About the Platform
La Plateforme Droits de l’Homme « PDH » is a collective of French NGOs working internationally to promote and defend human rights. The network was created because no such network existed in France and there was a need for a space for exchange and collaboration between French NGOs working at the international level. It allows members to increase their visibility, representation, contacts and mutual support.
The PDH, was officially created in September 2017 at the initiative of 12 NGOs headquartered in France. It’s objective is to increase the collective momentum through collaboration and the effectiveness of organisations working in the field of International human rights.
The PDH brings together non-profit organisations and social enterprises (organisations solidaires d’utilité sociale), having their registered office or representative office in France, working in the field of international human rights, around the following objectives:
• Promote the representation and visibility of its members with the French public authorities or any other public or private, national or international partner on issues related to the promotion and defence of human rights.
• Develop opportunities for exchange and dialogue between members by encouraging the pooling of resources, skills and tools at their disposal.
• Strengthen the capacities and effectiveness of members as key actors in the promotion and defence of human rights in their organisational and development practices.
Gouvernance
The PDH has created a Steering Committee and a Bureau.
The members of the Steering Committee were elected by the General Assembly on september 17, 2020:
- Agir ensemble pour les droits humains
- Avocats Sans Frontières France
- Fédération Internationale des ACAT (Action des Chrétiens pour l’Abolition de la Torture)
- Forum Réfugiés-COSI
- Ensemble Contre la Peine de Mort
- Equal Rights & Independant Media
- Human Dignity
- Observatoire International des Avocats en Danger
- Prison Insider
- Terre des Hommes France
The Steering Committee elected, from its members, a Bureau comprising:
Raphaël Chenuil-Hazan
Director General of Ensemble contre la Peine de Mort and a member of the Conseil National pour le Développement et la Solidarité Internationale
Claire De Grave-Basset
International Programs Manager, Terre des Hommes
Florence Laufer
Director of Prison Insider
Gabrielle Joint
Financial Manager, ERIM
Charter of the PDH
We,
French non-governmental organizations working for human rights internationally, adopt the present Charter creating the French Platform of Human Rights NGOs working at international level.
In the context of: + –
• An increasingly complex and global world in which the challenges to respect for human rights are felt as much within our borders as they are internationally;
• The growing number of situations in which the actions of individuals or organisations committed to the defence and promotion of human rights are stopped or repressed;
• The increasing complexity of the spaces for dialogue and the availability of funding;
• And a global ambition to promote peaceful, fair and inclusive societies.
Note: + –
That a wide variety of French NGOs are committed to promoting rights at an international level;
• That if the diversity of the expertise of French human rights NGOs can be useful for political dialogue and can play an important role in international and national politics, it can also hinder their visibility and their voice in consultation forums;
• That there is no existing space for exchange and collaboration for French human rights NGOs with a mandate to defend and promote specific rights in different contexts;
• That despite their diversity, French human rights NGOs share similar problems in their economic models and their modes of intervention; That the challenges of sustainability and professionalisation require special efforts of collaboration and coordination between human rights actors themselves and other political, economic and cultural actors;
Start from the principle: + –
• Of the indivisibility of fundamental rights: civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights;
• That human rights NGOs are all associations that define themselves as NGOs for the promotion or defence of human rights, for which the commitment to rights is clearly displayed at the heart of their vision and identity;
• That our organisations share common practices in the mobilisation of rights (litigation; monitoring and whistleblowing on cases of rights violations; capacity building / training on rights; awareness raising on rights; advocacy; work on the development of legal frameworks);
• That our organisations are defined by their non-governmental, apolitical, impartial and non-profit nature and that they are free from any power, influence and interference in their actions.
Aim to: + –
• Build a collective dynamic aiming to support the actors in the sector by increasing their capacities of representation and their visibility, while supporting their networking and mutual support in particular through exchanges of experience, working groups or sharing of practices.
These practices help to clarify the “trade” common to HR NGOs and form the basis of the framework for exchange between members.
Have a mission to: + –
Promote links and mutual reinforcement between NGOs, in order to :
• enable the sharing of information and the collective production of knowledge;
• create opportunities for exchange and mutual support;
• to pool skills to meet the needs of each member;
• promote the organisation of or access to training;
To increase the capacity of representation and common visibility of these NGOs, in order to :
• co-ordinate the representation of HR NGOs in all their diversity and originality;
• make the importance of human rights heard in French cooperation policy;
• be more visible collectively within international debates and networks;
• establish a link with different networks of private funders.
Commit ourselves to: + –
• Consider this charter as a preliminary version of the statutes ;
• Establish a participative governance that favours the implementation of the platform’s missions and involves all its members ;
• Organize a constituent general assembly;
• Guarantee regular opportunities for consultation and exchange between members;
• Facilitate the integration of new members;
• Apply this Charter in our activities and missions, alongside (and not as a replacement for) any code, charter or commitment made individually.
Affirm: + –
• Our commitment to cooperate for the respect of the rights, fundamental freedoms and dignity of persons.
Call for: + –
• French NGOs and international actors working on human rights to join us at the heart of this Platform to make it grow and move forward together.
Working Groups
Numerous activities are planned within the framework of the PDH, including the facilitation of working groups between members. In 2018, six thematic working groups were set up within the PDH :
Group I – New members
This group is in charge of examining future membership applications, presenting them to the steering committee (COPIL) for approval and engaging in dialogue with potential new members.
Group II – External Relations
This group is in charge of contacts with the partners of the PDH: institutions, NGOs, networks, various private actors.
Main achievements : Festive and militant evening at the Lyon Opera for the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 2018; signature of the Partnership Protocol between the PDH and the Children’s Group; representation of the PDH at the CNDSI; representation of the PDH at the consultation meetings of the French Development Agency (AFD) on the “political and citizen transition strategy” and the “Central Africa regional strategy” ; representation of the HDP at the consultations of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) for the development of the “human rights and development strategy”, exchange on the rule of law in the European Union; meeting with the President and the Director General of Coordination SUD.
Group III – External communication
This group is responsible for setting up and updating the tools and visibility activities of the PDH (website, social networks, brochures, etc.).
Group IV – Financing and economic model
This group is in charge of reviewing the resources necessary for the running the PDH and its member organisations in the short, medium and long term, as well as on the availability of financing for human rights NGOs.
Group V – Research and Advocacy
This group leads the development of approaches and thoughts, the production of notes, the dissemination of position papers on themes in relation to the PDH field of action.
Group VI – Best Practices Exchanges and Trainings
This group implements activities promoting peer-to-peer and best practices exchanges as well as training courses on subjects of common interest to the PDH members.
Our Partners
