Geneva – A new strategic plan for January 2023 to December 2027 has been adopted by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, building on the organisation’s previous strategic plan and its currently implemented programmes, which aim to turn victims of human rights violations from passive recipients of aid into active human rights defenders.

Euro-Med Monitor sets its priorities and strategic objectives by identifying the needs of its target groups. By clearly defining its strategic framework, the organisation demonstrates its commitment to its objectives, and ensures consistency across all operations. Key to Euro-Med Monitor’s strategy is the training of young people in societies where human rights violations are widespread—either as members of its team, or as direct beneficiaries who participate in decision-making processes and determine the organisation’s priorities.

The recently developed framework and mechanisms being put in place are designed to continue the urgent work of addressing the needs of target groups, and were identified through a series of workshops during which the organisation’s senior management and board of directors worked with consultants in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa to discuss priorities and develop an action plan for the next five years.

“One of the key strategies of Euro-Med Monitor’s work is to involve its target groups in the process of defending their own rights and to enable victims to empower themselves and their communities, as well as to transform these victims from passive recipients of support into active human rights defenders,” said Ramy Abdu, Chairman of Euro-Med Monitor.

He noted that the strategy stems from the firm belief that victims should be heavily involved in decision-making, particularly when their needs are typically determined by parties who choose not to involve them. “Victims are not only involved in the organisation’s priority-setting work and all of its activities, but in the implementation process; this explains why victims or survivors of human rights violations make up about 70 per cent of [our] staff and volunteers,” Abdu said.

Since its establishment in 2011, Euro-Med Monitor has developed and refined a unique work philosophy based on three components: involving target groups in setting priorities, relying on youths and volunteers as essential team members, and focusing on work in Europe with the aim of influencing decision-making mechanisms there to serve the objectives that the organisation sets for itself. Euro-Med Monitor has successfully brought about real change on the ground in many cases, as evidenced by the response of concerned authorities, decision-makers, and governments to pressure it applied on them to improve policies or confront crises in other ways that ensure the rights of marginalised people—namely, victims of rights violations and other affected individuals—are protected.