16.7 Million Thanks – Keeping More Dictators Awake at Night!
The Swedish Postcode Lottery supports Civil Rights Defenders with SEK 16.7 million for the project “KEEPING DICTATORS AWAKE AT NIGHT – how a lottery service can keep a dictator sleepless at night”. This support enables us to hold some of the world’s foremost oppressors accountable for their human rights violations.
When the Postcode Lottery started its ‘Dream Fund’ about a year ago, they asked civil society to think big. “What do you dream of doing but lack the funding for?” Our dream is that those responsible for grave human rights violations – torture, genocide, homosexual retraining camps, the list can be made long – should not go free but be held accountable.
Just as we did with 25 high-ranking members of the Syrian Intelligence Services, military institutions and military police from Syria’s security service in February 2019, through the law, we want to give redress to those violated, or to relatives to those who lost their lives due to the abuses.
Thanks to the Postcode Lottery’s support, we will now during four years be able to build a long-term sustainable process, from violation to arrest warrant.
We will:
- Create conditions for local human rights defenders to be able to pursue this type of process together with us in order to turn repression into justice. They are the eyes and ears on the ground and must be able to collect useful evidence in a safe way. Our unique network of the world’s most vulnerable human rights defenders and collaborations with other organisations enables us to get in touch with victims and witnesses of serious human rights violations.
- Collect and store evidence that holds up in court. For example, mobile phones, pictures, digital communication, mappings of organisational structures, and testimonies. Also, DNA traces from torture, sexual violence or rape. We will work with actors who can complement our legal expertise when we build secure methods of collecting and storing evidence to ensure that they are ready when the trial begins.
- Pursue the legal processes to ensure that no one escapes the law.
The goal is to have reported 20 cases per year in 2024, directed at some of the world’s foremost oppressors. Also, to have collected enough evidence and resources to be able to continue the work.
