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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UN Rapporteurs Concerned over Harassment of Rights Groups in Bangladesh
Tags Share Angelita Baeyens, our VP of International Advocacy & Litigation, speaks with Voice of America about the harassment and intimidation of two well-known human rights groups in Bangladesh. She notes, “The persecution and criminalization of Odhikar executives, one of the most prestigious human rights organizations in the country, shows an intentional effort by the
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In Venezuela, legislation seeks to criminalize civil society in the country
Tags Share In the last five years, the Venezuelan regime has threatened civil society on at least 14 separate occasions with the enactment of a law furthering the restrictions to non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Jan. 18, the Vice-President of Venezuela’s ruling party, and member of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, announced once again the introduction of
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Nuevo Amicus Sobre los Derechos de los Defensores de los Derechos Humanos
Tags Share El 6 de febrero de 2023, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, en conjunto con el Servicio Internacional para los Derechos Humanos (SIDH), Women’s Link Worldwide (WLW) y la Unión Nacional de Instituciones para el Trabajo de Acción Social (UNITAS) presentaron un amicus curiae ante la Corte Constitucional de Colombia. En 2019, la sociedad
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New Amicus Brief on the Rights of Human Rights Defenders
Tags Share On February 6th 2023, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, in partnership with the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), Women’s Link Worldwide (WLW) and Unión Nacional de Instituciones para el Trabajo de Acción Social (UNITAS) filed an amicus brief before the Colombian Constitutional Court. In 2019, national civil society presented a constitutional action
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Rwandan Authorities Should Ensure an Independent Investigation into John Williams Ntwali’s Death
Tags Share January 31, 2023 – Rwandan authorities should allow an independent, impartial, and effective investigation, drawing on international expertise, into the death of John Williams Ntwali, a leading investigative journalist, 90 civil society organizations and media associations said today. Rwanda’s international partners should press the authorities to allow and cooperate fully with such an
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Organizaciones internacionales denuncian proyecto de ley que busca criminalizar y obstaculizar el trabajo de las organizaciones de la sociedad civil en Venezuela
Tags Share [Ginebra y Washington D.C. enero 26 de 2023]. Las organizaciones abajo firmantes expresamos nuestra profunda preocupación por la aprobación en primera vuelta de un proyecto de ley que busca criminalizar y obstaculizar aún más el trabajo de las organizaciones de la sociedad civil en Venezuela: la Ley de Fiscalización, Regularización, Actuación y Financiamiento
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International organizations express concern over bill that seeks to criminalize and hinder the work of civil society organizations in Venezuela
Tags Share [Geneva and Washington D.C. 26 January, 2023]. The undersigned organizations express our deep concern over the approval in the first round of a bill that seeks to criminalize and further hinder the work of civil society organizations in Venezuela: Law of Supervision, Regularization, Performance and Financing of Non-Governmental and Related Organizations (Ley de
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Non-violent activism and community organizing
Tags Share Remarks made at 2001 JFK profile in Courage Award ceremony, Boston, MA We wanted to test a Supreme Court ruling that banned segregation in an interstate travel facility. When the bus arrived in Rock Hill, South Carolina, I deboarded the bus and approached the white waiting room. We were being watched and someone
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African Commission Found that Zimbabwe Violated Fundamental Freedoms: Zimbabwe Must Immediately Implement the Commission’s Decision and Guarantee Better Human Rights Protection
Tags Share January 5, 2023 The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights recently issued a positive and precedent-setting decision in Communication 446/13 between Jennifer Williams, Magodonga Mahlangu, and Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) and the Republic of Zimbabwe (“the WOZA case”). Finding that the government of Zimbabwe violated the applicants’ rights to freedom of
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RFK Human Rights and other leading international organizations call on Somali government officials to drop charges against Abdalle Ahmed Mumin
Tags Share Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights joins six other international organizations in a letter to Somali government officials calling for all charges against journalist, press freedom advocate, and Secretary General of Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS), Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, to be dropped. The letter details the arbitrary arrests, detention, and persecution that Mr. Mumin has
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BANGLADESH: Government must stop human rights violations and end impunity
Tags Share Kuala Lumpur/ Hong Kong/ Manila/ Bangkok/ Paris/Dhaka /Geneva /Johannesburg /Washington DC, 09 December 2022: The undersigned human rights organizations commemorate all victims of human rights violations and stand in solidarity with the victims’ families in Bangladesh and across the world. This year’s International Human Rights Day’s slogan is “Dignity, Freedom, and Justice for
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Zimbabwe: President Mnangagwa-led Government Must Stop Targeting and Stigmatizing Civil Society Organizations
Tags Share As leading human rights and legal aid organizations, we urge the government of Zimbabwe to desist from targeting and negatively profiling civil society organizations, which provide invaluable services to the people of Zimbabwe and play a vital role in ensuring good governance in the country. All persons have a right to freedom of
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