Posts Tagged ‘Human Rights Defenders’

« Older posts
Newer posts »

Amazon: indigenous peoples must have say in anti-crime and environmental policies

July 5, 2025

On 1 July 2025, Raphael Hoetmer and Sofia Jarrín in Amazon Watch report on the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, staying that governments and UNODC must include Indigenous Peoples in anti-crime and environmental policies

Organized crime now dominates 70% of Amazonian municipalities across Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. Networks of illicit economies – or “Amazon Crime” – have diversified and expanded the territorial control and political power of criminal gangs, posing existential threats to biodiversity, ecological integrity, and Indigenous rights across the Amazon, much like in other critical ecosystems worldwide. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2025/02/17/colombia-and-brazil-the-worlds-deadliest-countries-for-environmental-activists/]

For Indigenous communities, these expanding criminal economies mean more than environmental degradation. They are direct assaults on their lives, health, and sovereignty. Illegal activities such as logging, mining, and coca production for international markets contaminate rivers with mercury, destroy food sources, deteriorate health, and displace communities from their ancestral lands. These burgeoning criminal markets, coupled with weak or complicit state institutions, have led Indigenous leaders to warn that criminal groups are increasingly taking over local government structures and exerting territorial control.

This deepening crisis makes the Amazon one of the most dangerous places in the world for environmental defenders. Indigenous organizations often face these threats alone, without adequate support from governments or international institutions. As Indigenous Peoples themselves underscore, these violent criminal economies kill leaders, recruit their youth, and spread fear through their communities…

This year a delegation of Amazonian Indigenous leaders delivered a clear and urgent message: organized crime and illegal economies are devastating the Amazon and threatening the survival of Indigenous Peoples. They called on the Forum to include strong recommendations urging the international community and governments to step up their efforts to support Indigenous territorial governance, protect human rights defenders, and ensure Indigenous Peoples are included in shaping policies to prevent and contain organized crime.

“The Permanent Forum must formally recognize that organized crime and illegal economies such as drug trafficking and illegal mining are an existential threat to our peoples. We must be included in drafting the international protocol on environmental crimes, and protection mechanisms for Indigenous defenders must be created, along with funding for Indigenous-led economic alternatives. If these measures are not taken, ongoing military and police interventions in our territories will continue to put our lives at risk. Without dignified livelihoods, we cannot safeguard our culture or our territories.”

The Permanent Forum’s conclusions this year directly responded to these urgent appeals. Its final document, published earlier this month, presents a wide range of concerns, recommendations, and proposals related to the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, with this session explicitly addressing the impacts and expansion of criminal economies.

In conclusion 87 of the document, the Forum urges governments and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) – the leading global institution on anti-crime policies – to integrate Indigenous Peoples meaningfully into the design and implementation of anti-crime and security strategies. This recommendation is particularly relevant in the ongoing process to discuss a new Protocol Against Crimes that Affect the Environment, which must include the voices of Indigenous Peoples – as the principal stewards of global biodiversity and primary victims of the violence tied to these crimes.

The Forum’s conclusions also emphasize the urgent need for the international community and governments to:

  • take necessary measures to ensure the rights, protection, and safety of Indigenous leaders and human rights defenders,
  • end impunity and prosecute those who commit violence against Indigenous Peoples,
  • acknowledge and protect Indigenous women and children from the disproportionate impacts of war and violence on their lives,
  • ensure Indigenous participation in peace negotiations and peace-building processes,
  • assess the impacts of mercury on the health, culture, and livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples under the Minamata Convention,
  • and repair the damage from toxic metals on Indigenous lands and territories, including restoring sites and water sources, with special attention to the severe impact on the health of Indigenous women and children.
Amazon Crime Crisis: U.N. Backs Indigenous Demands

Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , ,

Jasmin Lorch, Senior Researcher at the German Institute of Development and Sustainability, argues for more support to human rights defenders

July 3, 2025

Jasmin Lorch in an article of 25 June 2025 argues that European support to human rights NGOs, critical civil society and free media is not merely a “nice-to-have“. Instead, it directly serves European interests due to the important information function that these civil society actors perform. 

