A Brief Means of Introduction

I arrived in Kampala, Uganda just over a week ago. About three weeks' ago I had very little idea that this was going to happen. There were lots of people who I didn't get to speak to before I left, and there are lots of people who have no idea what I'm doing here (I've been getting some very shocked reactions on Facebook). So here goes as a brief means of explanation – those of you who've already heard this tale of delay, denial and confusion can skip down a few paragraphs...

In September last year I began a 12-month contract with an international human rights organisation in Dublin called Front Line (FL). Front Line works on and with human rights defenders; people around the world who work in various capacities to improve the rights of others, and who face risk as a result of speaking out or challenging vested interests. Not all defenders are the civil and political activists so beloved of student unions and celebrity endorsements, and not all of them are people who work for human rights organisations. Defenders are journalists, lawyers, trade unionists, teachers, academics, writers, doctors, community activists and village leaders – many of them don't even know themselves that they are human rights defenders. You'll hear me banging on about defenders quite a bit here – once you become aware of the concept you begin to see the defenders all around, behind every newspaper headline, within every volunteer and within every community initiative.

The arrangement was that I would spend a total of 6 months in Front Line's Dublin office, but would also be seconded abroad on an internship. This was originally intended to take place in Geneva. Front Line had previously been sending interns to the office of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, essentially a special expert on the topic appointed by the UN, which operates with the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR), with a staff of three (“the Mandate”). As two specialised agencies working in this field, the Mandate and Front Line have a relatively close working relationship.

For reasons I won't go into, plans changed and things were delayed. It was nothing personal, just bad luck that it happened to take place around the time I was supposed to leave. Fast forward three months and I was still in Dublin waiting to see what would happen. This actually worked out pretty well for me. Work was good; I was involved with an international conference hosted by Front Line - the Dublin Platform - which was an amazing experience, and went to Geneva for a week to attend the Human Rights Council and assist the Mandate during one of their busiest weeks. I stayed with a succession of kind friends who gave me various welcoming homes, treated every week like it would be my last, and saw Dublin for what it really is: a social city which needs to be discovered with a bit of time, effort and a few good friends.

Margaret Sekaggya herself (the SR) is in fact based in Kampala, Uganda, her native city. As Special Rapporteurs are working experts in their field, most if not all of them have many commitments and full-time positions, whether as lawyers, academics or otherwise, and they travel so frequently that its usually not feasible to have them based full time in Geneva. To cut a long story short, Front Line have seconded me to assist the SR in her office in Kampala. Given that a few months had already been lost, we didn't waste any time about it. I had my vaccinations, booked my flights and left within two weeks.

So here I am. I am now Research Assistant to the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders (try getting that mouthful out after a few drinks), and will be here for three months, until the start of July. Although I'm working with Margaret in her capacity as SR, I'm hosted in the office of the NGO which she runs in a leafy suburb of Kampala; the Human Rights Centre Uganda. The Centre also works on human rights defenders, although solely in a Ugandan context.

I had in fact toyed with the idea of blogging once or twice before, but never had a good enough excuse to indulge myself in inflicting my unsolicited views on the rest of the world. Now that I'm away and without the kind of implanted internet access I'm addicted to, it seems like the easiest way to stay in touch. Before I left the amount of people who also inquired and actively encouraged me to start writing was both encouraging and exciting. It seems like some of you might actually read these aforementioned inflicted views! And if not – well then they'll stay safely out of your way here in cyberspace.

I'll also use the opportunity to thank everyone for the alternatively well-wishing, encouraging, kind, helpful, shocked and confused emails and messages I've been getting lately from people near and far, especially from those folks I haven't talked to in a while – its always touching to see you're still making the effort to take an interest in my wanderings. I haven't had time to write back to everyone but take it that I was delighted to hear from you, and will try and drop you a line soon.

That's it, introduction completed! Find below a few things I've written since I arrived. Some are a bit long, but what can an over-excited new blogger do...