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International organisations discuss how to support human rights defenders during COVID outbreak

Intergovernmental organisations, and EU institutions and agencies, met online on 17 April to discuss the impact of COVID measures for human rights defenders in Europe, and what the implications are for their work.

In going forward, staff working on cooperation will continue to meet to exchange views on a range of issues on how best to support civil society and human rights defenders.

These include: how Intergovernmental organisations can ensure continued participation by civil society during these times, including online; assessing the impact of COVID-19 measures on human rights defenders and civil society organisations; how donors could deal with the situation; digital security, safe communications, and the digital divide; and how do deliver capacity building and project support under the current circumstances.