New Tactics in Human Rights: Worried About the Future of Rights in America?
Newsletter | June 2017

 

Worried About the Future of Rights in America?

We can help you take action.

Since its founding in 1999, New Tactics in Human Rights has focused its training and resources on supporting human rights activists in other countries. Today, the changing political climate in the U.S. is inspiring new advocacy efforts to protect and promote civil rights. In response, New Tactics is now offering US-focused training workshops; modularized courses to build strategic and tactical capacity for domestic activists, based on our Strategic Effectiveness Method.

Refined over sixteen years of international advocacy experience, our method helps organizations that want to protect and promote rights to do their work more effectively by providing a framework and tools through which to be more strategic, focused and flexible.

Our method has already been used by groups in the U.S. to successfully protect and promote a wide range of rights. U.S. human rights and civil liberties organizations used the method to form powerful coalitions to fight the U.S. use of torture and cruelty in post-9/11 counterterrorism operations.

The value of our new US-focused training workshops is in gathering the members of your organization together to work through our methodology. Many minds and thoughts add value to the process, resulting in a campaign that is better and stronger. The trainings are conducted in-person by highly experienced New Tactics trainers, and are customized to your organization and its specific issue, helping to move your work forward in an effective and strategic manner.

All workshops are designed for one trainer and a small group of participants for maximum participation and effective interactions. Details on our workshops can be found below or on our website at www.newtactics.org/training/workshops. For further information including costs for larger groups or to schedule a workshop, please contact Emily Hutchinson at NTWorkshops@cvt.org.

At New Tactics, we inspire and equip activists to change the world. We hope you will join us by participating in and sharing these exciting new training offerings.

 

 

HALF-DAY WORKSHOP

 

INTRODUCTION TO THE METHOD
This workshop is most appropriate for organizations that want to gain an overview of the Strategic Effectiveness Method and learn how to use the New Tactics Tactical Mapping tool. As a result, participants will gain a basic understanding of the Strategic Effectiveness Method steps and will use the Tactical Mapping Tool to explore new ways of approaching their issue. This workshop covers all five steps of the Strategic Effectiveness Method and has no limit on the number of participants.

 

 

ONE-DAY WORKSHOPS

 

THE POWER OF HUMAN RIGHTS-BASED ADVOCACY
This workshop is most appropriate for organizations seeking to ground their advocacy work within a human rights-based approach and focus on clear and specific human-rights framed issues as the basis for effective action.

As a result, participants will complete the training with a human rights-based problem statement ready for advocacy application. This workshop covers Step 1—“Identify the Problem”— and has a limit of twenty participants. [Note: this module does include developing a human rights-based vision statement – see Two-Day Workshop below]

 

COALITION BUILDING: EXPLORE YOUR HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
This workshop is most appropriate for organizations that want to explore new opportunities for coalition building and already have a clear human rights-based problem and vision framework. As a result, participants will acquire valuable tools to identify relevant and often surprising actors and relationships that can be leveraged to expand the range of potential allies and opportunities for collaborations. This workshop covers Step 3—“Map the Terrain”—and has a limit of twenty participants.

 

TACTICAL INNOVATION: THE SOURCE OF FLEXIBILITY & SURPRISE
This workshop is most appropriate for organizations that want to learn how to identify and select tactics that are flexible, innovative, engaging, and surprising to opponents. As a result, participants will explore, learn, and exchange a variety of tactics and will leave with an expanded range of ideas to try in their own advocacy efforts. This workshop covers Step 5—“Take Action”—and has a limit of twenty participants.

 

 

TWO-DAY WORKSHOPS

 

SKILL BUILDING IN HUMAN RIGHTS-BASED ADVOCACY
This workshop is most appropriate for organizations that want to advance their advocacy efforts based on clearly defined human rights-based problem and vision statements. As a result, participants will understand and develop a clear and specific human-rights framed problem statement as the basis for their advocacy action. In addition, participants will develop and refine a unifying human rights-based vision statement to enable inspirational advocacy messaging. This workshop covers Step 1 and Step 2—“Identify the Problem” and “Create your Vision”— and has a limit of twenty participants.

