Human Rights in Western Pacific

Combating Commercial Exploitation of Children and Violence against Women in Remote Regions of the Western Pacific

The overall objective of this project is to strengthen capacity of local human right defenders to combat sexual exploitation of children and physical violence against women caused by the presence of logging camps in remote regions of the Western Pacific.
Objective 1: Build public demand for protection of human rights for children and women exposed to exploitation and violence
Objective 2: Strengthen the capacity of human rights defenders to organise and mobilise 
Objective 3: Build supportive partnerships and networks to enhance the voice of human rights defenders

Activities

Mobilizing human rights defenders

Activities will include the organization and mobilization of Human Rights defenders. Special emphasis will be placed on development of learning resources that has direct links to practical actions such as forming and managing groups, establishing policy dialogue and networks and taking legal action. Journalists will receive awareness training on human rights and media institutions will be supported in reporting human rights abuse and to call for stronger commitment to international human rights charters and declarations.

Public debate facilitation

Activities will include broad based public debate facilitated through the media, about current human rights violations in remote regions. It will also involve policy dialogue with government departments on human rights. Legal challenges to human rights offenders will be established. Legal advice will also include issues to consider when collecting evidence for legal cases and this will be imperative for Human Rights Defenders to advise communities.

Human rights defenders work at grassroots level 

Activities will involve Human Rights Defenders working at grassroots level to enhance a human rights-based approach to development within community organizations. Human rights networks in the Western Pacific will be strengthened and promoted through the development of a web based focal point for Human Rights Defenders and the links between human rights violations and natural resources exploitation through a display of monitoring results. It will also involve awareness on issues relating to the links between human rights violations and natural resources exploitation that can be brought to the attention of the international community and human rights networks.