Human rights don’t defend themselves: they're protected by human rights defenders (HRDs).
Everyone has human rights. Everyone also has the right to defend their human rights. The Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted unanimously by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in 1998, recognizes the important contributions of human rights defenders, protects their rights, including the right to defend rights, and reinforces their work. The Declaration affirms “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels.”
The term “human rights defender” is used to describe “people who individually, or with others, act to promote or protect human rights in a peaceful manner.” Anyone who defends human rights peacefully and accepts that all human beings are equally entitled to all human rights is considered a human rights defender (HRD) by the UN. The commitment to nonviolence is important. You can’t protect human rights by violating the rights of others. Using violence to promote human rights or violating one set of human rights to protect another set of rights is contradictory. Human rights defenders (HRDs) protect human rights with justice and compassion, even in the midst of struggle.
What do Human Rights Defenders Do?
The Declaration on Human Rights Defenders describes many of the activities of defenders that are protected. These include, but are not limited to:
- developing new human rights standards and advocating for their acceptance
- monitoring compliance with existing human rights laws
- documenting and disseminating information on human rights violations and abuse
- supporting victims of human rights violations with legal aid and direct assistance
- taking action to secure accountability and end impunity
- support better governance and government policy
- promote human rights education and training
To be protected and effectively promote human rights, HRDs must also have access to their right to freedom of assembly and association, the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the right to protest, the right to access and communicate with international bodies, the right to develop and discuss new human rights ideas, and to access funding. Human rights defenders (HRDs) protect human rights with justice and compassion, even in the midst of struggle.
Case Study: Warriors for the Amazon (Guerreras por la Amazonia)
In Ecuador, Indigenous leaders, youth activists, and environmental organizations have become the defenders of the Amazon, a vital ecosystem threatened by illegal logging, mining, and oil extraction.
The organization “Guerreras por la Amazonia” (Warriors for the Amazon), a group of activists ages 10 to 20 years old, is working to protect the right to a healthy environment through mass protests, strategic litigation, and advocacy. Though they are facing intense opposition from the Ecuadorian government and the Texaco Oil company, the group struggled successfully to protect their community’s health. In 2021, they won a court ruling “...that ordered the elimination of gas flares in the Ecuadorian Amazon and reparation measures for violation of their rights to health and a healthy environment.” However, the fight for a clean environment is far from over and Ecuadorian government has been able to avoid complying with the ruling. Despite setbacks, the Warriors of the Amazon refuse to give up.
“We will NOT falter, we will not give up, we will not be beaten. We will continue to fight for our future, for our life, for our land.”
Indigenous communities like the Waorani and Kichwa have also organized to protect ancestral lands by filing legal challenges, conducting environmental monitoring, and advocating for sustainable development.“Waorani territory is not for sale” is a phrase that sparked a national movement to defend indigenous land from oil extraction companies. Millions have come together to fend off environmental destruction and keep their homes safe. Learn more about Amazon Frontlines and the CEIBO Alliance and their model of indigenous resistance and international solidarity.
All of the people featured here are human rights defenders - they undertake peaceful action to claim their rights and protect the human rights of their community. By standing up for the environment, they simultaneously defend the rights of Indigenous peoples to land, cultural preservation, and self-determination, demonstrating the inseparable link between environmental protection and human rights advocacy. This has put these groups at risk: HRDs can face harassment, criminalization, and violent attacks from corporate and state actors.
Risks to Human Rights Defenders
Threats to HRDs are widespread and frequently include surveillance, harassment, and reprisals for their human rights work in the form of death threats, defamation, arrest, torture, physical and sexual violence, and even murder. Many of the reported violations against HRDs can be classified as judicial abuse, which involves the using the judicial system to intimidate, harass, or otherwise silence HRDs. Women human rights defenders and those protecting environmental, Indigenous, LGBTQ+, or other HRDs from marginalized communities, often face additional, gender-specific or identity-based threats.
Given these threats, it is especially important that HRDs are protected. But who defends the defenders?
Organizations that protect human rights defenders at risk and monitor the threats against them include:
European Union’s Human Rights Defenders Mechanism: ProtectDefenders.eu
United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders
The United Nations (UN) appoints a Special Rapporteur (SR) on Human Rights Defenders to promote the work of human rights defenders and protect them when their lives and safety are at risk.
The responsibilities of the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders includes sending communications to govenments and corporations to raise concerns when human rights defenders are at risk, conducting official visits to investigate and report on the conditions for HRDs, meeting with state authorities about how to protect HRDs, and writing thematic reports to present to the UN Human Rights Council and UN General Assembly. The Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders shines a light on human rights violations that may otherwise go unnoticed and elevates the work of those creating human rights-based change in their communities.
Mary Lawlor served as the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders from May 2020 to April 2026. Lawlor is an Irish human rights advocate who began her career with Amnesty International in Ireland, later serving as its director, and in 2001 founded Front Line Defenders to provide support for defenders at risk around the world. Lawlor’s work as Special Rapporteur has strengthened international protections for HRDS. She used her mandate to highlight the achievements of human rights defenders as well as the dangers they face.
Mary Lawlor visited the University of Minnesota in October 2025. She spoke with civil society members and listened to their concerns. She also met with numerous students, educators, and members of the public and gave the 2025 Stephen & Chacke Scallen Lecture in Human Rights. In her remarks, Lawlor highlighted the importance of protecting human rights defenders during a time when human rights are being challenged around the world. She emphasized that even in times of backlash, the spirits of human rights defenders cannot be broken. She stressed the importance of local, grassroots action, highlighting her meetings with local Twin Cities activists during her visit. Lawlor ended her speech with a message of hope: “Anyone can be a human rights defender, Even when parties to the UN are disengaged, the people are not.” Lawlor’s visit to Minnesota was featured in a Star Tribune article, “The U.S. Should Recommit to Human Rights Leadership.”
Thought Questions
Anyone can be a human rights defender. Even you. Remember, the main qualification is a commitment to all human rights for all and taking peaceful action for human rights.