2021 Annual Report

The past year has made one thing painfully clear: the greatest champions of freedom and human rights are no longer Western governments and multilateral organizations like the United Nations. In fact, they never really were. When a dictator rigs an election, jails a journalist, or murders a dissident, the most effective response instead comes from courageous activists and civil society organizations. From the disastrous US withdrawal from Afghanistan, to the UN’s failure to hold the Saudi regime accountable for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, to the West’s continued indifference toward Putin’s corruption or Paul Kagame’s brutal tyranny, it is clear that human rights defenders around the world have to take matters into their own hands by mobilizing movements and holding those in power accountable for their abuses. This is where the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) steps in.