is designed to guide a process of establishing or improving security strategies for individuals, collectives or organisations. The content is divided into four Sections: Prepare, Explore, Strategise and Act, which are conceived as steps in an evolving, cyclical process and should be regularly revisited as part of our ongoing strategic planning. The chapters which appear on this website are summarised versions of those in the manual, which can be downloaded and read offline.
Description
Background
“Caring for myself is not an indulgence, it is self-preservation and that is an act of political warfare.” -- Audre Lorde
In 1998, the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, recognising the right of individuals and organisations (voluntarily or professionally) working towards “the effective elimination of all violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms of peoples and individuals”
The term human rights defender (HRD) refers to anyone who promotes or defends any of a vast array of rights which may include civil and political rights (such as freedom of speech or justice for survivors of abuse); transparency and anti-corruption or greater political participation; environmental rights, social justice, and cultural rights; rights related to sexual orientation and gender identity, or advocating for the recognition of new human rights. Regardless of their given profession or the human rights they promote, recognition of the work of human rights defenders under international law, as well as under the laws of numerous States, affords HRDs an additional layer of protection to carry out the work that they do.
Unfortunately, human rights defenders continue to suffer attacks at the hands of both State and non-State actors seeking to hinder their work. This impacts upon defenders' physical and psychological integrity, and often further affects their friends and families. In order to stop or deter human rights defenders' work, adversaries often close down the space for free and peaceful association, communication, expression, organisation and the support of survivors of human rights violations.
For example, women human rights defenders are frequently targeted for (often sexualised forms of) violence, due to their work challenging normalised patriarchal discourses, laws and traditions. Those working on the rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) persons and other sexual orientation and gender-identity issues are often similarly targeted and marginalised by existing power structures. Environmental rights defenders, as well as anti-corruption defenders, find themselves targeted for personal, economic and societal attacks by private companies seeking to protect their interests, as well as State and non-State agents. In addition to the above, recent times have seen the development of increasingly complex electronic surveillance mechanisms which encroach upon our personal lives and into our daily activities, communications and ways of working. This factor poses a significantly greater threat for human rights defenders, who may find themselves exposed, their sources compromised or their work jeopardised as a result of their online activities.
In the vacuum created by a lack of adequate protection by the State, security and protection become key issues for human rights defenders: at home, at work and while carrying out activities to promote or defend human rights. The purpose of this guide is to help HRDs take an organised approach, building strategies to maintain their well-being and creating space for activism and resistance, whether working alone, in small groups, collectives or organisations.
About the holistic approach to security
This guide is the first to explicitly adopt a 'holistic' approach to security and protection strategies for human rights defenders. In short, this means that rather than looking separately at the importance of our digital security, psycho-social well-being and organisational security processes, it attempts to integrate them and highlight their interrelatedness.
“Caring for myself is not an indulgence, it is self-preservation and that is an act of political warfare.” -- Audre Lorde
In 1998, the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, recognising the right of individuals and organisations (voluntarily or professionally) working towards “the effective elimination of all violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms of peoples and individuals”
The term human rights defender (HRD) refers to anyone who promotes or defends any of a vast array of rights which may include civil and political rights (such as freedom of speech or justice for survivors of abuse); transparency and anti-corruption or greater political participation; environmental rights, social justice, and cultural rights; rights related to sexual orientation and gender identity, or advocating for the recognition of new human rights. Regardless of their given profession or the human rights they promote, recognition of the work of human rights defenders under international law, as well as under the laws of numerous States, affords HRDs an additional layer of protection to carry out the work that they do.
Unfortunately, human rights defenders continue to suffer attacks at the hands of both State and non-State actors seeking to hinder their work. This impacts upon defenders' physical and psychological integrity, and often further affects their friends and families. In order to stop or deter human rights defenders' work, adversaries often close down the space for free and peaceful association, communication, expression, organisation and the support of survivors of human rights violations.
For example, women human rights defenders are frequently targeted for (often sexualised forms of) violence, due to their work challenging normalised patriarchal discourses, laws and traditions. Those working on the rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) persons and other sexual orientation and gender-identity issues are often similarly targeted and marginalised by existing power structures. Environmental rights defenders, as well as anti-corruption defenders, find themselves targeted for personal, economic and societal attacks by private companies seeking to protect their interests, as well as State and non-State agents. In addition to the above, recent times have seen the development of increasingly complex electronic surveillance mechanisms which encroach upon our personal lives and into our daily activities, communications and ways of working. This factor poses a significantly greater threat for human rights defenders, who may find themselves exposed, their sources compromised or their work jeopardised as a result of their online activities.
In the vacuum created by a lack of adequate protection by the State, security and protection become key issues for human rights defenders: at home, at work and while carrying out activities to promote or defend human rights. The purpose of this guide is to help HRDs take an organised approach, building strategies to maintain their well-being and creating space for activism and resistance, whether working alone, in small groups, collectives or organisations.
About the holistic approach to security
This guide is the first to explicitly adopt a 'holistic' approach to security and protection strategies for human rights defenders. In short, this means that rather than looking separately at the importance of our digital security, psycho-social well-being and organisational security processes, it attempts to integrate them and highlight their interrelatedness.
Source
https://holistic-security.tacticaltech.org/
https://holistic-security.tacticaltech.org/introduction.html
https://holistic-security.tacticaltech.org/introduction.html
Collection Tree
- HS - Holistic Security