USAID funding cuts have dealt a heavy blow to human rights defenders, critical Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and independent media outlets around the globe. While the damage is hard to quantify exactly, it is clearly huge. For instance, the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy at People in Need estimates that the human rights and media organizations it supports have seen their budgets shrink by 40 to 100% because of the cuts. Based on a USAID fact sheet, meanwhile taken offline, Reporters without Borders (RSF) informed that the dismantling of USAID had affected support to 6,200 journalists, 707 non-state media outlets and 279 civil society organizations (CSOs) working to support free media. The impacts on local civil society are especially pronounced in closed authoritarian contexts where CSOs are both restricted and donor-dependent. In Cambodia, ADHOC, one of the few remaining local human rights organizations, lost 74 percent of its budget and had to close 16 out of its 22 provincial offices. 

As critical CSOs and independent media outlets struggle to find alternative sources of funding, they face another threat to their survival: Major European donors, including Sweden, have cut down on foreign funding as well, citing their own national needs, including the necessity to invest more in defence. Germany, the biggest bilateral donor since the dismantling of USAID, has recently pledged to better integrate its foreign, defence, and development policy and to more closely align development cooperation with its security and economic interests. Accordingly, there is a significant risk that European donors will (further) cut down on funding for critical CSOs and free media as well.

However, European donors should consider that continuing to support human rights defenders, critical NGOs and independent media outlets is in their own interest. 

Notably, these civil society actors serve an important information function. By furnishing insights into human rights abuses, governance deficits and patterns of corruption, they provide European (as well as other) governments with a better understanding of political developments, power relations and regime dynamics in their partner countries, thereby enhancing the predictability of security and economic partnerships. Authoritarian governments. in particular, restrict the free flow of information, while, concurrently, engaging in propaganda and, at times, strategic disinformation. Consequently, European foreign, economic and security policy towards these governments routinely suffers from severe information deficits, including the existence of numerous “unknown unknowns”. To compensate for this weakness, country assessments and expert opinions used by foreign, development, and defence ministries in Europe to devise policy approaches towards non-democratic partner countries often include information provided by independent media outlets, human rights or anti-corruption NGOs. Similarly, European embassies in authoritarian countries frequently draw on the reports and documentations accomplished by local human rights NGOs. 

In some cases, the information provided by critical NGOs, human rights defenders and independent media outlets – both local and transnational – is highly economically and security relevant, for instance when it serves to unearth patterns of transnational crime. The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), an investigative journalist network, which also has a media development branch and was heavily affected by the USAID funding cuts, for instance, contributed to the Panama Papers that disclosed the secretive use of offshore tax havens. A recent report named Policies and Patterns. State-Abetted Transnational Crime in Cambodia as a Global Security Threat draws on interviews with journalists and civil society representatives. While expressing disappointment with the ineffectiveness of large parts of the aid community and big counter-trafficking NGOs in addressing the problem, it emphasizes that 

“the ‘local civil society’ community — grassroots volunteer response networks, human rights defenders, and independent media —have been and remain the lynchpin of an embattled response. These heavily repressed and poorly funded groups have been and remain the primary source of available evidence on the lead perpetrators, their networks, and their modes of operation” (quote on p.3). 

…The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) emphasizes that “human rights violations, particularly when widespread and systematic, can serve as indicators of an increased risk of conflict, violence or instability“. Accordingly, it emphasizes the potential of United Nations (UN) human rights mechanisms to contribute to crisis prevention. Human rights NGOs and other CSOs provide important inputs into the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the UN Human Rights Council and other UN human rights mechanisms. ..

Last but not least, establishing partnerships with human rights defenders and critical NGOs also allows European countries to expand their social and political alliances in their partner countries, a diversification that can be highly useful in times of political uncertainty and change. ..

Support to human rights NGOs, other critical CSOs and free media constitutes an important contribution to democracy and pluralism. However, it also benefits European economic and security interests by enhancing the knowledge base on which European governments can draw when constructing their international alliances. European governments already use the information provided by these civil society actors in various ways, so they should continue providing diplomatic support, solidarity, and resources to them. Moreover, partnerships with human rights, media, and other civil society representatives provide European governments with an important possibility to diversify their international partnerships. 

