Know Your Rights

The need for the “Know Your Rights” project grew out of the gap between the rights the law guarantees and people’s knowledge of them and ability to exercise them, especially when summoned for interrogation, arrested, searched or taking part in protests.

In these moments, a person may face procedures they do not understand, under pressure that makes it hard to take an informed decision or to seek legal help in time.

Al-Karama Human Rights Center’s experience accompanying detainees and their families has shown the importance of raising awareness in advance, so that knowledge of rights is available before a violation occurs and helps people deal with it and confront it.

“Know Your Rights” is a community legal-awareness project that aims to provide accurate, accessible knowledge about basic rights and the ways to protect them, and to turn it into practical tools people can use in their daily lives. It covers a person’s rights during detention, arrest and interrogation; the right to legal counsel; dealing with searches and summonses; the rights to protest and to free expression; and how to document violations and seek legal support.

The project relies on seminars and interactive meetings in towns, institutions, and community and student groups, led by lawyers and specialists. They explain legal procedures and discuss real cases and situations participants may face. These meetings make room for questions and for correcting common misconceptions, taking into account the needs of each group and the challenges it faces. They may include released prisoners, to connect legal knowledge with first-hand experience and show what access to a lawyer and an understanding of one’s rights mean during detention.

Through the project, the center seeks to build a rights culture that strengthens the ability of individuals and their families to act with awareness, recognise violations and seek support in time, and that widens society’s responsibility for protecting and defending rights.