Advocacy

Recognizing that human rights defenders play an essential role in bringing about lasting social change, we promote policies and provide recommendations to the U.S. Government and international community to protect and promote human rights defenders worldwide. Our work encourages the development of an environment where human rights defenders can operate openly and freely. In furtherance of these goals, we have recently advocated the U.S. Government to adopt guidelines for engagement with human rights defenders similar to those adopted by Norway and the European Union. We also assist human rights defenders in conveying their messages to their domestic government, U.S. Government, and the international community as demonstrated by our recent work in Bahrain.

Latest News

Targeting of Bahraini Human Rights Defenders Intensifies

The Bahraini government’s crackdown has no end in sight as leading human rights defenders continue to be targeted. Nabeel Rajab…


6-12-2012


New, Alarming Threat to the Life of Asma Jahangir, Renowned Pakistani Activist

Asma Jahangir, a preeminent human rights activist in Pakistan, revealed last week that she is the target of an assassination…


6-11-2012


Salah Alshayeb: One of the Overlooked Victims of Bahrain’s Revolution

Most international attention on the Bahrain crackdown on human rights has focused on a relatively small number of cases –…


6-11-2012


On Al Jazeera’s The Stream, Tensions Flare Over “Reconciliation” in Bahrain

The June 4th episode of Al Jazeera’s live online show The Stream brought together prominent figures to discuss whether “reconciliation” is a possibility in Bahrain.…


6-7-2012


Send Chen Guangcheng a Personal Note

Last week, Human Rights First and our friends sent Secretary Hillary Clinton a letter urging her to make human rights…


6-6-2012