Against this backdrop, European support to these civil society actors is not a “nice-to-have” that can easily be dispensed with when funding gets more scarce. It is an important element in ensuring the predictability and reliability of European foreign relations. 

https://www.globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/25/06/2025/no-nice-have-european-support-critical-civil-society-and-free-media

Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, OHCHR | Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Common Good Cyber Fund Launched

June 30, 2025

The Internet Society (ISOC) and Global Cyber Alliance (GCA), on behalf of the Common Good Cyber secretariat, today announced on 23 June 2025 the launch of the Common Good Cyber Fund, an initiative to strengthen global cybersecurity by supporting nonprofits that deliver core cybersecurity services that protect civil society actors and the Internet as a whole.

This first-of-its-kind effort to fund cybersecurity for the common good—for everyone, including those at the greatest risk—has the potential to fundamentally improve cybersecurity for billions of people around the world. The Common Good Cyber secretariat members working to address this challenge are: Global Cyber Alliance, Cyber Threat Alliance, CyberPeace Institute, Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams, Global Forum on Cyber Expertise, Institute for Security and Technology, and Shadowserver Foundation.

In a Joint Statement Between the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Prime Minister of Canada on 15 June, 2025, the Prime Ministers announced that they would both invest in the Joint Canada-UK Common Good Cyber Fund. On 17 June, during the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Alberta, Canada, all the G7 Leaders announced that they would support initiatives like the Canada-UK Common Good Cyber Fund to aid members of civil society who are actively working to counter the threat of transnational repression. See G7 Leaders’ Statement on Transnational Repression.

The Fund is a milestone in advancing Common Good Cyber, a global initiative led by the Global Cyber Alliance, to create sustainable funding models for the organizations and individuals working to keep the Internet safe. 

Despite serving as a critical frontline defense for the security of the Internet, cybersecurity nonprofits remain severely underfunded—exposing millions of users, including journalists, human rights defenders, and other civil society groups. This underfunding also leaves the wider public exposed to increasingly frequent and sophisticated cyber threats.

Common Good Cyber represents a pivotal step toward a stronger, more inclusive cybersecurity ecosystem. By increasing the resilience and long-term sustainability of nonprofits working in cybersecurity, improving access to trusted services for civil society organizations and human rights defenders, and encouraging greater adoption of best practices and security-by-design principles, the Common Good Cyber Fund ultimately helps protect and empower all Internet users.”Philip Reitinger, President and CEO, Global Cyber Alliance

The fund will support nonprofits that:

  • Maintain and secure core digital infrastructure, including DNS, routing, and threat intelligence systems for the public good;
  • Deliver cybersecurity assistance to high-risk actors through training, rapid incident response, and free-to-use tools

These future beneficiaries support the Internet by enabling secure operations and supplying global threat intelligence. They shield civil society from cyber threats through direct, expert intervention and elevate the security baseline for the entire ecosystem by supporting the “invisible infrastructure” on which civil society depends.

The Fund will operate through a collaborative structure. The Internet Society will manage the fund, and a representative and expert advisory board will provide strategic guidance.. Acting on behalf of the Common Good Cyber Secretariat, the Global Cyber Alliance will lead the Fund’s Strategic Advisory Committee and, with the other Secretariat members, engage in educational advocacy and outreach within the broader cybersecurity ecosystem.

The Common Good Cyber Fund is a global commitment to safeguard the digital frontlines, enabling local resilience and long-term digital sustainability. By supporting nonprofits advancing cybersecurity through tools, solutions, and platforms, the Fund builds a safer Internet that works for everyone, everywhere.

The Internet Society and the Global Cyber Alliance are finalizing the Fund’s legal and logistical framework. More information about the funding will be shared in the coming months.

Common Good Cyber Fund Launches to Strengthen Internet Security Globally

Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The 46/2 Collective demands protection of Nicaraguan opponents exiled in Costa Rica

June 30, 2025

ISHR and the Colectivo 46/2 condemn the assassination of opposition leader Samcam Ruìz by the Nicaraguan Government.

In the joint letter published on 23 June 2025 The 46/2 Collective denounces to the international community the assassination of retired Nicaraguan Army Major Roberto Samcam Ruíz, which took place on 19 June in his home in San José, Costa Rica.

Samcam Ruíz was a strong voice of denunciation against the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship, denouncing the Nicaraguan army and pointing it out as a participant in the repression and extrajudicial executions committed since 2018. He had also denounced an espionage network against opposition refugees in Costa Rica.

