Human Rights Defenders

protest sign that reads "Free Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja"

Bahrain's Rulers Return to 2011 Repression Methods

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The Human Rights Defenders (HRD) program is rooted in over 40 years of experience working with frontline HRDs around the world. We recognize HRDs as essential agents of change in local, national, and international human rights progress. We work alongside local activists defending universal human rights and accountability in contexts of armed conflict, post-conflict, or in highly repressive regimes.

Ukraine

In Ukraine, we work with local human rights defenders documenting war crimes, fighting corruption, delivering humanitarian aid, and evacuating civilians under fire. We directly join their humanitarian efforts, elevate their reporting, expand international visibility, and advocate for accountability and protection.

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International Human Rights

Apr 10, 2026

Risk and Response: Women Human Rights Defenders on Ukraine’s Frontline

Women human rights defenders (WHRDS) are taking enormous daily risks to help vulnerable people living on the frontline of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Some deliver humanitarian aid to those in desperate need of food and clothes, while others evacuate elderly and infirm re1sidents from communities under fire. Some do this work full-time, others join these […]

International Human Rights

Mar 18, 2026

Volunteers Defy Drone Dangers to Evacuate People from Kramatorsk

By Brian Dooley. Kramatorsk, Ukraine – Today, I joined evacuation volunteer Julia Nezlamna and others to get people from the frontline Ukrainian cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. Russian troops are advancing on Kramatorsk from three sides and are within about seven miles to the east. Many civilians here want to leave, and rescuing them often […]

International Human Rights

Jun 18, 2025

New Ukraine Law on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Offers Improvements for Survivors, But Media and Legal Culture Need to Change

By Yana Sliemzina, editor and reporter for GWARA MEDIA in Kharkiv, Ukraine and Brian Dooley, Senior Advisor Human Rights First In a promising step recognizing the rights of survivors of war-related sexual violence, a new law comes into effect today in Ukraine. It will be the first law in the world to provide survivors of […]

International Human Rights

Aug 14, 2024

Evacuating Civilians in Ukraine

In early August I returned to northeastern Ukraine, and went with Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) in Kharkiv to rescue civilians from neighborhoods under intense missile attacks. I had worked with them in June and July, and reported on the dangerous, lifesaving work being done by volunteers who evacuate vulnerable civilians from close to the battlefront, […]

Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, we work with defenders seeking truth and accountability for conflict-related abuses. We support independent investigations into impunity, strengthen access to justice for bereaved families, observe court hearings, submit evidence in trials, and advise on human rights–compliant legislation for legacy cases.

Sign that reads "You are now entering Free Derry"

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International Human Rights

Apr 30, 2026

Belfast Court Vindicates Springhill/Westrock Families’ Struggle for Truth

Belfast, Northern Ireland — More than fifty years after the Springhill/Westrock killings in West Belfast, a coroner has concluded that the five people shot dead by British soldiers on 9 July 1972 should not have been killed. The victims were Father Noel Fitzpatrick, a local priest; Patrick Butler, a father of six; and three children […]

International Human Rights

Feb 10, 2026

Bloody Sunday: Unjustified and Unjustifiable

This brief, authored by Human Rights First and the Pat Finucane Centre, examines the UK government’s decision to spend more than £4.3 million in public funds to defend “Soldier F,” the only former British soldier prosecuted in connection with the Bloody Sunday killings of unarmed civilians in Derry in 1972. It places this extraordinary spending […]

International Human Rights

Jan 13, 2026

UK Parliament Asks For Human Rights First’s Advice on Northern Ireland Legacy Laws

As the United Kingdom government grapples with overhauling the law on how to address issues from the Northern Ireland conflict, the British parliament has asked Human Rights First for our analysis and recommendations. Recognizing our long history of advocacy on the legacy issues, and our decades or research on Northern Ireland, dating back years before the conflict […]

International Human Rights

Apr 29, 2024

Bitter Legacy: State Impunity in the Northern Ireland Conflict

This report released by a panel of international human rights experts concludes that the British government operated a “widespread, systematic, and systemic” practice of impunity to protect security forces from sanction during the conflict in Northern Ireland. The report, “Bitter Legacy: State Impunity in the Northern Ireland Conflict” was produced by an International Expert Panel […]

Poland

In Poland, we work alongside defenders protecting the rights of migrants and people seeking asylum. We document abuses at the Poland–Belarus border, observe trials, give evidence on behalf of activists being prosecuted, and challenge the targeting of HRDs.

