Newsletters

Dear Friends, As you already know, in the last weeks of this month, global democracy came under arguably its severest test to date, with Russian

Dear friends, The year is already shaping up to be a busy one for us here at DefendDefenders. As we noted in our sub-regional update

Dear Comrades and Friends, 2021 was a busy year for human rights defenders globally. With conflicts raging in Ethiopia and Sudan, a still fragile transition

November started on a promising note, after the UN Human Rights Council, at our and our colleague civil society organisations’ urging, on 5 November 2021 held a special session to assess the human rights implications of the 25 October military coup in Sudan, and adopted a resolution reinstating Sudan on the council’s agenda.

The final quarter of the year is one of the busiest periods at DefendDefenders. This is also heightened by the deteriorating situation in Sudan and Ethiopia that continues to destabilize an already delicate region.

September has been quite a busy month for us. Through our office in Geneva, we have since 13 September, been actively engaged in the 48th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC48) which runs until 8 October. You can read our oral statements to the council here.

After a difficult past month in which the second wave of COVID19 peaked in several of our focus countries, August brought with it some much needed reprieve in form of declined infections. As countries scale up vaccination efforts, it is our hope that this pandemic will soon be behind us, and that brighter days lie on the horizon.

July was a bittersweet month for us at DefendDefenders. Like everywhere else, COVID19 continued to wreck our lives. On the evening of 26 July, we tragically lost one of us – Mariam Nakibuuka, to the pandemic. Mariam was a valued member of our team, who, until her passing, served as a senior protection associate with our protection and security department.

Dear friends and colleagues, Throughout June, we continued to prioritise wellbeing by initiating activities that focus on mental health and promote welfare of human rights

Dear friends and colleagues, The month of May is internationally recognised as the mental health awareness month. I would like to reflect on the importance