The retired major was one of the 94 Nicaraguans denationalised in February 2023 by the dictatorship and since 11 July 2018 had been a refugee in Costa Rica due to persecution and criminalisation by the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. He obtained Spanish nationality on 26 July 2023.

The assassination of the former retired military officer is not the first attack against opponents on Costa Rican soil.  In 2023, opposition member Joao Maldonado and his wife were shot at with the clear intention of killing them. Maldonado had already suffered another attack in 2021, also in San José, Costa Rica. In 2022, the Nicaraguan opposition leader Rodolfo Rojas was found dead in Honduras. According to relatives, he had been lured to Honduras from Costa Rica, where he had gone into exile. To the list must be added the murder of another refugee, Jaime Luis Ortega, in 2024, in Upala, a canton on the border with Nicaragua. Following these events, Roberto Samcam had spoken to the press, pointing out the direct involvement of the Ortega Murillo regime and indicating that he knew that his life was at risk.

Although the investigations into Samcam’s murder are ongoing, the circumstances of the murder and the profile of the victim raise strong suspicions that it may be a political crime with possible transnational links. This murder takes place in a context in which various human rights organisations have been documenting a sustained pattern of surveillance, threats, harassment and acts of intimidation directed against Nicaraguans in exile in the region, especially in Costa Rica.

We consider that this crime should be analysed and investigated as part of a broader strategy of transnational repression promoted by the Nicaraguan regime to persecute and silence dissent outside its borders, in open violation of the human rights of refugees and exiles. This transnational repression has been documented by the Group of Experts on Human Rights in Nicaragua (GHREN), who have pointed out that ‘The Government’s repressive actions transcend the country’s borders and affect people who are opponents or perceived as such abroad. The government has also continued to target family members of opponents inside Nicaragua, including children, by mere association, as a way of punishing opponents and/or deterring them from speaking out wherever they are’.

Given the gravity of this crime and the sustained pattern of transnational repression against exiled Nicaraguans, we urgently call on the international community to demand that the Nicaraguan State immediately cease all forms of persecution, surveillance and violence against dissidents in exile. We also request that the international community strengthen political, technical and financial support for the protection mechanisms for human rights defenders in exile. We also urge the establishment of bilateral or multilateral channels of communication with the host countries of Nicaraguans in order to assess the security situation and articulate preventive responses to possible acts of transnational persecution. Finally, we call on international human rights bodies to urgently follow up on these cases as part of a systematic pattern of cross-border repression, and to ensure justice and truth for the victims.

Signatories:

  • Collective Nicaragua Never Again
  • Centre for International Law and Justice – CEJIL
  • International Federation for Human Rights – FIDH
  • International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights
  • Autonomous Women’s Movement – MAM
  • World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
  • Peace Brigades International – PBI
  • International Network on Human Rights Europe – RIDHE
  • Legal Defence, Registry and Memory Unit – UDJUDR
  • Open ballot boxes
  • International Service for Human Rights – ISHR

Additional information:

The 46/2 Collective is a coalition of 19 international, regional and Nicaraguan human rights organisations that regularly informs the international community about the lack of action by the Nicaraguan regime to meet its international human rights obligations.  

https://ishr.ch/latest-updates/the-international-community-must-act-to-protect-nicaraguan-opponents-in-exile-in-costa-rica

Posted in human rights, ISHR | Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The 2026 Marianne Initiative for Human Rights Defenders open for applications

June 26, 2025
marianne-initiative-2023
Opportunities For Africans

Applications are now open for the 2026 Marianne Initiative for Human Rights Defenders. The Marianne Initiative for Human Rights Defenders aims to better help Human Rights Defenders in their fight


As part of the organization of the 9th World Congress against the Death Penalty in Paris in the summer of 2026, particular attention will be paid to applications relating to this theme. However, the other areas of human rights covered by this call for applications remain fully eligible.

You are committed to the promotion and defence of human rights in your country:

  • You are a human rights defender in the sense recognised by the United Nations, adult and of non-French nationality, regardless of your placeof residence;
  • You can provide document(s)/evidence, produced by others (recommendations, press articles, etc.), attesting to your commitment/action in favour of human rights;
  • You can justify that participation in the Marianne Initiative’s French aid programme will strengthen your capacity for human rights action in your country and internationally, and that it will enable you to create or develop existing or planned links or projects with French organisations;
  • You possess a valid passport (with a validity of at least six months) or you are willing to follow the procedures to obtain one;
  • You are not subject to any legal ban on leaving your territory;
  • You are willing to travel to France from February to June 2026.

