Front Line Defenders, or The International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, is an Irish-based

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

organisation founded in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in 2001 to protect those who work non-violently to uphold the human rights of others as outlined in the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal De ...

History

The organisation was founded by Mary Lawlor, former director of the Irish Section of

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

with a US$3 million donation from businessman and philanthropist Denis O'Brien. Front Line Defenders has Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, and has Observer Status with the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights. In 2006 Front Line Defenders established a

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

office in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. Front Line Defenders received the

King Baudouin International Development Prize The King Baudouin Foundation is an independent and pluralistic foundation based in Brussels whose aim is to serve society. The Foundation was created in 1976, to mark the 25th anniversary of King Baudouin's reign. Its main objective is to make a la ...

in 2007 and the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights in 2018. On 3 July 2014, Lawlor was presented with the Order of Chevalier of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

by French Ambassador to Ireland, Mr Jean-Pierre Thebault, on behalf of the French government. Front Line Defenders' overall goal is to enable human rights defenders, as key agents of social change, to continue their work without the risk of harassment, intimidation or arrest.

Notable work

In October 2021, Front Line Defenders found evidence that various Palestinian citizens belonging to human rights groups which had been outlawed by Israel, had been targeted by spyware made by the Israeli technology company,

NSO Group NSO Group Technologies (NSO standing for Niv, Shalev and Omri, the names of the company's founders) is an Israeli cyber-intelligence firm primarily known for its proprietary spyware Pegasus, which is capable of remote zero-click surveillance o ...

Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk

In 2005 this award was established, which according to the organisations website is awarded to a human rights defender "who through non-violent work, is courageously making an outstanding contribution to the promotion and protection of the human rights of others, often at great personal risk to themselves". The award brings international attention on its recipient's cause, and a 15,000 euros cash prize. The recipients of this award since its inception are as follows: Front Line Defenders. *2005 –

Mudawi Ibrahim Adam Mudawi Ibrahim Adam (born 1956) is a Sudanese human rights activist and engineer known for his role in exposing human rights violations in Darfur. He is the founder and former director of the Sudan Social Development Organization (SUDO) and has ...

, Sudan *2006 – Ahmadjan Madmarov, Uzbekistan *2007 – Gégé Katana, Democratic Republic of Congo *2008 –

Anwar al-Bunni Anwar al-Bunni ( ar, أنور البني, born 1959) is a Syrian human rights lawyer who has defended clients such as Riad al-Turk, Riad Seif, the owner of ''The Lamplighter'', (an independent newspaper shut down by the Syrian government), Ku ...

, Syria *2009 –

Yuri Melini Yuri may refer to: People and fictional characters Given name *Yuri (Slavic name), the Slavic masculine form of the given name George, including a list of people with the given name Yuri, Yury, etc. *Yuri (Japanese name), also Yūri, feminine Jap ...

, Guatemala *2010 –

Soraya Rahim Sobhrang Soraya Rahim Sobhrang ( fa, ثریا رحیم صبحرنگ) is an Afghan politician, physician, and human rights activist serving as the commissioner of women's rights of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission. Sobhrang was born in Herat ...

, Afghanistan *2011 –

Joint Mobile Group The Crew Against Torture (NGO CAT; russian: Кома́нда прóтив пы́ток, founded as Committee Against Torture, Комитет против пыток, the name was changed in June 2022) is a Russian non-governmental organisation i ...

, Russian Federation *2012 –

Razan Ghazzawi Razan Ghazzawi ( ar, رزان غزاوي; born 1980) is a Syrian-American blogger, campaigner and activist and currently a PhD researcher at the University of Sussex. She has been highly involved in the events during the Syrian Civil War, and h ...

, Syria *2013 –

Biram Dah Abeid Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid ( ar, بيرام ولد الداه ولد اعبيدي; born 12 January 1965) is a Mauritanian politician and advocate for the abolition of slavery. He was listed as one of "10 People Who Changed the World You Might Not ...

, Mauritania *2014 – SAWERA –

Society for Appraisal and Women Empowerment in Rural Areas Society for Appraisal and Women Empowerment in Rural Areas (SAWERA) is a human rights organization, NGO in KPK and Tribal Regions, Pakistan. It works for the welfare of women and children. It was founded in 2004 and formally registered in 2008 by t ...

, Pakistan *2015 –

Guo Feixiong Guo Feixiong (; born 2 August 1966) is the pen name of Yang Maodong (杨茂东), a Chinese human rights legal activist from Guangdong province who is often identified with the Weiquan movement. Guo is known as a dissident writer and "barefoot l ...

, pen name for

Yang Maodong Guo Feixiong (; born 2 August 1966) is the pen name of Yang Maodong (杨茂东), a Chinese human rights legal activist from Guangdong province who is often identified with the Weiquan movement. Guo is known as a dissident writer and "barefoot l ...

, ChinaThoolen, Hans (12 September 2015)
2015 Front Line Defenders Award to Chinese Guo Feixiong (Yang Maodong)
''Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders''. Retrieved 12 March 2016. *2016 –

Ana Mirian Romero Ana Mirian Romero is a Honduran human rights activist who won a Front Line Defenders Award in 2016 Activism Romero is a human rights activist based in Santa Elena, La Paz, Honduras. She a member of the Lenca Indigenous Movement a leader of the ...

, Honduras *2017 –

Emil Kurbedinov Emil or Emile may refer to: Literature *''Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau * ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life *''Emil and the Detective ...

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

Sorcha Pollak
Crimean Tatar lawyer honoured at Dublin ceremony
''Irishtimes.com'', 26 May 2017 *2018 –

Nurcan Baysal Nurcan Baysal (*1975) is a Kurdish journalist from Turkey, based Diyarbakır. In 2018 she was named Global Laureate for Human Rights Defenders at Risk by Front Line Defenders, an Irish human rights NGO. Education Baysal studied at Ankara Univer ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

References

External links

Front Line Defenders websiteInternational Human Rights Funders Group
{{Authority control Human rights organisations based in Ireland Imprisonment and detention Organizations established in 2001 International human rights organizations

History

Notable work

Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk

See also

References

External links