Resources
The resources below include a range of guides and useful websites around communicating human rights:
Building a human rights culture in Scotland: Insights from audience research
http://www.scottishhumanrights.com/media/1754/building_a_human_rights_culture_scotland.pdf
In 2017, the Scottish Human Rights Commission contracted research specialists YouGov Plc to get a better understanding of current knowledge and attitudes towards human rights among people in Scotland. It was the first time such comprehensive research had been carried out. These findings demonstrate strong support for human rights in Scotland, but also areas where more work is required to build understanding and support for human rights.
We need to talk about human rights
A summary for civil society organisations in Scotland: why talk about human rights in your work?
A Guide to Hope-based Communications
For a human rights movement dedicated to exposing abuses, positive communication does not come naturally. But to make the case for human rights, we cannot rely on fear of a return to the dark past, we need to promise a brighter future. This Open Global Rights guide, produced with @the_hope_guy explains 5 key shifts needed.
10 keys to effectively communicating human rights
https://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2018/10-keys-effectively-communicating-human-rights
This publication from FRA: EU Agency for Fundamental Rights sums up the core points communicators and practitioners in various fields raised in their expert meetings, practitioners’ seminars and focus groups in 2017 and 2018.
A brilliant way of living our lives: How to talk about human rights
By Anat Shenker-Osorio, this guide uses language data from advocacy, opposition, political speech and popular culture, to analyze why certain messages resonate where others falter in the human rights sector in Australia, the UK and the US. Full of helpful messaging strategies and pitfalls to avoid.
Stronger voices: Communications for Change
https://mediatrust.org/resources/simple-steps-planning-campaign-2/
Produced by the Media Trust and written by Equality and Diversity Forum, this guide provides top tips and best practice advice on communicating for change from three different perspectives: the communications trainer, the equality charity and the media agency.
Talking about human rights: how to identify and engage a range of audiences
This report sets out findings from Equality and Human Rights Commission research on public attitudes to human rights, and recommendations for talking to the public about human rights.
FrameWorks Institute
http://www.frameworksinstitute.org/human-rights-justice.html
An expert organisation in the area of strategic communications, originating in the USA but now with a UK office. This website includes interesting toolkits and research around how to reframe communications with a view to changing society.
New Tactics in Human Rights
New Tactics helps activists become more effective through strategic thinking and tactical planning..New Tactics creates resources – organized around the analysis of potential solutions rather than that of specific issues, geographic regions, or target groups – that allow advocates to clearly recognize the unique elements of their situation, and to seek promising approaches that have worked elsewhere in order to apply them to new regions or issues.
Equally Ours
https://www.equally-ours.org.uk/
Equally Ours is a campaign that was set up by eight national charities to talk about the importance of human rights and how they benefit us all in everyday life. This website includes a whole range of case examples of the impact of human rights. As such it provides an excellent resource for how to write a good case story, as well as some other guides and information about to talk about human rights.
Medium article: Hope, not fear: A new model for communicating human rights
This helpful article by Thomas Coombes, published on Medium in December 2017, outlines a new way to talk about human rights.
Outrage makes you feel good but doesn’t change minds
Article by Sonia Sodha in The Guardian on 2 April 2017 about campaigning based on values to change minds.
Talking about Human Rights Summary
A handy one page summary from Equally Ours about what they have found works or doesn’t work when talking about human rights.
Human Rights in the Media Project Learning Report 2018-2019
A 2 page summary of some things the Consortium learned from a project titled ‘Building a Human Rights Approach in Scotland, funded by Network for Social Change. This project piloted a communications network around human rights in Scotland, including providing training and peer networking workshops.
If you have resources or links that you would like to add to this page, please get in touch at hrcscotland@gmail.com