Benefits

  • The program in France provides individual accommodation near Paris, a monthly grant to meet daily needs, a training program, individualized support and networking with human rights players for a period of 4 months (from February to June 2026). The program does not provide support beyond the 4-month period.

Application Deadline:  6th July 2025. You can apply online to be part of the 2026 class of the Marianne initiative through the link below:

Application form – Marianne Initiative for Human Rights Defenders – Class of 2026 (February-June)

Applications do not need to be sent to the Embassy, but should be submitted directly using the procedure indicated above. However, if you have any questions, you may send an email to: amelle.abdallahi@diplomatie.gouv.fr.

see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2024/06/04/the-marianne-initiative-for-human-rights-defenders/

Your application will include the documents listed in the application form. It will be in either French or English.

Visit the Official Webpage of the Marianne Initiative for Human Rights Defenders

Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

10th anniversary Project Galileo: Protecting Human Rights Defenders Online

June 23, 2025

Project Galileo celebrated its 10th anniversary with two distinguished panels hosted by the NED (National Endowment for Democracy).

These conversations highlight the future of the Internet and Internet freedom. The panels explored recent U.S. State Department efforts on Internet freedom; the role the private sector plays in helping effectuate the U.S. vision of Internet freedom with efforts like Project Galileo; the current challenges associated with authoritarian government’s influence on Internet standards, governance, and international development. The discussions also touched on the role policy plays, both in the United States and globally, in efforts to protect the Internet; what the U.S. and other rights-respecting nations stand to lose if the open Internet is diminished; and how all stakeholders (private sector, civil society, governments) can work together to protect and advance the free and open Internet.

Moderator

  • Alissa Starzak, Head of Policy, Cloudflare

Panelists

  • Jennifer Brody, Deputy Director of Policy and Advocacy for Technology and Democracy, Freedom House
  • Emily Skahill, Cyber Operations Planner, Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC), Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
  • Adrien Ogée, Chief Operations Officer, CyberPeace Institute

Learn more about Project Galileo:

https://cloudflare.tv/event/project-galileo-presents-protecting-human-rights-defenders-online/jvPdy5vz

Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , ,

EyeWitness to Atrocities: a Decade of Capturing Crimes

June 16, 2025

Mirage news of 14 June 2025 comes with an interesting assessment of eyeWitness to Atrocities (eyeWitness) which marks its tenth anniversary. The International Bar Association (IBA) applauds the work of the pioneering initiative it founded in 2015. The launch of the eyeWitness to Atrocities app for Android phones has harnessed the power of technology in the global fight for justice. The tamper-proof photo, video and audio footage captured using the eyeWitness app, and securely stored by IBA partner LexisNexis , meets the strict evidentiary criteria required to be admissible as evidence in legal proceedings.

Jaime Carey, President of the International Bar Association, stated: ‘As we mark a decade of eyeWitness to Atrocities, we celebrate ten years at the intersection of technology, law, and human rights. .. As President of the IBA, I am proud of our member organisations that have dedicated vast amounts of pro bono work analysing footage captured using the app and I reaffirm IBA support for this vital work and its enduring impact on the global pursuit of justice.’

Mark Ellis, Executive Director of the IBA, added: ‘Footage captured with the eyeWitness to Atrocities app is invaluable in securing justice and bridging the gap between activists and the law. By ensuring that visual evidence is authenticated, the app transforms raw documentation into legally admissible proof. In a world where impunity often thrives in the absence of credible evidence, eyeWitness plays a critical role in bringing truth to light and ensuring that justice is not just a distant ideal, but a real possibility.’

