Zika, Women's Health and WHRDs
Across the Americas, government responses to the Zika crisis revealed highly gendered approaches to public health. Authorities tend to place significant responsibility on women living with little access to sexual and reproductive rights. HRDs in the region are finding opportunities to open discussions about contraception, education, and access to abortions in the face of Zika, but continue to face opposition from conservative institutions, including the Church, in their fight for rights.
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Front Line Defenders in Action
Digital Security
Digital Security in the face of ISIS
Front Line Defenders MENA Digital Security Consultant reports from a city on the frontier of Islamic State territory in Iraq.
In the Field
Burma/Myanmar
Front Line Defenders Asia Protection Coordinator visits Burma/Myanmar as the country prepares to welcome in a civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party.
HRD Spotlight
Zozan Ozgokce, Turkey & Djeralar Miankeol, Chad
Kurdish HRD Zozan Ozgokce talks about women victims of violence while working in a targeted community; while Chadian HRD Djeralar Miankeol explains the challenge of trying to defend human rights of the poor and marginalized.
Grant in Focus
Musa Usman Ndamba, Cameroon
Musa Usman Ndamba is the Vice President of MBOSCUDA (Mbororo Social and Cultural Development Association) and a strong voice for the Mbororos people, a community of indigenous cattle herders in north-western Cameroon, who graze their cattle on communal lands. The Mbororos people are often targeted by powerful landowners and land speculators who engage in acts of intimidation and illegal demolitions as they want to subsume these communal lands for their own commercial gain.
Advocacy
Public Engagement & Advocacy at the European Parliament and UN Human Rights Council
Front Line Defenders leads advocacy efforts to support the security and protection for human rights defenders at key international institutions.
Long-Term Case
David Rabelo Crespo
David Rabelo Crespo has been demanding justice for victims of extra-judicial killings, forced displacement and government corruption in Colombia for more than 30 years. David was detained for a crime he didn't commit and accused of murder. He is currently serving 18 years and three months imprisonment on fabricated charges, following an unfair trial.
Read Articles about Human Rights Defenders in The Guardian, Al-Jazeera, The Huffington Post and other international, national and online publications.
Dictatorship to Democracy - The Role of Human Rights Defenders
The Fourth Annua
l Front Line Defenders Lecture in partnership with University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin will take place at the Royal Irish Academy (RIA), Dawson Street, Dublin 2 on Thursday 28th April at 6:30pm when Czech philosopher, Professor Jan Sokol, will speak on the topic of 'Dictatorship to Democracy - The Role of Human Rights Defenders'.
A former dissident, politician and translator, Professor Sokol was one of the first signatories of Charter 77, a petition drawn up and signed by a number of brave Czechoslovakian writers and intellectuals demanding that the Communist government of Czechoslovakia recognise some basic human rights.
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One World Film Festival - Brussels
The Brussels edition of the One World Film Festival will take place next month, from the 18th to 27th April 2016.
There will be screenings of documentary films across Brussels - at the Czech Representation as well as in the Bozar Centre for Fine Arts, the European Parliament, the Norway House and the Italian Cultural Institute in Brussels.
All films will be followed by debates with experts, human rights defenders and/ or decision-makers focused on the topic of the preceding film and Front Line Defenders will partner with other human rights organisations in Brussels to deliver one of these panel discussions.
The festival programme and more details about these panel discussions will be available on our website in the coming weeks.
Human Rights Defenders are crucial agents of social change. All too often they are the only people willing to take a stand for the rights of their communities.
As restrictive governments throughout the world seek to silence HRDs through persecution, intimidation, public humiliation, and extra-judicial killing, many are at greater risk than ever before.
Help us protect them by making a donation to Front Line Defenders today.
On bank-holiday Monday 6th June, why not join Team FLD as we run, jog, skip and walk the 10km challenge of the VHI Women's Mini Marathon in Dublin City, Ireland – the biggest all women's event of its kind in the world.
Our team will participate in honour of women human rights defenders – the everyday heroes who are bravely fighting for the human rights of others in their communities and who face serious threats because of this peaceful work.
They will pound the streets of Dublin, proudly donning the Front Line Defenders t-shirts, raising awareness about the risks faced by human rights defenders around the world and helping to raise much needed funds to increase their security and protection.
If you would like to be involved, please email michelle@frontlinedfenders.org for more details and to arrange for the delivery of a pack to kick start your preparations.
