Human rights defenders in Inter-American case law

a special status?

Abstract

For several decades, various international organisations have been paying attention to the situation of human rights defenders. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has highlighted the importance of human rights defenders for democratic systems and has insisted on the duty of States to adopt protection measures in their favour. This article deals with three main aspects of this jurisprudence: 1) the definition of the category of human rights defenders; 2) the extension of the rights of this category; 3) reparations ordered in cases of
violations of those rights.