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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Landmark Ruling for Freedom of Expression in the Americas
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights held the State of Colombia accountable for failing to provide justice in the murder case of journalist Nelson Carvajal.
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Deteriorating Civic Space in Tanzania
Civil society calls on the Tanzanian Government to address the rapidly deteriorating environment for media, human rights defenders, and opposition party members.
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Solitary Confinement in Egypt’s Prisons
A new report from Amnesty International features testimony from RFK Human Rights’ clients.
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Numerous Errors in State Department’s Western Sahara Human Rights Report
Tags Share May 3, 2018 The Honorable Michael PompeoSecretary of StateU.S. Department of State2201 C Street, NWWashington, DC 20520 Dear Secretary Pompeo, We are writing to bring to your attention several extremely problematic sections of the recently released Western Sahara 2017 Human Rights Report. As you know, the State Department’s annual human rights reports are
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Commemorating World Press Freedom Day By Seeking Justice Around the Globe
Tags Share Freedom of the press is a key component of strong and open civic space, which facilitates citizens’ ability to freely voice dissent, organize, and defend human rights. Journalists’ role in exposing corruption, impunity, and criminal activity also makes them targets to be silenced. As a result, many are forced to self-censor to avoid
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En el caso Alvarado, la Corte Interamericana considerara las desaparaciones forzadas en Mexico
Tags Share El caso Alvarado es el primero en que la Corte Interamericana se pronunciará sobre la Ley de Seguridad Interior de México San José, Ciudad de México, Washington D.C., Ginebra, Stuttgart, 25 de abril del 2018 El próximo jueves 26 de abril, la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos conocerá la historia de Nitza Paola
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Seeking Justice in the Trial of Molina Theissen
Tags Share HAGA CLIC AQUI PARA LEER Guatemala City, San José, Washington D.C. – April 11, 2018 – On March 1, the High Risk tribunal C began the trial that will determine the criminal responsibility of five high-ranking officials accused of crimes against humanity for the arbitrary detention, torture and sexual violation of Emma Molina
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Protect Egyptian Human Rights Defenders, Both Home and Abroad
Tags Share The undersigned civil society organisations express their outrage at the latest death threats targeting the Director of Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), Bahey el-Din Hassan, as a result of his human rights work on Egypt in Europe and the US. On 21 March 2018, in reaction to a memo sent by
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Hope for a Safer Environment for Journalists in Colombia
Tags Share Twenty years today, on April 16, 1998, Colombian journalist Nelson Carvajal was shot and killed in Pitalito, Huila, by a hitman that escaped on a motorbike. Just prior to his death he had been uncovering corruption by the local government and businessmen. The Colombian authorities’ investigation into his murder has been plagued with
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RFK Human Rights Urges South Korea to Press Human Rights Issues in Talks with North Korea
Tags Share Dear President Moon, As your government discusses a proposed summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, we welcome the renewed inter-Korean dialogue and the recent progress in inter-Korean relations and urge your government to press for human rights issues to be included in all discussions with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
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Dispatch from 6th International Conference on Peoples’ Right to Resistance
Tags Share Recently, I traveled to Algiers, Algeria to attend the 6th International Conference on the Peoples’ Right to Resistance: The Case of the Sahrawi People. The conference was organized by the Algerian National Committee of Solidarity with the Sahrawi People (CNASPS) and the Embassy of the Sahrawi Arabic Democratic Republic in Algeria, and included
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We Urge Guatemala to Prioritize Armed Conflict Cases
Tags Share HAGA CLIC AQUÍ PARA LEER Guatemala City, San Jose, Utrecht and Washington D.C., April 4, 2018 In light of the recent death of the former dictator, Efraín Ríos Montt, the stagnancy and permeability of the Guatemalan judicial system has become evident. The search for justice for the genocide of the Maya-Ixil people has
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