SECTION A Guidelines on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders 1. The right to defend human rights is a universally recognized right: It derives from universal human rights, which are indivisible, interdependent and interrelated, and which OSCE participating States have committed to respect, protect and fulfil for everyone on their territory and subject to their jurisdiction. 2. Who is a human rights defender? Human rights defenders act “individually or in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms”6 at the local, national, regional and international levels. They recognize the universality of human rights for all without distinction of any kind, and they defend human rights by peaceful means. 3. Human rights defenders play a vital role in democratic societies: The active involvement of people, groups, organizations and institutions is essential to ensure continuing progress towards the fulfilment of international human rights. Civil society – among others – assists states to ensure full respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms, democracy and the rule of law. Accordingly, human rights defenders perform important and legitimate functions in democratic societies. State authorities should respect that dissenting views may be expressed peacefully in democratic societies and should publicly acknowledge the important and legitimate role of human rights defenders. 4. Need for protection of human rights defenders: Human rights defenders face spe- cific risks and are often targets of serious abuses as a result of their human rights work. Therefore, they need specific and enhanced protection at local, national and international levels. Certain groups of human rights defenders are exposed to heightened risks due to the specific nature of their work, the issues they are working on, the context in which they operate, their geographical location or because they belong to or are associated with a particular group. 5. The nature of state obligations: The primary responsibility for the protection of human rights defenders rests with states. States have both positive and negative obligations with regard to the rights of human rights defenders. In line with their duties under international law – according to which they must respect, protect and fulfil human rights – they have an obligation to: 6  UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, Article 1, <http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Defenders/Declaration/declaration.pdf>. Guidelines on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders 1