Publication Apr 11, 2025 Hong Kong: Solidarity with artist Badiucao as he faces legal harassment The undersigned organisations condemn the harassment of artist, political cartoonist, and activist Badiucao, which has taken place via email, in the media, and on social media in the last week.
Report Mar 21, 2025 CISA Research Paper In 2024, the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) launched a research fellowship to explore the implications of Cross-Input Signature Aggregation (CISA), a proposed Bitcoin upgrade that would significantly lower the cost of private transactions.
Op-Ed Mar 19, 2025 Kirsty Coventry—the Soft Face of Zimbabwe’s Dictatorship—Could Be the Next President of the IOC | Opinion The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is set to select a new president this week to succeed Thomas Bach. In a field of seven candidates, Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry, Africa’s most decorated Olympian, could make history as the first woman to head the IOC.
Blog Post Mar 11, 2025 The Playbook: How Syria’s brutal Assad regime used football to maintain power Welcome to The Playbook, an explainer series from HRF’s Sports & Dictators program that explores the intersection of sports and politics in authoritarian regimes and decodes the disturbing narratives behind the games we love.
Video Series Feb 24, 2025 The Case of Marat Zhylanbaev On May 3, 2023, human rights activist and leader of the opposition party, “Alga Kazakhstan,” Marat Zhylanbaev, was arrested on administrative charges for participating in an “illegal” protest. Upon completing his administrative detention on May 23, he was immediately re-arrested on criminal charges for alleged participation in and financing so-called “extremist” activities.
Publication Feb 24, 2025 John Legend’s Kigali Concert: A Night of Music Amidst Regional Tensions Grammy award-winning artist John Legend delivered a mesmerizing performance in Kigali, Rwanda, on February 21, 2025, despite mounting pressure to cancel the show..
Report Feb 13, 2025 HRF pens open letter to John Legend The Human Rights Foundation has learned of your plans to perform in Kigali, Rwanda, on Feb. 21, 2025, as part of Move Afrika — a collaboration between the Rwandan government, Global Citizen, and pgLang.
Blog Post Feb 10, 2025 The Playbook: How Saudi Arabia Uses Tennis to Present a Facade of Women’s Reforms When Saudi Arabia hosted one of the most important events in professional women’s tennis, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Finals, in November, it wasn’t, of course, without controversy. The New York Times put it this way:
Publication Dec 12, 2024 The U.S. Can Support Democracy and Human Rights Through Bitcoin Bitcoin has emerged as a transformative tool in the fight for human rights, financial inclusion, and democracy.
Video Series Dec 5, 2024 The Case of Luis Fernando Camacho On December 28, 2022, Bolivian democratic opposition leader and Governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, was violently arrested on false “terrorism” charges, and has since been locked up and isolated inside the maximum security prison of Chonchocoro, La Paz, located at 4,000 meters above sea level.
Video Series Nov 22, 2022 Gao Zhen: Arbitrarily Detained Just for Creating Art Chinese artist Gao Zhen was arrested for creating art that confronts the dark truths of China’s Cultural Revolution. He remains in jail to this day.
Blog Post Oct 18, 2024 A History of Sports & Dictators, Part 4: Soviet Sports propaganda When Tsar Peter I — better known as Peter the Great — visited England in 1689, he arranged what has been called the “first international boxing match” in the garden of the nobleman’s home.
Blog Post Sep 6, 2024 A History of Sports & Dictators, Part 3: Post-WWII Soft Power Long before the inception of the Olympic Games in Ancient Greece, sports have been used to distract the masses, test foreign policies, thaw diplomatic tensions, and broadcast political and social messaging.
Video Series Sep 6, 2024 The Uyghur Region | The Struggle for Freedom, Explained In this episode of “The Struggle for Freedom, Explained” Jewher Ilham, renowned Uyghur advocate and daughter of Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti, and Peter Irwin, Associate Director of the Uyghur Human Rights Project, explain the Chinese regime’s targeted human rights abuses of the Uyghur people, and how China is exploiting Uyghurs for its economic goals. Watch the episode to learn more.
Publication Aug 27, 2024 US senators call out NBA’s relationship with Rwanda dictator Paul Kagame: ‘Putting profit over principle’ Two United States senators have accused the NBA of “putting profit over principle,” which was detailed in a letter sent to commissioner Adam Silver…
Publication Aug 27, 2024 Oregon Sen. Merkley raises concerns over reported NBA ties to Rwandan dictatorship Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley sent a letter to National Basketball Association Commissioner Adam Silver on Tuesday, raising concerns over the organization’s reported ties to dictators.
Publication Aug 27, 2024 NBA under fire: U.S. Senators slam league’s ties to controversial Rwandan leader The NBA finds itself in the hot seat once again, but this time, it’s not over a controversial call or a player feud-it’s a matter of global ethics.
Video Series Aug 26, 2024 The Case of Toomaj Salehi Rapper and human rights activist, Toomaj Salehi was sentenced to death under bogus charges due to his songs, activism and speaking out against the Iranian regime. HRF submitted a petition to the United Nation’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on Toomaj’s behalf asking for his unconditional release.
Blog Post Aug 9, 2024 A History of Sports & Dictators, Part 2: The Rise of Fascism Long before the inception of the Olympic Games in Ancient Greece, sports have been used to distract the masses, test foreign policies, thaw diplomatic tensions, and broadcast political and social messaging.
Press Release Jul 31, 2024 Ongoing Electoral Fraud in Venezuela The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) reiterates its strong condemnation of dictator Nicolás Maduro’s fraudulent proclamation as Venezuela’s reelected president.
