Influence on the Ground

Liam Mahony and Roger Nash are proud to announce the release of their new book:

  
Influence on the Ground: Understanding and strengthening the protection impact of United Nations human rights field presences.   


The deployment of human rights officers in the field is one of the most important tools the United Nations has to protect human rights. But the role and power of these human rights field presences are often misunderstood, oversimplified and underestimated.

The stereotype of human rights field officers simply collecting data and writing reports is outdated and incomplete. Instead, much human rights fieldwork is intended to directly foster change in-country.

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Working close to where abuses happen, human rights field officers create local strategies to influence national dynamics through nuanced advocacy strategies and strategically designed problem-solving support to state and civil society actors.

Drawing on hundreds of field-based interviews, Influence on the Ground presents a uniquely nuanced vision of field protection. It highlights the strengths and challenges of current practice, and uncovers the essence of what makes a human rights field presence effective. With new analytical frameworks and recommendations for policy changes, it will be an invaluable resource for field workers, managers, policy-makers and all others interested in the crucial challenge of human rights protection on the ground.


Download or buy a copy
The physical book is available for purchase from this page. The pdf can be downloaded free of charge here (or with an alternative layout for printing here).

Influence on the Ground is based on four field studies of UN human rights work in Colombia, Nepal, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These case studies are available here in pdf form: 

Additional information