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Refugee and Immigrant Rights

May 13, 2026

Poland: Stop cooperating with ICE on unlawful returns of Ukrainians

Amnesty International and Human Rights First today published a joint letter to Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior urging an end to the Polish government’s cooperation with the US administration’s unlawful mass deportations of immigrant communities. According to information gathered by Amnesty International and Human Rights First, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) passed […]

International Human Rights

Sep 8, 2025

Human Rights First Welcomes Acquittal of Polish Activists, the “Hajnówka Five”

Human Rights First welcomes today’s verdict of a Polish court to acquit five activists—known as the “Hajnówka Five”—who had faced years in prison for providing humanitarian aid to people who had crossed the border from Belarus. They were accused of giving food, clothing, and short transportation to a desperate Iraqi couple and their seven children, […]

International Human Rights

May 29, 2025

Danger in the Forest: Human Rights Defenders in Poland Targeted at the Belarus Border

Executive Summary: Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) aiding migrants and people seeking asylum at the Poland-Belarus border are facing increasing threats, legal harassment, and diminishing support of their work. Despite ongoing risks—including physical danger, prosecution, and hostility from far-right groups—activists continue to provide essential humanitarian and legal aid to people fleeing conflict and persecution. Poland’s suspension […]

International Human Rights

Mar 31, 2025

Human Rights First Urges Poland to Lift Suspension on Right to Seek Asylum

New York, NY— Human Rights First today urged the Polish government to lift the suspension on people’s right to claim asylum at the Poland-Belarus border, and to stop targeting people providing humanitarian aid to asylum seekers and migrants. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the legislation is to be implemented “without a moment’s delay” after the […]

Bahrain

In Bahrain, we support defenders confronting repression and arbitrary detention, both inside Bahrain and in exile. We help document abuses, campaign for the release of imprisoned HRDs, submit evidence to the U.S. and other governments to secure sanctions on abusers, and advocate for systemic human rights reform.

Woman walking past a wall of pictures of detained political prisoners

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International Human Rights

May 22, 2026

Bahrain’s Rulers Return to 2011 Repression Methods Torture in Custody and Widespread Repression Resurface in Latest Attacks on Dissent

Bahrain’s ruling family has returned to its severe repression of a decade and a half ago in the context of the United States’ war on Iran. It has embarked on a fresh wave of arrests, stripping citizenship, and torture in custody. Since the launch of the war on 28 February 2026, there has been a […]

International Human Rights

Feb 14, 2026

A Coordinated Sanctions Push Against Bahrain’s Interior Minister

This week marks fifteen years since Bahraini authorities violently crushed peaceful pro-democracy protests, unleashing a campaign of arbitrary detention and torture. After more than a decade of documentation and international scrutiny, abuse inside Bahrain’s prison system persists, and senior officials implicated in that repression remain in power. In December, Human Rights First submitted a detailed […]

International Human Rights

Dec 18, 2025

Human Rights First Seeks Sanctions for Torture in Bahrain Prisons

Washington D.C. — Human Rights First today submitted a dossier to the U.S. government recommending targeted sanctions against Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah al Khalifa, Bahrain’s long-serving interior minister, based on his role in torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment in prisons he oversees. As a state that has ratified the Convention Against Torture, Bahrain was subject […]

International Human Rights

Feb 14, 2025

Bahrain’s Chance to Release Itself from its Past

By Brian Dooley A lot can happen in 14 years. Seismic historical shifts haven’t taken that long. Neither the Russian revolution, nor the Great Depression, nor both world wars combined lasted 14 years. Yet the tiny country of Bahrain – the smallest in the middle east – has failed to find a way to move […]

Egypt

In Egypt, we work with defenders inside the country and in exile to demand the release of political prisoners and an end to torture, enforced disappearances, and transnational repression. We report on related developments inside and outside Egypt and elevate the voices of those demanding reform.

