2.4 Equipping human rights defenders to face today’s challenges In recent years, the work of human rights defenders (HRDs) has been increasingly impeded by a number of trends, in particular the rise of extremist movements around the OSCE region and the growing use of the Internet and social media as tools of misinformation and political control. While recognizing that technologies are instrumental in advancing democratic governance, limits and obstructions to enjoying these fundamental rights and freedoms in the digital space have accelerated this year. Internet shutdowns, increased surveillance, intrusion and hacking target HRDs and limit the space for their important work, while digital security literacy among HRDs remains low. HRDs defending the environment are currently suffering particularly grave rights violations, including unlawful arrests and detention, threats and intimidation, and stigma and criminalization both from the state and non-state actors. Acknowledging this fact, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a landmark resolution calling for the protection of environmental HRDs. In 2019, therefore, ODIHR increased its efforts to conduct capacity-building activities related to digital security for human rights defenders, and at the same time strengthened its focus on the situation of environmentalists. To help HRDs become more effective, ODIHR launched a dedicated project that included training based on the Office’s human rights monitoring methodology. Here HRDs learned how to use innovative tools to collect, share and store information as well as to communicate with their colleagues. 34 DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE OSCE Also in 2019, a group of HRDs from across the OSCE region attended specialized training in Budva, Montenegro on the key steps of the human rights monitoring cycle, including the initial assessment, information gathering, verification and analysis, report writing and advocacy. In addition, the training covered safety and security aspects such as protection of data, mitigation of various digital risks, as well as those to personal safety, and a component on psychological security and wellbeing. ODIHR subsequently offered some participants the opportunity to implement a human rights monitoring project under the guidance of ODIHR staff. As a direct result of ODIHR’s support in 2019, an NGO in Central Asia took steps to address digital security challenges, and successfully incorporated new security measures such as password management. They also obtained a grant dedicated to digital security, and actively trained their team and students about the risks of using the online space. ODIHR also worked to adapt its tools to the new challenges faced by HRDs, who often find it difficult to talk about their mental and emotional wellbeing. The Office modified its curriculum to provide more space for discussions about how to develop networks and how to build collective strategies for protection, and will continue to develop its collaboration with psychologists to provide better support to HRDs, whose work can frequently lead to a sense of isolation and vulnerability.