From 12 to 14 January , UpRights Co-founder, Valérie Gabard, led a training in Niamey (Niger) for the Commission Nationale des Droits Humains (“CNDH”) designed to improve the effectiveness of drafting human rights investigation reports.

Around 20 participants, technical staff at the central and regional level and certain Commissioners from the CNDH actively participated in the training. Over the course of three days, participants shared their experience in relation to the drafting of human rights reports. The training provided participants with the tools to analyse information collected during human rights investigations and effectively report on them in order to obtain positive change. The training involved presentation of best practices, practical analysis and drafting exercises and targeted discussions and experience sharing on exisiting reports of the CNDH.

These capacity-building initiatives are part of the “Human Rights and Access to Justice in Niger” project “Adalci Project” implemented by a consortium of organisations including the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI), Freedom House, Search for Common Ground and PACT. This four-year program is funded by USAID.

This activity was building on the expertise acquired by the technical staff and Commissioners of the CNDH last October during a first training on investigation’s best practices.

From 11 to 15 October, UpRights Co-founder, Valérie Gabard, in coordination with an on-site facilitator and investigator, led two trainings designed to build capacity to investigate serious human rights violations and abuses during crises to support victims in their quest for justice in Niamey, Niger.

The first training involved 25 participants, composed of technical staff at the central and regional level and certain Commissioners from the Commission Nationale des Droits Humains (“CNDH”). It was a targeted and practical three-day training. The training aimed to strengthen existing investigation practices of the CNDH and to equip participants with best practices to conduct secure, ethical and victim-centered human rights investigations with a focus on victim and witness protection and investigation planning. This training was followed by a two-day training on the same topic for 20 representatives of civil society organizations located in conflict-affected areas of Niger and who cooperate with the CNDH.

These capacity-building initiatives are part of the “Human Rights and Access to Justice in Niger” project “Adalci Project” implemented by a consortium of organisations including the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI), Freedom House, Search for Common Ground and PACT. This four-year program is funded by USAID.

On 23 to 25 November 2021, 15 participants composed of technical staff and certain Commissioners from the Commission Nationale des Droits Humains (CNDH) undertook a training designed to build capacity to draft investigative reports on allegations of human rights violations. The training was led remotely by UpRights Co-founder, Valérie Gabard, in coordination with on-site facilitator and human rights specialist Sawadogo Lamoussa Carol.

The training formed part of the three year “Human Rights and Access to Justice in Burkina Faso” program implemented by a consortium of organisations led by the American Bar Association Initiative for the Rule of Law, and including Freedom House and Search For Common Ground and Pact, was funded by the United States Agency for International Development.

The training is an important step towards improved human rights reports, effective collection of evidence and ultimately an improved human rights situation.

For more information click here

From 26 July to 31 July 2021, Valérie Gabard, co-founder of UpRights delivered two trainings for members of the National Commission for Human Rights and for members of civil society organisations on best practices for the documentation of serious human violations and international crimes as part of the “Human Rights and Access to Justice in Burkina Faso” program (DHAJ) lead by the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI).

From 26 to 28 July 2021, UpRights delivered a training for the members and the staff of the Burkina Faso National Commission for Human Rights. The three-day training centred on techniques to improve the documentation of serious human violations and international crimes in the context of crises or conflict situations.

The deterioration of the security situation in Burkina Faso in recent years has led to an increase in the number and a change in the nature of serious human rights violations and abuses committed in the country. The training was designed to assist the commissioners and staff of the National Commission for Human Rights in carrying out their human rights documentation mandate in this context. The goal of the training, according to Valérie Gabard, co-founder of UpRights “is to give this relatively young institution a systematic framework and the tools to facilitate the work of investigators in the field”.

This training was followed by a two-day training on the same topic for civil societies organisations (field partners of the National Commission for Human Rights) and members of two working groups within the Commission. It was the first capacity-building training for Civil Society Organizations from the region, and it aimed at harmonizing the practices of the organisations for the documentation of serious human violations and international crimes in the context of Burkina Faso.

“This training is welcome because it meets the needs of our work in the field as members of an organization for the defense of human rights, particularly in terms of information collection, treatment, approach, organization of field missions, and especially of documentation and data backup. Given the situation the country is going through, this training will allow us to be more productive”, said at the end of the training Ousséni Maïga, Secretary general of the Center for Good Governance in the Sahel, Vice-president of the working group “Service to victims including legal and judicial assistance”.

These two capacity building trainings are part of the “Human Rights and Access to Justice in Burkina Faso” program (DHAJ), a program funded by the American Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by a consortium of organisations comprising the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI – leader of the project) but also Freedom House, Search For Common Ground, and Pact.

To learn more, follow the links to the Burkina Faso National Commission for Human Rights website:

Renforcement de capacités : Les membres de la CNDH formés aux techniques d’investigation

Investigation des cas de violation des droits humains : Des OSCs formées afin d’harmoniser les pratiques