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.
114
Countries with serious civic space restrictions
88%
Rate of impunity for crimes of violence against journalists
44 of 180
U.S. ranking in World Press Freedom Index
Tags Share Washington, D.C., May 28, 2025 – Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights today published a new guide that outlines best practices for engaging with the United States government on arbitrary and wrongful detention cases. The guide was created as a practical resource for family members of individuals who are arbitrarily detained overseas. It is…
Tags Share Addressing arbitrary and wrongful detention through advocacy and litigation is an area of extensive expertise and experience for RFK Human Rights. In the last decade, we have worked with families of arbitrarily and wrongfully detained individuals, including US persons, to facilitate their release and return home. A central reflection from our engagements with…
Tags Share NEW YORK, MAY 22, 2025 – Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights today announced the winners of its 2025 RFK Book and Journalism Awards during a virtual ceremony featuring remarks by Kerry Kennedy, Soledad O’Brien, and Margaret “Peggy” Engel. Award winners were honored for their work documenting pressing social issues and human rights abuses.…
Tags Share We strongly condemn the Cameroonian government’s ban on the activities of and sustained attacks against the Network of Human Rights Defenders in Central Africa (REDHAC, by its French acronym), led by RFK Human Rights Award Laureate Maximillienne Ngo Mbe. We call on the government to lift the ban, unseal REDHAC’s offices, and desist…
Tags Share Maine Gov. Janet Mills to Receive Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award Maine Gov. Janet Mills will receive an award from the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. RFK Human Rights announced Thursday that Mills is one of three recipients of its 42nd annual Human Rights Award. The other two are Elizabeth Oyer, a former…
Tags Share At the invitation of UNESCO’s Global Media Defence Fund, RFK Human Rights joined other media freedom stakeholders from around the world to commemorate the 2025 World Press Freedom Day in Brussels, Belgium, from May 5 to 7, 2025. The celebration was organized under the theme Reporting in a Brave New World: The Impact…
Tags Share U.S. Press Freedom Falls to Historical Low Press freedom in the United States has hit a record low, according to the latest World Press Freedom Index published annually by Reporters Without Borders. Press freedom in the U.S. now falls in line with developing countries, such as Gambia, Uruguay and Sierra Leone. While physical threats against journalists…
Tags Share MOGADISHU/WASHINGTON DC – The Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) and RFK Human Rights strongly denounce the trend of attacks on journalists amidst the worsening security environment in Somalia. Somali authorities must uphold their legal obligations to guarantee freedom of expression for journalists and all Somali citizens. In recent months, freedom of the press in…
Sign up to get the latest on the Arusha Initiative and African human rights news. Subscribe to the Justice Roundup newsletter for our advocacy and litigation newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox. Tags Share On March 26, the Arusha Initiative held its second virtual Town Hall. Participants discussed the importance of transparency and accountability within…
Tags Share The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights has granted the request by the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA) and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights (RFK Human Rights) to intervene as amici curiae in the case Ado Shaibu and 5 Others v. United Republic of Tanzania (Application 046/2020). The…
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