🌍 Today is Earth Day, let's take a moment to aknowledge the work of who defend it every single day. 💚
Did you know that environmental and land defenders are among the most targeted human rights defenders in the world?
🔗Read about the efforts https://tinyurl.com/mu374cje
⏰ The LGBTI Pathways survey closes tomorrow!
This global survey by @ILGAWorld and the Global Philanthropy Project needs your input to produce representative evidence on LGBTI movements' needs and funding.
Join the discussion 📋 → lgbtipathways.org/welcome-to-the-lgbti-pat...
We welcome UNESCO’s reference to our collective work for HRD protection in Montevideo. Supporting journalists and activists at risk around the world is what drives us every day.
Read more →https://tinyurl.com/2s3bfrs3
2024 redefined political landscapes worldwide, and not in favour of HRDs.
Shifts in key donor countries are weakening long-standing support and funding is increasingly redirected towards defence.
🔗 https://tinyurl.com/4xwxdb2u
“ This allowed me to return with renewed vigor to my core work as the head of a human rights organization”
@nhrf_hrd highlights how essential temporary relocation is for HRDs , this is an integral component of our mission and broader protection ecosystem.
A Nobel laureate, jailed, gravely ill and near a war zone.
Narges Mohammadi's case is not isolated, in 2024 alone, 93 defenders were arbitrarily detained across just 11 countries.
We looked back at what she has been through 🔗https://tinyurl.com/y5nxr5ha
Two futures. One choice.
If current funding holds → donor support to HRDs could reach 750M by 2080. If ODA cuts continue → that figure drops to just 300M.
Less than half. At a time when defenders need more support than ever.
🔗https://tinyurl.com/4xwxdb2u
📬 Our March newsletter is out!
Arrests of activists in Mauritania, the assassination of Yanar Mohammed in Iraq, the acid attack on a defender in Indonesia we documents a world where physical attacks on defenders are rising. We cannot look away. 💚
🔗 https://tinyurl.com/3xjzx4yr
Did you know? 👀
Between 2021–2023, around half of donor funding still didn't reach local NGOs directly, and the trend is going in the wrong direction.
Local HRDs are on the frontlines. The funding should be too. 💚
https://tinyurl.com/4xwxdb2u
Core funding gives HRDs what project grants often can't: ✅ Stability ✅ Flexibility ✅ Long-term planning ✅ Less admin burden
It's what defenders ask for. Yet local NGOs still receive far less of it than international ones.
🔗 https://tinyurl.com/4xwxdb2u
Water is life and it is defended at personal risk.
This #WorldWaterDay we tell two stories:
🇨🇴 Defenders protecting rivers and ecosystems face violence and criminalisation
🇵🇸 Consequences of protecting water infrastructure.
Their stories →https://tinyurl.com/mu374cje
Donors increased funding to international NGOs in 2023, but did it reach local defenders?
Only 29–37% of donor funding reaches local #HRDs, compared to 31–39% in 2017–2020.
The gap between commitment and delivery is real and needs to be addressed.
🔗 https://tinyurl.com/4xwxdb2u
In #China peaceful activists continue to face arbitrary detention and denial of medical care.
Read our latest article ⬇️
https://tinyurl.com/3jpk8dpj
Mariam in Sudan, Natia in Georgia, Negina and Parasto in Afghanistan, Lissette in Venezuela.
Their courage is the reality for WHRDs worldwide, 50% of defenders we supported last year were women or gender-diverse HRDs.
Their stories and our support here 🔗 https://tinyurl.com/2tswjam9
In #Kazakhstan HRDs, LGBTI activists, journalists & lawyers face prosecutions, detention & closed-door trials.
Criminal law must not be weaponised.
Read here 🔗 https://tinyurl.com/2jbvkejt
This month's spotlight on: Kazakhstan, China and Egypt.
Defenders & journalists targeted through legal harassment, activists detained & denied medical care and repeated arrests to silence dissent.
We talk about education and social rights in Venezuela.
🔗 https://tinyurl.com/mur634vs
Last week we spoke with Venezuelan defender Lissette González, she reflects on the importance of social rights and the consequence of their lack in #Venezuela but also why care & community matter.
🔗https://tinyurl.com/3ajbebef
#SocialJustice
In Venezuela, human rights defenders continue to face intimidation, criminalisation, and shrinking civic space amid a deepening political crisis.
📄 Read the article
Check the 📩
🔗 https://tinyurl.com/bdhbeazv
🚨 We’re hiring!
The Secretariat of ProtectDefenders.eu is looking for a Programmes Fellow to join our team in Brussels. Support HRDS at risk!
📍 Brussels
🗓 Apply by: 6 March 2026
🔗 https://tinyurl.com/mvvfkcs8
Ahead of Uganda’s general elections, human rights organisations have been suspended, defenders arrested, and an internet shutdown announced.
📄 Read the article
📩 Explore our January newsletter
🔗 https://tinyurl.com/bdhbeazv
Iran is facing a severe wave of repression.
Protests met with lethal force, mass arrests, and a prolonged internet blackout are putting human rights defenders and civilians at grave risk.
📄 Read the full article
📩 Explore our January newsletter
🔗 https://tinyurl.com/bdhbeazv
“Safeguards should be built in to provide sufficient flexibility to issue visas for human rights defenders, dissidents, independent journalists and civil society.”
Protection pathways matter, especially for those at risk.
🔗https://tinyurl.com/4yfrzsfx
Meet @Parasto_Hakim, an educator and human rights defender supporting home-based and second-chance education for girls in Afghanistan.
Education remains an act of resistance, hope, and transformation under Taliban rule.
🔗 https://tinyurl.com/356bmbju
#EducationAsResistance
🔊 Civil society is the backbone of democracy
The EU reaffirms: “A strong, vibrant civic space is crucial for democracy, for human rights, and for holding governments accountable.”
data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-5835-202...
January reminds us why our work matters.
Last month alone:
• 23 attacks against human rights defenders reported
• 728 defenders supported
📖 Read the newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/bdhbeazv
🤝 Stay informed. Stay connected.
2026 has begun with alarming attacks on civic space.
🇮🇷 Repression & total internet shutdown
🇻🇪 Military attacks raising serious international law concerns
🇺🇬 NGOs suspended, defenders detained, internet cut ahead of elections
https://tinyurl.com/bdhbeazv
Defenders face systemic violence, and need comprehensive, care-centred responses, we had the chance to talk with Justica Global.
Protection can’t stop at emergency measures.
Read our interview on CEPI and regional relocation systems.
🔗 https://tinyurl.com/kfbpb6ru
What did 2025 show about the risks faced by human rights defenders?
Judicial harassment and criminalisation remain the main tools of repression, detention risks are rising. Activists, journalists, lawyers, and grassroots defenders are most targeted.
Read here:
Fast fact: At the current pace, funding for human rights defenders won’t reach USD 500M a year until 2040.
But HRDs need support now.
What will it take to close the gap?
🔗https://tinyurl.com/4y3vffyn
Our December bulletin wraps up 2025.
Key trends on civic space, an interview with a woman HRD from Sudan and International Human Rights Defenders Day all in one.
As the year ends, we thank defenders and partners for their courage and solidarity.
🔗 More: https://tinyurl.com/3wajfkja