Jolovan Wham
HRD
Jolovan Wham is a human rights defender who has also spoken out to defend LGBTI rights and has worked with other members of civil society to highlight issues related to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.
In contrast with Singapore's reputation as a successful economic hub, human rights defenders face lawsuits, fines, arrest and detention, and travel bans as a result of their legitimate work. Singapore has an extremely strict criminal defamation law, under which even those indirectly involved in producing an allegedly libelous article can be sued; printers, news vendors, authors and editors are all susceptible to charges.
