An alternative approach to using the
ECHR outside the courts
Rosalind McKennaAmnesty International
Human Rights Based Approaches Project
“Human Rights and Collective Action”
Who?
• Residents of Ballymun• Amnesty• Ballymun Community Law Centre• CAN (Community Action Network)• Mayo Women’s Support Services• Participants in Pilot
Where did this all start?
• Ballymun 2004Human rights foundation course
• Fight for Your Rights
Human Rightsfoundation course
• 15 hours over 5 weeks• Aimed at community activists,
staff of community groups and local agencies
• Delivered 5 times between 2004 and 2006
• Between 5 and 15 participants in each course
Why the FETAC Route?
• Accreditation is meaningful to the target audiences
• Demonstrated need for the course across the country
• FETAC provides a mechanism for getting the message and tools out to a much larger audience
Partners
• Monica Manning– Community Action Network
• Frank Murphy – Ballymun Community Law Centre
• Mayo Women’s Support Services– Castlebar, County Mayo
Collaboration
• Meetings began October 2006• Feedback from Ballymun
participants was basis for focus and design of the course
• Input from MWSS shaped content• Participants in the pilot provided
critical inputs and feedback
Overall Aims
The participants will:• Acquire a basic understanding of human
rights law and concepts• Develop an awareness and understanding of a
human-rights-based-approach (HRBA)• Understand how the principles of community
development an HRBA intersect• Explore the implications of what a rights-
based-approach means for a community organisation
• Develop skills in applying a human rights-based approach in a community setting
Pilot
• November 2007, Castlebar• 2 x 3 day sessions, 1 day follow-up
in January 2008• 17 participants, all women• Focus was violence against women• 11 applied for and received FETAC
accreditation, 9 with merit• At least 2 concrete projects have
arisen from work done on the course
What we learned?
• The legal input was the session participants were most eager for. It could have been expanded to a full 3-days.
• The success of the legal input is directly attributable to the manner in which it was delivered.
• It was done in the most accessible and easily understandable way possible.
• Even the most experienced activists had trouble making the links between law and actual rights or issues
• Course is best structured around a theme or issue common to all participants
• Assumptions cannot be made about starting points of understanding
What now?
• Module Descriptor has been released
• Workbook • Trinity School of Nursing and
Midwifery • Hope for future collaborations
with Frank and Monica
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