What We Do – Overview Of Our Work.
Strategic litigation, taking cases to court that will set legal precedents or have a positive impact for individuals or communities beyond those affected by the immediate case.
Documentation of the Punjab story is vital to justice both in the legal sense and in terms of historical record. Documents are a means of verification; they affect how those that were not witness to those records perceive matters and also how those affected are made to feel. Collecting and organising information and documenting the sequences of events and evidence to support criminal prosecutions are labour intensive, but are critical to the work that we do.
Advocacy and awareness through on-line, broadcast and print media; PDAP issues press releases and holds conferences on important human rights developments in India. We also circulate information through our network of contacts, on social media and by convening and participating in conferences and Independent People’s Tribunals (IPTs). Know more.
Sustainable partnerships with the communities affected by human rights issues, community based organisations (CBOs), and local and national civil society organisations (CSOs). While PDAP is primarily concerned with the enforced disappearances in the Punjab, we collaborate with and support like-minded organisations, working on similar issues across the whole of India.
Sharing knowledge with lawyers, activists and communities. PDAP has acquired a broad spectrum of knowledge in the course of the project, we have pioneered indigenous documentation with our researchers understanding the complex regional, cultural, religious context of mass state violence and the need for impartial and objective data collection and retention. We are committed to contributing to the capacity-building of the human rights community in India as well as internationally and to continue to develop skills and capacity within our own organisation.