Human rights defenders confront and address human rights abuses faced by themselves or other people in their countries. But in many places human rights defenders must risk their safety to do so.

Some authorities seek to silence human rights defenders, penalize their activities, and intimidate them. They are labelled as “traitors.” This repression can have dire consequences for human rights defenders and for the work they do changing laws, attitudes and practices to promote human rights for all people. Despite these obstacles, many human rights defenders persevere in seeking positive change.

Amnesty International works to ensure that human rights defenders can carry out their human rights work freely.