 

STRATEGIC ADVOCACY: PLANNING YOUR CAMPAIGN
This workshop is most appropriate for organizations that already use a human rights-based problem and vision framework and want to strategically plan a specific advocacy campaign. As a result, participants will develop goals and identify specific tactical targets that are grounded in their problem and vision framework. Participants will also identify concrete outcomes for their advocacy plan which will help them to monitor their progress. This workshop covers Steps 3, 4, and 5, and has a limit of twenty participants.

 

 

THREE-DAY WORKSHOP

 

STRATEGIC EFFECTIVENESS METHOD – FAST TRACK
This workshop is most appropriate for one organization (or an organization along with their identified network members) that has already identified a specific issue and wants to develop a human rights-based strategic advocacy plan. As a result, participants use the hands-on skill building 5 Steps to Strategic Effectiveness Method to develop a concrete action plan which can be utilized to guide and monitor their progress. This workshop covers all five steps of the Strategic Effectiveness Method and has a limit of twenty participants. (See components listed under the “Five Day Workshop – Strategic Effectiveness Method”).

 

 

FIVE-DAY WORKSHOP

 

STRATEGIC EFFECTIVENESS METHOD
This workshop is most appropriate for grant-making organizations that want to provide their network of grantees with strategic thinking and tactical innovation skills. The workshop provides organizations with the 5 Steps to Strategic Effectiveness Method – a hands-on, skill building method for developing human rights-based strategic advocacy action plans. As a result, participants will define human rights-based problem and vision statements, explore, learn, and exchange tactic ideas, and use the Strategic Effectiveness Method to develop a “journey of change” including specific advocacy goals and action plan. This workshop covers all five steps of the Strategic Effectiveness Method and has a limit of twenty participants.

 

 

FIVE-DAY WORKSHOP + MENTORING

 

STRATEGIC EFFECTIVENESS METHOD FACILITATOR TRAINING
This workshop is most appropriate for organizations that are committed to integrating the Strategic Effectiveness Method into their advocacy efforts on a long-term basis and have one or more trainers on staff with the commitment to learn and implement the method. The organization must complete an application process prior to inclusion in the workshop. As a result, trainees will develop and practice skills in facilitating the 5 Steps to Strategic Effectiveness Method, including peer-to-peer practice. They will then receive direct and virtual feedback and mentoring for 3 months as they train, facilitate and apply the method with a selected organization or group. This workshop covers all five steps of the Strategic Effectiveness Method and has a limit of twenty participants.

Further information about the Strategic Effectiveness Method exists on the New Tactics website, including materials for each step that may be downloaded for free.
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Syria Justice and Accountability Centre: Coalition Airstrikes in Syria and the Issue of Civilian Harm

SJAC Update | June 15, 2017
Home of activist Wassim Abdo in Tabqa where his family was killed allegedly by US airstrike

 

Coalition Airstrikes in Syria and the Issue of Civilian Harm
As the US-led global coalition fights the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), the Syrian Democratic Forces, the coalition’s partner on the ground, have advanced on Raqqa. But as ISIS’s so-called capital and military stronghold is giving way, civilians have been stuck in the middle of intense fighting. Between August 2014 and April 2017, the Coalition conducted over 20,000 airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, but since US President Donald Trump took office in January, the number of airstrikes in Syria has increased significantly with over 2,800 strikes in the past five months. As the fighting has moved closer to population hubs like Raqqa, the strikes have taken a toll on civilians. While it is difficult to verify every claim of civilian death, the number of civilians the Coalition has confirmed dead in both Iraq and Syria increased by 90% from January to April as compared to all of 2016. According to statistics compiled by Airwars. from January to June, there have been 977 reports of civilian causalities that are unconfirmed but credible (“reasonable level of public reporting of alleged incident from two or more generally credible sources, often with biographical, photographic or video evidence”), a stark increase from the previous year.