Over the past decade, the eyeWitness app has become an essential tool for human rights defenders, journalists and civil society organisations documenting grave human rights violations and atrocity crimes around the world. Key achievements include:

  • more than 85,000 photos, videos and audio recordings captured using the app;
  • more than 900 training sessions delivered globally, including in active conflict zones;
  • more than 55,000 hours spent reviewing visual evidence;
  • over 104 legal dossiers prepared and submitted to international accountability mechanisms, including United Nations bodies and the International Criminal Court

The impact of eyeWitness has been extensive. The content captured has contributed to numerous cases and reports globally, including:

Carrie Bowker, Director of eyeWitness to Atrocities, commented: ‘The path from documentation to justice is not always straightforward, and as we mark this milestone, we are deeply grateful to the courageous documenters capturing critical evidence of atrocity crimes, to the law firms that provide invaluable pro bono support and to LexisNexis for securely storing footage captured with the app. We aim to continue connecting frontline documenters with legal and investigative bodies that can act on the evidence they collect.’

In a 2023 outcome report the eyeWitness organisation highlighted areas of work including significant footage collection; increased and strengthened partnerships with global human rights organisations dedicated to active documentation for accountability; and expanded pro bono assistance in reviewing and analysing collected footage.

https://www.miragenews.com/eyewitness-to-atrocities-decade-of-capturing-1477953/

Posted in films, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

16 June side event: Human Rights Defenders’ voices on reforming the UN human rights system

June 12, 2025

This event will take place on 16 June 2025, from 1:00PM – 2:00PM CEST, in Room XXV, of the Palais des Nations in Geneva Add to calendar pdf Download event flyer

In the face of the triple planetary environmental crisis, of conflict, genocide and apartheid, of the consolidation of authoritarian ideologies and narratives around the globe, and the erosion of the rule of law as well as the closing of civic space, never have we needed a robust international human rights system so badly.

But the UN human rights system is in crisis. As essential users and actors of the system, human rights defenders’ views are valuable. The event provides a space to be hearing directly from them not only about why they need an effective, efficient, responsive UN human rights system to support their activism especially in the current context, but also about the ways in which the UN system needs to grow, evolve, adapt and reform itself to deal with the crisis of credibility and legitimacy it is currently facing.

Panelists:

  • Laura Restrepo, Committee for Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP) & FDSS, Colombia
  • Mariama Jumie Bah , Human Rights Defenders Network Sierra Leone
  • Elena Petrovska , LGBTI Equal Rights Association (ERA), Western Balkans/Turkey
  • Douglas Javier Juárez Dávila, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Guatemala

Moderator: Pooja Patel, Deputy Director, ISHR

RSVP Needed: no – Location: Physical

https://ishr.ch/events/defenders-voices-on-reforming-the-un-human-rights-system

https://ishr.ch/latest-updates/hopes-and-expectations-of-human-rights-defenders-on-the-reform-of-the-un-human-rights-system

Posted in human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR | Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Brasil may be getting a National Marielle Franco Day for human rights defenders.

June 9, 2025

Rio de Janeiro (RJ), 27/07/2023 - Exposição de fotos marca o lançamento da fotobiografia que conta a trajetória de Marielle Franco, no Centro de Artes da Maré. Foto: Fernando Frazão/Agência Brasil
© Fernando Frazão/Agência Brasil

The Brazilian lower house on Monday (26 May 2025) approved a bill establishing the National Marielle Franco Day for Human Rights Advocates. The date established is March 14—the day the Rio de Janeiro councilwoman and her driver Anderson Gomes were murdered in 2018 after leaving an event. The text will now be considered by the Senate.

In addition to celebrating the work of human rights activists, the document stipulates that public and private entities will be able to use the week in which the date falls to promote initiatives to value and protect human rights defenders. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2019/03/13/marielle-franco-one-year-after-her-killing-in-rio/]

Among the actions listed are promoting the public debate on the role of human rights defenders; encouraging the participation of women, black people, indigenous people, and other historically marginalized groups in decision-making processes; and spreading the word about both Brazilian and international protection mechanisms for advocates.

The bill was drawn up by former Representative David Miranda, who died in 2023, as well as other PSOL members. The proposal’s rapporteur, Representative Benedita da Silva, of the PT, said that institutional recognition of the role of human rights defenders helps strengthen Brazilian democracy as it values individuals who have fought for the enforcement of fundamental rights.

“By establishing a date of recognition and remembrance, the bill not only pays tribute to Marielle [Franco] and so many others, but also raises national awareness about the importance of guaranteeing the physical, psychological, and political integrity of these individuals,” the rapporteur said.

