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International Advocacy and Litigation
We believe activists and community leaders on the ground are best placed to identify human rights challenges and propose solutions. By supporting human rights defenders and protecting their ability to carry out their work, we can help ensure the enjoyment of human rights by the broader community. RFK Human Rights supports human rights defenders in Africa, Asia and Latin America & the Caribbean by providing technical assistance, connecting them to key decision-makers and influencers, and seeking protection for them when their lives are at risk. We work with them to hold governments accountable for human rights violations and to secure structural changes that protect civic space and ensure equality in law and practice.
Through strategic litigation with partners, we seek landmark decisions before international human rights bodies to bring justice to those wronged and systemic changes that address underlying root causes and prevent future human rights abuses. Our groundbreaking legal actions have tackled issues ranging from violence against women in Mexico and Central America to the violent crackdown on peaceful protests in Zimbabwe. Our program also stands ready to quickly support human rights defenders on the ground who are threatened or arbitrarily detained by obtaining protective measures and other interventions from international human rights bodies.
While working in partnership with civil society organizations across Africa, Latin America, and Asia, we also leverage our global reach to facilitate exchanges and collaboration between human rights defenders and mechanisms from different geographic regions, strengthen local efforts, and protect civic space worldwide.
Our Focus Issues
Civic Space
We collaborate with local, regional, and international partners to hold governments accountable, create lasting legal change, and foster an environment allowing individual and collective actors to speak out, participate in public affairs, organize, protest, and otherwise freely exercise and enjoy their human rights. Through strategic litigation and targeted advocacy, we foster collaboration and dialogue between civil society and key actors and promote cross-pollination of the most protective legal standards and innovative approaches to legal issues. Our partnership model builds on the work of local organizations on the ground by jointly strategizing and litigating cases, supporting their litigation through filing Amicus briefs, and working together to assess, advise, and build their technical capacity. From litigating landmark cases, such as the first case on lethal violence against journalists before the Inter-American Court on Human Rights or a case on the protection for peaceful assembly before the African Commission of Human and Peoples’ Rights, to developing an innovative tool that maps key ongoing judicial cases worldwide, we are committed to protecting and defending civic space and democracy around the world.
Violence and Discrimination
We join forces with defenders on the ground to end violence and discriminatory practices against individuals and peoples based on their racial, ethnic, gender, or sexual identities and expression. From combating gender-based violence in Mexico or Guatemala, and transphobic violence in Honduras to historic policies of exclusion against Dominicans of Haitian Descent or indigenous peoples in Brazil, we use international human rights law to hold governments accountable for their obligations and to promote structural changes to address the root causes.
Accountability for Serious Crimes
We actively seek accountability for the gravest human rights abuses, such as crimes against humanity and genocide. We pursue justice by representing the interests of victims before international bodies and tribunals, including the International Criminal Court and international human rights mechanisms, or by supporting the activation of universal jurisdiction or individual targeted sanctions. Through meticulous documentation of violations and targeted advocacy, we strive to secure justice and redress for those whose rights have been violated, holding both governments and individuals accountable for their actions.
Our Focus Regions
Africa
Collaborating with partners in Africa, we are actively involved in strategic litigation, capacity building and advocacy to foster a thriving civic space as a key enabler of democracy and the rule of law. By directly using and supporting greater effectiveness of human rights mechanisms at regional and sub-regional levels, we contribute to access to justice and facilitate accountability for human rights violations. From supporting the Twitter Ban case in Nigeria, to advancing protection for peaceful protests in Zimbabwe and securing positive decisions in cases of arbitrary detention in Rwanda, Somalia and Egypt, we are committed to standing alongside all stakeholders as we work towards equity, inclusion, and justice in Africa.
Latin America and the Caribbean
We work alongside local organizations and human rights defenders to defend civic space and combat violence, repression, and discrimination in the region. Through strategic litigation and legal advocacy before the Inter-American Human Rights system and the United Nations, we work toward protecting human rights, seeking truth, justice, and redress for victims of human rights violations. From combating gender-based violence in Central America, historic racism against Dominicans of Haitian Descent, and systematic repression against critics in Venezuela and Guatemala to protecting freedom of the press in Colombia and Brazil, our mission is to create a region where justice, dignity, and equality prevail for all.
Asia
We work alongside local and international organizations and human rights defenders to protect civic space and promote accountability for serious human rights violations in South and South East Asia. From advocating for freedom of expression and the right to protest to an end to the use of torture, enforced disappearance, and arbitrary detention, we support international justice efforts.
Our Work
Strategic Litigation
Our litigation is “strategic” because we bring cases that represent broad and/or structural issues, cases in which successful outcomes create positive change throughout society, in addition to the relief delivered to a single client.
Our Voices
Read the latest news coverage, statements, press releases, and staff articles from our team of international human rights lawyers and issue experts.
Reports
Our latest reports offer in-depth documentation and analyses of human rights abuses and action-oriented recommendations to governing human rights mechanisms.
Meet Our Team
Help us protect human rights
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