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Human Rights Defenders of the Month

Every month, DefendDefenders profile a human rights defender (HRD) from the East and Horn of Africa sub-region to raise awareness about the outstanding work conducted by HRDs in the sub-region, and to shine light on the challenges faced while protecting and promoting human rights.

Meet some of the brave HRDs from the East and Horn of Africa!

August 2018
50 year-old James Rukampena is a Ugandan human rights defender (HRD) who advocates for the rights of rural local communities in Kabarole District, Western Uganda, to access their natural resources. Despite the lifelong mark left by the attack on his body and the uncertainty brought upon his family by his disability, Rukampena does not regret his activism. “What keeps me going and motivated to be an activist is that.”
July 2018
Mohamed Farah, 34, is a Somali human rights defender (HRD). He is the founder and chairperson of the Somali Disability Empowerment Network (SODEN). In addition to his work with the Somali Coalition of Human Rights Defenders as a steering committee member and Disabled Peoples’ International, Farah advocates for people with disabilities who face serious discrimination.
June 2018
Vicky Ntetema is a former journalist and human rights defenders (HRDs) from Tanzania whose work spans more than two decades. In light of her home country’s recent crackdown on civic space, she has begun focusing her efforts towards full-time advocacy, bringing greater attention to human rights abuses and attacks against civil society.
May 2018
Dinah Nakuwa works with the Loima Women Empowerment Initiative (LOWEI), a small organisation of some 60 women founded in 2010 to address social issues in the Turkana region of Northern Kenya. In this arid hinterland, geographically and traditionally on the fringes of Kenyan politics, civil society organisations are predominantly community-based and male dominated – Nakuwa and the women of LOWEI seek to change that.