Civic Space and Activists
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
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Speech at the Opening of Exhibit on the Emancipation Proclamation at The National Archives in Washington, D.C.
We have had a great deal of talk in this country in the past one hundred years about equality. Deeds, not talk, are what is needed. It is only relatively recently that we as a nation have again gathered our strength, our will, and our determination to act boldly and vigorously to lift from all…
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Statement on Vietnam
Full and informing debate rests upon moderation and mutual indulgence. Men must seek acceptance of their views through reason, and not through intimidation; through argument, and not through accusation.
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Television interview in the WTTG studios of the Metromedia Television Network
As long as we have difficult and complex problems, and as long as there are groups within the United States who feel that there are easy answers
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Statement on Vietnam
Democracy is no easy form of government. Few Nations have been able to sustain it. For it requires that we take the chances of freedom; that the liberating play of reason be brought to bear on events filled with passion; that dissent be allowed to make its appeal for acceptance; that men chance error in…
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Address at the 120th Anniversary Dinner of B’nai B’rith, Chicago, Illinois
We know full well the faults of our democracy—the handicaps of freedom—the inconvenience of dissent. But I know of no American who would not rather be a servant in the imperfect house of Freedom, than be a master of all the empires of tyranny.
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Speech at the Democratic State Committee Dinner, Columbus, Ohio
[The American people] are not going to vote for the Democratic party because things are fine or because they "never had it so good."
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Address Delivered at the Mayor Burns Testimonial, Binghamton, New York
he Democratic Party has had many causes, and called them by many names: the New Freedom of Wilson; the New Deal of Roosevelt; the Fair Deal of Truman; the New Frontier; the Great Society. But all of these programs have had at their heart an active commitment to individual liberty and individual freedom.
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Speech at the Dedication of the John F. Kennedy Interfaith Chapel at West Georgia College in Carrollton, Georgia
I have no sympathy for those who are defeatists and who would rather be “Red than dead.” Nor do I have sympathy with those who, in the name of fighting Communism, sow seeds of suspicion and distrust by making false or irresponsible charges, not only against their neighbors, but against courageous teachers and public officials…
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Address at the Third Annual WGHQ Human Relations Award Dinner, Ellenville, New York
We should not be disappointed that Community Action has not been an instant success. It has been a long time since most leadership in this country has spoken to the poor and tried to understand the problems of their existence.
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Speech at the Dedication of the John F. Kennedy Interfaith Chapel at West Georgia College in Carrollton, Georgia
Many voices, many views all have combined into an American consensus, and it has been a consensus of good sense. “In the multitude of counselors, there is safety,” says the Bible, and so it is with American democracy. Tolerance is an expression of trust in that consensus and each new enlargement of tolerance is an…
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Remarks at the University of Southern California Convocation
Criticism is a characteristic of a committed population. But to be responsible and constructive, it must be accompanied by continued participation, by careful examination of the facts, and by consideration of the rights of others to speak
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Television interview in the WTTG studios of the Metromedia Television Network
I think there is an obligation on the part of all of us to stay informed and aware and to read the responsible newspapers and periodicals which discuss national and international issues, and which themselves make an effort to distinguish between extremist exploitation of issues and legitimate debate and discussion.
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