Shelter City - Support Centres

Shelter City is a nationwide initiative of Justice and Peace Netherlands to protect human rights defenders, in cooperation with a growing number of Dutch cities and local organizations.

Human rights defenders defend the rights of themselves and of others. Through their work they play an important role in the promotion of democratic values, political freedoms, and civil rights. This is a challenging and dangerous fight: they are often silenced, threatened, arrested, tortured and sometimes they disappear.

Justice and Peace established Shelter City in 2012 on the request of their network of international human rights defenders. After the first Shelter City in The Hague, Middelburg joined in 2014, followed by Nijmegen, Maastricht, Utrecht, and Amsterdam in 2015, Tilburg and Groningen in 2016 and Zwolle and Haarlem in 2017. In 2018 Deventer also joined the Shelter City network. Rotterdam followed in 2020. Tbilisi & Batumi (Georgia), Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania), Cotonou (Benin) and San José (Costa Rica) have joined the network as International Shelter City Hubs. The expectation is that other cities (in or outside the Netherlands) will join in the future as well. The growing number of applications from Human Rights Defenders under threat shows that new Shelter Cities are strongly needed.

In every Shelter City the municipality, local organizations, universities, and Justice and Peace provide the shelter and take care of the program for the human rights defender. Together with the human rights defenders they organize meetings and workshops that contribute to the raising of awareness about human rights issues among the inhabitants of the Shelter Cities.

Shelter City is affiliated with the EU Human Rights Defenders Relocation Platform

Netherlands: Journalists’ safety increasingly under attack - Article

The European Federation of Journalists is concerned by the situation and calls on the authorities to do the utmost to protect journalists and investigate all attacks

Safety of Journalists and the Fighting of Corruption in the EU - Reports

A study commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the LIBE Committee (Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs) examines the chilling effect of crimes and threats against media workers, exploring regulatory and other measures to counter the phenomenon

Safety of Journalists: Recommendations to the UK Government - Article

The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) outlines examples of good practice from across EU Member States and Candidate caountries that can be incorporated into the approach of the UK National Committee and Action Paln for the Safety of Journalists. Here the full text

Press Cartoonists in Europe must be protected - Article

Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners call for press cartoonists to be protected to ensure they can realise their right to free expression across Europe

Last Despatches - Monitoring tool

BIRN’s Last Despatches series tells the stories of some of the reporters killed during and after the 1990s war in the Balkans, and highlights how attempts to secure justice for them have not yet succeeded

Democracy at Risk: Threats and Attacks Against Media Freedom in Europe. Annual Report 2019 - Reports

This 2019 Annual Report by 12 Council of Europe partner organisations portrays the situation of the media environment in Europe, highlighting its most problematic aspects and their causes. It also provides an in-depth look into particular issues or countries and recommendations to ensure a better media environment

Journalists: The bête noire of organized crime - Reports

Reporters Without Borders released a compelling collection of case studies and interviews with journalists threatened by mafias and criminal groups worldwide

Demonising the media: Threats to journalists in Europe - Reports

The report surveys over 3,000 media freedom incidents documented by Index on Censorship’s “Mapping Media Freedom” (MMF) project since May 2014 with a view to outlining key trends and categories

Monitoring Media Pluralism in Europe: Application of the Media Pluralism Monitor 2016 in the European Union, Montenegro and Turkey - Monitoring tool

The 2016 report by the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom raises significant concern for media pluralism in the 28 European Union member states under examination and in two candidate states, Montenegro and Turkey