Toolkit supports young African activists
The Youth Resource Centre for Human Rights (CODAP), an NGO based in Geneva, has been one of the beneficiaries of a micro-grant from Tactical Tech. Together with the Information and Training Western-African Centre on Human Rights (CIFDHA) from Burkina Faso, the CODAP has organised a 7 day training in July on the theme “Impunity and International Criminal Law” in Ouagadougou. Thirty young human rights activists, from 10 Western and Central Africa countries attended this Summer University on Human Rights.
Along with briefings on the universal and regional mechanisms for the protection of human rights, including a special emphasis on the International Criminal Court, the participants received trainings on strategies for action, information management and security tactics. This provided an opportunity to introduce to a most interested audience to Tactical Tech's Security in-a-box and 10 Tactics for turning information into action.
“We have been very impressed by the quality of the material produced by Tactical Tech”, tells Jean Willemin, the international coordinator at CODAP. “Security in-a-box addresses very relevant issues with a broad public teaching approach. The structure of the toolkit is based on logical steps with a good use of concrete examples and metaphors, which makes it easy to follow, even for computer beginners. On top of that, the graphics and presentations are very well designed. They are really great resources for human rights activists!”
The practical knowledge developed by using 10 Tactics and Security in-a-box will enable the participants to implement a security strategy to protect their personal data on their computer and through their communications on the internet. This is an essential part of the work of human rights activists since they are dealing with sensitive data which can affect the integrity of individuals and disturb public or private interests. Projects elaborated on during this training, such as investigating human rights violations related to the post electoral violence in Ivory Coast, definitely require a strong protection system for data. “I guess when it comes to information and security matters, risk zero doesn't exist”, explains Jean Willemin. “We've had troubles in the past with members of our network having their communications high-jacked. But these realities and concerns must not become a reason for not moving forward to secure human rights!”
By the Youth Resource Centre for Human Rights (CODAP)
