CAHR staff presents at RightsCon

Posted on 14 June 2019

CAHR Research Assistant Tallulah Lines joined a panel discussion on resilience and wellbeing of human rights defenders at RightsCon in Tunis.

Tallulah Lines (right) together with other panelists at RightsCon 2019 in Tunis

The conference was attended by around 3,000 people and for the first time featured a 'wellness' track, with sessions examining individual, organisational and movement-level issues which impact on the wellbeing of those involved in human rights work.

The panel was organised by Margaret (Meg) Satterthwaite of NYU School of Law. Tallulah joined Meg and co-speakers Ria Singh Sawhney, Jelena Dordevic, Yvette Alberdingk Thijm and Katie Wightman in discussing research on the wellbeing of human rights defenders. The goal of the session was to identify and map the underlying problems within the human rights culture that can lead to negative outcomes for wellbeing, and to advance possible solutions together with participants. The workshop leaders suggested that one solution lies in fundamentally reframing the work of human rights - from a narrative focused on "saviours" and "victims" - to one based on true solidarity and honest connection. Tallulah discussed the ongoing research being carried out by CAHR as part of the Wellbeing of Human Rights Defenders on Temporary International Relocation Initiatives project. She focused specifically on findings from interviews with over 25 mental health professionals (broadly defined) from across the world who have supported defenders with their wellbeing.