Centre for Communication & Human Rights

The Centre aims to contribute to the promotion and protection of basic rights, remedies, and responsibilities in the field of information provision. The Centre was established in 1992 as an initiative of the International Foundation for the Study of Comparative Ethics , Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Background

The effective promotion and protection of human rights is to a large extent dependent upon the mobilization of world wide public opinion. This requires that people have access to reliable and diversified channels of information. Through such channels they should be informed about the existence of human rights standards, the mechanisms to enforce such standards, and the violation of these standards. Communication is essential to the defense of all human rights. This seemingly simple observation implies a set of very complex requirements. These pertain among others to the freedom and pluralism that societies grant their mass media, the quality of media performance, the role of mass media as human rights educators, and the risks connected with the proliferation of advanced information tehnology.

Activities

The Centre's activities include research, policy analysis and advice, legal assistance and the organisation of training seminars.

Advisory services

• The Centre provides policy advice and assessment to governmental and non-governmental organisations committed to the incorporation of human rights standards in their policies and plans.
• The Centre helps to establish institutions and legal instruments to comply with international human rights standards in the provision of information.
• The Centre provides legal assistance to litigation in areas related to citizens' information rights and the protection of employees in the information and culture industries.

The Centre for Communication and Human Rights is located at: 123 Burgemeester Hogguerstraat 1064 CL Amsterdam The Netherlands Telephone: 31.20.6115946 Fax: 31.20.6115296

E-mail address: hamelink@pscw.uva.nl