Through the Coalition’s strategy of insulating ISIS by bombing bridges and ISIS’s strategy of using civilians as human shields, the fighting has severely hindered civilians from escaping Raqqa. Those who are able to flee the city have sometimes been met with a shortage of humanitarian supplies. Increased airstrikes, an inadequate humanitarian response, alleged abuses by SDF affiliated forces, and a lack of accountability have led to increased resentment among the local population that will be difficult to overcome as anti-ISIS forces attempt to reestablish security in the area. In Iraq, for example, civilian casualties due to Coalition airstrikes caused such anger in Mosul that in late May, Iraqi forces halted their efforts to in order to reassess tactics.
READ MORE
The Syria Justice and Accountability Centre (SJAC) is a Syrian-led and multilaterally supported nonprofit that envisions a Syria where people live in a state defined by justice, respect for human rights, and rule of law. SJAC collects, analyzes, and preserves human rights law violations by all parties in the conflict — creating a central repository to strengthen accountability and support transitional justice and peace-building efforts. SJAC also conducts research to better understand Syrian opinions and perspectives, provides expertise and resources, conducts awareness-raising activities, and contributes to the development of locally appropriate transitional justice and accountability mechanisms. Contact us at info@syriaaccountability.org.

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Members of Venezuelan Government Opposition Barred From Travel and Protests Intensify as Maduro Seeks to Change Constitution

By: Max Cohen
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

CARACAS, Venezuela -Paulina Facchin, a representative of the Venezuelan opposition group Mesa de la Unidad Democratica in Peru, was barred back in January from getting her Venezuelan passport for the charge of “inciting hatred”. Ms. Facchin had previously done an interview with Peruvian press in which she was deeply critical of the current crisis in Venezuela, and had driven around an opposition legislator during his visit there. Then in mid-May, the leader of Venezuela’s opposition party Henrique Capriles was barred from travelling to New York to meet with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein.

A protestor brandishes a molotov cocktail during a march by healthcare workers. Photo courtesy of Agence France-Presse.

The protests in Venezuela meanwhile, have only grown more violent and out of control. In one example, a lynch mob drenched a person in gasoline and lit them on fire. The violence of the protestors has been met by the government with escalating deadly force. At least 55 people on both sides have been killed in the past seven weeks, with more than a thousand injured. However, it should be noted that the protestors have largely been peaceful, and the ones causing violence appear to be in the minority.

As his people protest in the street, Maduro is seeking to put together a constituent assembly to rewrite Venezuela’s constitution. Critics however, fear that his success in doing so would only further escalate the violence

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Watch – Harassing Opposition Activists Abroad – 30 May, 2017

Washington Post – Venezuela is sliding into anarchy – 24 May, 2017

UN News Centre – Venezuela: UN human rights chief regrets opposition leader being blocked to travel – 19 May, 2017

War Crimes Prosecution Watch: Volume 12, Issue 7 – June 12, 2017

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Founder/Advisor 
Michael P. Scharf
War Crimes Prosecution Watch
Volume 12 – Issue 7
June 12, 2017
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Editor-in-Chief
James Prowse
Managing Editors
Rina Mwiti
Alexandra Mooney
War Crimes Prosecution Watch is a bi-weekly e-newsletter that compiles official documents and articles from major news sources detailing and analyzing salient issues pertaining to the investigation and prosecution of war crimes throughout the world. To subscribe, please email warcrimeswatch@pilpg.org and type “subscribe” in the subject line.
Opinions expressed in the articles herein represent the views of their authors and are not necessarily those of the War Crimes Prosecution Watch staff, the Case Western Reserve University School of Law or Public International Law & Policy Group.
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International Center for Transitional Justice: New Report: Syrian Refugees on the Possibility of Return and Coexistence
New ICTJ Study: Syrian Refugees in Lebanon See Security, Restoration of Dignity as Key Conditions for Return
Read the Report

What do Syrian refugees say they need in order to return home? And what conditions do they believe are necessary to one day fostering coexistence in a post-war Syria?

A new ICTJ report, based on dozens of interviews with Syrian refugees in Lebanon, argues that discussions about the return of the displaced and coexistence must begin now, even in the face of ongoing violence. It stresses the restoration of refugees’ sense of dignity and security as necessary conditions for their return, and for one day building a stable post-war Syria.

“When the return and rebuilding process does begin one day, it will be crucial that the experiences and views of victims, including refugees, be strongly taken into account,” said report co-author Rim El Gantri.

Download the report and read our interview with report authors Rim El Gantri and Karim El Mufti. The Executive Summary of the report is also available in Arabic. 
Interview with the Report Authors
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