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Here are the activists at risk for defending them.

When members of Juan Francisco Martínez’s community found his body in January 2015, his body bore marks of torture. One of his hands was still tied with what appeared to be laces from military boots.

Juan, a human rights defender and indigenous Lenca man from Honduras, was found on 5 January 2015 in the village of Tapuyman in the Santa Elena Municipality of La Paz, Honduras. He had been killed the day before.

Search and Rescue organisations patrolling the Libyan coasts have saved thousands of lives that European border policies left to perish.

Despite their life-saving work, the employees and volunteers of these NGOs are routinely accused of colluding with traffickers and helping immigrants to illegally enter Europe.

All over the world, women defend the rights of individuals and communities facing oppression, discrimination and violence. Their work is powerful, and controversial. And it often meets with bitter, and violent, opposition.

Most women human rights defenders (WHRDs) are well aware of the risks they face. Activists know, from painful experience, the price that many pay for putting their bodies, and their families, on the line.

The Front Line Defenders 2015 Annual Report, Human Rights Defenders, Lives in the Balance, examines in detail the deteriorating situation for human rights defenders (HRDs) around the world, in the period January – December 2014.

Many companies now realise that wherever they operate, their ultimate licence to operate comes not only from legal agreements with governments, but also from their acceptance by workers, consumers, and the communities that surround them or are impacted by them. It does not mean that every company has got it right; nor does it mean it is always the fault of companies. In many instances, governments keen to build infrastructure, attract investment, or develop the economy are willing to disregard the views of communities, the rights of workers, or of consumers.

Introduction

In November 2015, at the Eighth Dublin Platform for Human Rights Defenders, Front Line Defenders (FLD) asked human rights defenders (HRDs) from across Asia, Africa, Americas, Europe and the Middle East/North Africa to share experiences of living under digital surveillance and the perceived impact this has on their work and lives.