“The creation of the National Human Rights Defenders’ Day acts as a symbolic and political gesture to reaffirm the Brazilian state’s commitment to the principle of human dignity and respect for public liberties—essential elements of any democratic state governed by the rule of law,” she concluded.

The representative also noted that the date is already a landmark of resistance and remembrance in different parts of Brazil. The legislative assemblies of the states of Pará, Paraíba, and Pernambuco have approved similar proposals, as has the Porto Alegre City Council.

In Rio de Janeiro, the Legislative Assembly established the Marielle Franco Human Rights Award in 2021 as a permanent way of recognizing initiatives aligned with the agendas that marked her political work—such as the rights of black women, LGBTQIA+ people, favela residents, and human rights activists.

In São Paulo, the city council also created the Marielle Franco Human Rights Award in 2023, which is already in its second edition and in 2025 honored historic leaders from the outskirts of the city, like Dona Olga Quiroga.

https://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/en/direitos-humanos/noticia/2025-05/lower-house-approves-marielle-franco-day-human-rights-advocates

Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , ,

Reflection on Amnesty International at 64

June 8, 2025

by Paul O’Brien is AIUSA’s Executive Director

On May 28, 1961 -64 years ago today – a British lawyer named Peter Benenson penned a letter for the Observer newspaper in the UK launching the “Appeal for Amnesty 1961,” a campaign calling for the release of people imprisoned around the world because of the peaceful expression of their beliefs. This movement galvanized into what is now Amnesty International, an organization founded on the idea that ordinary people around the world could protect human rights by coming together to take action on behalf of others.

Sixty-four years later, Amnesty is a worldwide movement for human rights with a collective power of 10 million people, each one committed to fighting for justice, equality and freedom everywhere.

Today, Amnesty is needed more than ever to confront a backlash against human rights and increasing authoritarian practices, including right here in the United States.

As a global movement, we have—and continue to—show up in solidarity for communities and across issues and geographies. Caring, compassionate people have powered our movement for decades as we’ve shined a light on injustice and defended human rights. We will raise the political cost of authoritarian practices through direct advocacy, constituent pressure on Congress and other leaders to use their power in the defense of human rights, and other impactful campaigning efforts……

As we mark our anniversary, we are recommitting to our efforts to champion and protect human rights, here in the United States, and around the world.

12 tips from Amnesty International leaders around the world:

  1. Fight hard against early attacks against individuals and institutions, and ask, “If we lose now, who will they come for next.”
  2. Watch for new government agencies and data collection designed for repression. Leaders who embrace authoritarian tactics create “lists” to target effective activists, often using social media. Surveillance is a red flag.
  3. Elections are dangerous flashpoints for accelerators of repression. Crackdowns and laws passed to restrict civic space often spike pre-elections.
  4. Resist the legal system being weaponized. Governments will use trumped up charges, long pretrial detentions and lengthy trials to sideline activists, denying bail and delaying appeals.
  5. Read new “unrelated” laws carefully with an eye on civic space and freedom of expression. Not every attack on rights will be direct and obvious.
  6. Be ready for fake “facts” and smear campaigns to paint human rights defenders as corrupt or criminal. How are you going to get the truth out quickly and widely?
  7. Catch repressive legislative drafts early and fight back hard and publicly. And don’t stop until bills are dead and won’t come back.
  8. Stay inspired about a pro-rights future, but create strategies and stay ready for worsening anti-rights scenarios.
  9. Public narrative matters. Anti-rights actors will reframe human rights as threats, to shrink civic space. Don’t let them. Resist and frame a public narrative that speech, protest and assembly are essential to defend all the other rights.
  10. Protect yourself, your wellbeing and your safety. Threats come in many forms and will be experienced differently by each activist. Do what is right for you.
  11. Be a good partner. Solidarity wins. Build coalitions, share resources, lean on allies and let them lean on you.
  12. Keep an eye on other contexts. Repressive leaders learn from each other. Human rights activists need to do the same.

From Hungary to China to Venezuela, and anywhere else leaders think they can act with impunity—we have fought back at every turn.

https://www.amnestyusa.org/blog/fighting-bad-guys-for-64-years-and-counting/

Posted in AI, Amnesty international, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , ,

« Older posts
Newer posts »