Voices at Risk: State-Civil Society Relations in the Development and Implementation of Canada’s Guidelines on Supporting Human Rights Defenders
Author: Kirsten Van Houten
Abstract
This article reflects the results of preliminary research on the development and implementation of Voices at Risk: Canada’s Guidelines on Supporting Human Rights Defenders by Global Affairs Canada. This article reviews and analyzes the results of two Access to Information and Privacy Requests sent to Global Affairs Canada Headquarters and the Embassy of Canada to the Philippines, which demonstrate the contribution and engagement of Canadian civil society organizations with the guidelines.
This article seeks to make several contributions to the Canadian foreign policy literature. The first contribution it makes is virtue of being the only scholarly publication that explores Voices at Risk at this time. Second, it documents challenges faced at both GAC headquarters and the Embassy of Canada to the Philippines in the development and implementation of the guidelines, notably in relation to their implementation of business and human rights principles. Third, the article describes some of the activities that Canadian CSOs have undertaken to support the development and implementation of the guidelines, noting that engagement between CSOs and GAC officials has been thin. The article concludes by setting a forward-looking research agenda that will seek to understand the origins and development of the guidelines in more detail, and identify civil society priorities for the ongoing protection of the human rights defenders with whom they collaborate.
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Dr. Kirsten Van Houten is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Justice and Global Stewardship at the University of the Fraser Valley. She has over a decade of experience working at the human rights and peacebuilding nexus in academia, politics and with civil society.
Recommended Citation
Kirsten Van Houten, “Voices at Risk: State-Civil Society Relations in the Development and Implementation of Canada’s Guidelines on Supporting Human Rights Defenders” (2025) 12:2 Can J Hum Rts 131, online: <https://cjhr.ca/download/3203/?tmstv=1754408553&v=3204>.