"Security begins with me as an individual"

KIOS Partners Regional Conference

4-5 May 2011, Fairway Hotel, Kampala

KIOS Parners Regional Conference brought together KIOS partners from six focus countries in Eastern Africa: Burundi, DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. The two-day conference held on 4th and 5th May 2011 at Fairway Hotel in Kampala provided an opportunity for the partners to increase their knowledge and skills in human rights advocacy and on protection mechanisms for human rights defenders. The conference also involved sharing of experience, best practices and reflection on innovative strategies to advance human rights as a major pillar for development.

The conference started with welcome remarks from Honorary Consul of Finland to Uganda Mr. Richard Mugera and Vice-Chairperson of KIOS Executive Board Mr. Jani Seikkula. Opening Speech was held by H.E. Mr. Vital Bambanze, senator and the African Specialist to the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous People (EMRIP). After opening section the conference continued with a panel discussion on the situation of Human Rights Defenders in each of the six countries represented. This provided background for the afternoon session, where the participants got important information about the protection and security management mechanisms for HRDs. The security session was facilitated by Protection Desk Uganda.

The second day started with a recap of the previous day before aquarium sessions on media work and working in challenging legal contexts. Aquarium sessions based on real life cases which were the basis for problem based learning and brainstorming for solutions together. In the afternoon ACODEV facilitated a session on the importance and methods of documentation in human rights before the wrap up of the conference.

At the end of the conference, a number of issues and recommendations were raised by participants to include sharing of experience and disclosure of creative coping mechanisms by HRDs when faced with violations and how better HRDs can use the media in their advocacy work. Security training was deemed necessary in human rights work, as well as the monitoring and documentation of human rights violations to track what is happening periodically in each organisation.