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International Human Rights

Nov 7, 2025

Egypt Is Prosecuting a Mother for Reporting Her Son’s Torture

By Suchita Uppal and Mohamed Lotfy Mohamed Lotfy is the Executive Director of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms. On Monday, November 17, an Egyptian Court is due to decide whether to release or continue detaining Hoda Abdel Hamid Muhammad — a 55-year-old woman who has spent nearly five years in pre-trial detention for […]

International Human Rights

Apr 3, 2025

Egypt Activists Exasperated at Fading EU Support

Activists in Egypt accuse the European Union of not using their leverage with the Cairo government to better protect them and to press for human rights. A range of dissidents told me during a research trip to Egypt this week that the EU should be pushing much harder for prisoner releases, the dropping of charges […]

International Human Rights

Feb 25, 2019

Like a Fire in a Forest: ISIS Recruitment in Egypt’s Prisons

Speaking in Cairo on January 10, 2019, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo praised Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi for “his vigorous efforts to combat the ongoing threat of terrorism as well as the radical Islamism that fuels it. His leadership, his assertion of leadership, is consistent with Egypt’s historical role as a true leader…Our […]

Egypt

Mar 6, 2015

Egypt’s LGBT Crackdown Continues

Last week police arrested seven “transsexuals,” as termed in official statements, at a nightclub in a popular tourist area of central Cairo. The arrestees will be charged under the country’s debauchery law, the government’s favorite tool for persecuting gay and transgender Egyptians. The arrests were, government officials say, part of a broad effort to target a “network for […]

Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, we work with defenders inside the country and in exile who are advancing democratic rights. We advocate for the release of imprisoned HRDs, protection of freedom of expression, and meaningful human rights reform.

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International Human Rights

May 31, 2024

Hong Kong Activists in Exile Keep the Struggle Alive

Next week marks the 35th anniversary of the 1989 massacre of hundreds, possibly thousands, of protestors in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square by China’s security forces. Many more people were arrested across the country. Today, those in China attempting to commemorate the killings are ruthlessly attacked by the Chinese authorities. Public mention of the massacre is banned. In Hong […]

International Human Rights

Mar 19, 2024

Hong Kong’s New Security Law Spells Further Repression

By Brian Dooley Hong Kong’s legislature today rushed through another new national security law aimed at suppressing any hint of dissent. The new law takes effect on Saturday, and cites 39 new crimes, including espionage and “external interference.” Some of the new offenses carry a sentence of life in prison. Human Rights First reported extensively […]

International Human Rights

Feb 6, 2023

No Room For Silence in Hong Kong’s Mass Trial

By Brian Dooley Hundreds of people queued up this morning for 39 public seats available at the opening day of Hong Kong’s mass trial of 47 pro-democracy activists. Local reports say another 367 people are allowed to watch a live broadcast of the proceedings in other rooms in the courthouse. The 47 are on trial […]

International Human Rights

Apr 16, 2021

Human Rights First Condemns Sentencing of Albert Ho, Hong Kong Human Rights Defender

NEW YORK — Today, recipient of Human Rights First’s 2020 Roger Baldwin Medal of Liberty and Hong Kong pro-democracy advocate Albert Ho was given a suspended sentence of 12 months in prison for his involvement in a 2019 pro-democracy march in Hong Kong. He was one of seven experienced activists given prison sentences today, some suspended, for […]