Featured Organization
Protection International Africa (PIA)
Kenya
On a continent that presents complex challenges to the work of human rights defenders, Protection International Africa (PIA) strives to meet a diverse range of needs. PIA is a non-governmental organization registered in Kenya, and supported by Protection International (PI), a non-profit association headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. As the African regional hub for Protection International, PIA works to meet the needs of human rights defenders (HRDs) across the continent. PIA’s primary objectives are to increase the agency of HRDs and to contribute to the creation of safe spaces for them to continue advocating for the protection and promotion of human rights. These objectives are pursued through capacity building in physical and digital security; national, regional, and international advocacy; the monitoring, documentation, and reporting of human rights offenses; emergency responses to human rights defenders at risk; and the strengthening of international and regional networks.
PIA was officially launched in December 2019 as part of PI’s Global Strategy (2019-2023), which envisioned a bold decentralization campaign intent on creating continental hubs to drive PI’s regional goals while working in tandem with the global office in Brussels. The headquarters of PIA is situated in Nairobi, and also hosts the Kenya-specific office referred to as Protection International Africa in Kenya (PIA-Kenya/PIA-K). PIA operates across Africa through ongoing work in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania, as well as projects across West, Central, and Southern Africa. Among other regional hubs, PIA was created to enhance PI’s responsiveness to local perspectives, keeping in line with a grassroots approach, while also engaging an international infrastructure of support.
An initiative characteristic of this approach is KAMWE: “Supporting Woman HRDs and their grassroots organisations to document and prevent extrajudicial killings in the Republic of Kenya.” Working with local NGOs like the Mathare Social Justice Centre and FIDA Kenya, and with funding from the European Union, PIA helped provide digital and physical security training as well as legal assistance to a courageous network of Kenyan women whose loved ones were killed in extrajudicial executions. Serving as a connector between its community-based partners and supranational sources of funding and support, PIA was able to leverage its position to provide women HRDs with new expertise in capacity building and self-advocacy.
PIA’s emergency protection grant intervention is limited to Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, from which an estimated two HRDs per week are given direct assistance. To meet its ongoing goals outside of the countries in which it immediately operates, PIA maintains a close working relationship with international actors, including the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACPHR) and special rapporteurs of the United Nations. With direct access to the UN Special Rapporteur on HRDs, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Association and Assembly, and the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings, PIA is able to organize direct consultations between special rapporteurs, HRDs, and civil society organizations (CSOs). PIA also liaises directly with ACPHR’s Special Rapporteurs on HRDs, who may request interventions in the protection of specific HRDs. Considering the unique challenges of HRD protection work in the African regional context, the creation of PIA has proven to be a particularly ambitious project within PI’s broader regional goals.
Over the last few years, increasing repression in the working environment for CSOs and HRDs across Africa has led to heightened need for protection services. According to PIA, this shift is due to increasing instability in the region, including but not limited to military coups; a rise in armed insurgency; conflict over natural resources; bad governance; and the pressing need to amend colonial era constitutions, laws, and policies. As HRDs stand at the forefront in speaking out against violations of human rights and the rule of law, as well as corruption within governance structure and democratic processes, they often face reprisals from both the state and private sector.
As election seasons roll around in countries across Africa, HRDs face renewed peril for monitoring and reporting on the human rights violations and power grabs that often accompany the electioneering period. Unscrupulous governments may respond by enacting strict laws to constrain the physical, virtual, and civic space of HRDs. Entrenched cultural values and norms surrounding gender and sexuality can also add to the challenges HRDs face, leading PIA to adopt an increasingly intersectional perspective in addressing the unique challenges of protecting women and LGBTQ+ HRDs.
Looking to the future, PIA hopes to build upon its mandate to safeguard the working environment of human rights defenders in Africa through enhanced legal and policy protection. To achieve this goal, PIA intends to increase its advocacy work with international organizations and important players in the region like the European Union, the African Union, and the UN. Over the coming years, PIA hopes to continue amplifying the crucial work being done by African HRDs as they face ongoing risks to their agency and personal safety.
By Elias Ephron, August 2022. Elias is a rising senior at Bard College, studying Political Science and Spanish and Latin American studies.