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Human Rights Defender of the Month: Chantal Mutamuriza

Chantal Mutamuriza does not wait for problems to be solved. When the Burundian woman human rights defender (WHRD) encounters a problem, she will seek a solution there and then. When hundreds of thousands Burundians had to flee from political unrest in 2015, many of them were stranded in refugee camps with little economic opportunity or access to education. In her problem-solving spirit, Chantal felt compelled to act: she quit her job to put her skills and network to use and founded the NGO Light For All.

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Human Rights Defender of the Month: Foni Joyce

Foni Joyce has engaged in humanitarian work since the age of 20, when she joined a refugee student organisation to amplify the voices of refugees. Originally from South Sudan, Foni grew up as a refugee in Nairobi, Kenya, but she makes it clear that ‘refugee’ is merely a legal definition: “I firstly define myself as a human being who has been uprooted.”

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Annual Report 2020

Throughout 2020, further shrinking of civic space was witnessed across the region, exacerbated
by the COVID-19 pandemic. Human rights defenders (HRDs) were disproportionately affected by
increased restrictions on freedom of peaceful assembly, expression, and access to information.
While new regulations were enacted to curb the spread of the virus and misinformation, they were
also used to silence opposing voices and curtail protest movements, spurred on by increased
police violence during COVID-19 lockdowns in countries such as Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.

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