Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders

Background: The Suffragette Spirit Map of Britain is a part of Amnesty’s global BRAVE campaign to champion and protect human rights defenders around the world. Every day, ordinary people from all walks of life – from students to farmers, office workers to street sellers – are doing extraordinary things to protect our human rights. But human rights and the people who defend them are coming under increasing attack – the scale and level of which is now at an alarming rate. In 2016, 281 human rights defenders were killed – and last year is set to be the deadliest year yet. Since the UN Declaration of Human Rights Defenders in 1998, at least 3,500 activists have been killed – an average of 180 deaths a year – and the annual death toll shows no sign of diminishing. There were a number of high profile deaths of women human rights defenders last year including Heather Heyer, who was killed in August in Charlottesville while protesting against a white supremacist rally. [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2017/08/14/human-rights-defender-heather-heyer-murdered-in-protest-against-hate-in-charlottesville/].