Twenty years ago, the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) was born out of the belief that dissidents standing up to authoritarianism deserve a voice. In April 2005, with little more than a shoestring budget and small circle of supporters, HRF’s founder Thor Halvorssen created a new type of human rights organization: one sharply focused on exposing tyrannical regimes and ready to support the courageous dissidents who dare to oppose them. From the beginning, HRF understood that confronting dictators requires creativity and courage on many fronts: legal, technological, and cultural.
Since then, the organization has grown into a global movement dedicated to defending democracy and human rights where they are most at risk. In this newsletter, we look back at the ways that HRF has filed and won international lawsuits on behalf of prisoners of conscience, equipped activists with tools to strengthen their movements, raised awareness about the pernicious nature of authoritarianism, and elevated dissidents’ causes in global forums and the media.
Whether you have followed our work from the very beginning or just discovered us, thank you for standing with us in the struggle against tyranny.
With gratitude,
The HRF Team
2005–2025: Supporting dissidents living under authoritarianism
Defending prisoners of conscience
When HRF was founded, our first priority was to defend prisoners of conscience forgotten in the jails of dictatorships. HRF’s Impact Litigation team provides pro bono international legal representation to prisoners of conscience, bringing their cases before international judicial and semi-judicial bodies like the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD). To date, we maintain a 100% success rate on opinions issued by the Working Group, including this year’s favorable rulings for dissidents from Iran, Bolivia, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Swaziland, and Egypt.
Over the past two decades, HRF has helped free more than 100 prisoners of conscience around the world. In the past year alone, we helped secure the release of dissidents from Saudi Arabia, Belarus, Jordan, and Bolivia.
Most recently, HRF celebrated the release of Bolivian prisoner of conscience and Santa Cruz governor Luis Fernando Camacho after two years and eight months of arbitrary imprisonment. HRF’s Impact Litigation program played a key role in building the international pressure that led to Camacho’s release.
Equipping people with tools for freedom
HRF supports dissidents on the ground by equipping them with knowledge, tools, and connections to bolster their movements.
One of our earliest projects was simple and daring: smuggling banned information into Cuba. With the help of volunteers, we slipped flash drives and books into the island’s underground library networks. A few years later, HRF launched Flash Drives for Freedom, a daring initiative to smuggle outside information into North Korea on USB drives. To date, the program has delivered more than 138,000 drives with over 62 million hours of reading materials. By disseminating information into closed societies, HRF disrupts channels of propaganda and disinformation and empowers dissidents to dream beyond the confines of authoritarian ideology.
This spirit of innovation drives our efforts to equip activists with freedom technology. As technology rapidly evolves, dictators use AI surveillance, digital censorship, and invasive spyware to maintain control. To confront this, HRF launched digital security programs in its early days, working with partners like Citizen Lab to help dissidents circumvent surveillance. We started the Bitcoin Development Fund to support software developers making financial technologies more secure, private, and resilient for human rights defenders. This year, we launched our AI for Individual Rights program, which invests in open-source AI tools that help activists evade surveillance, resist censorship, and accelerate their work.
In addition to giving activists the technical tools to confront authoritarian repression, HRF recognizes that courage needs support to be sustained. Through the Freedom Fellowship, HRF has trained more than 50 activists from 30 countries to organize securely, advocate effectively, and build resilient movements. HRF’s annual Resilience Retreat gathers human rights activists and experts in psychology, trauma, and leadership to develop strategies to strengthen their mental health and improve their decision-making.
By providing training, fostering resilience, and building community, HRF ensures that pro-democracy advocates remain effective in their organizing.
Inspiring Action
From Oslo to Seoul, HRF organizes high-impact events worldwide to spotlight courageous voices and inspire action against authoritarian rule.
In 2009, with support from the John Templeton Foundation, HRF organized the first Oslo Freedom Forum (OFF) as a one-time “living conference of heroes.” After witnessing the power of that first convening — a room alive with the stories of people who had survived prison, war, revolutions, and censorship, united by a shared commitment to freedom — it was clear that OFF could be more than a standalone event.
Seventeen editions later, OFF has become the premier global gathering for the human rights movement. Described as “the Davos for dissidents,” OFF unites the world’s most fearless journalists, artists, technologists, and advocates on a global stage to amplify their ideas, struggles, and solutions. Since its founding, OFF has featured more than 300 speakers from 107 countries, including 10 Nobel Peace Prize laureates. Next year, OFF will return to Norway for its 18th edition on June 1-3, 2026. Don’t miss the chance to join us at OFF, where dissidents find solidarity and freedom finds its future.
HRF also brings critical conversations to university campuses through the College Freedom Forum (CFF), engaging students directly in the global struggle for human rights. Designed to connect students with frontline activists and global thought leaders, CFF provides a powerful platform for the next generation of scholars, journalists, lawyers, educators, and entrepreneurs to explore the most urgent threats to freedom and the tools to confront them.
Leading universities across the Americas have hosted CFF, including Yale University, Harvard University, Stanford University, and George Washington University in the United States; Universidad del Rosario in Colombia; and Universidad Francisco Marroquín in Guatemala, where the event has become an annual tradition. Over the past decade, CFF has also partnered with institutions such as Tufts University, Arizona State University, the University of Arizona, the University of Colorado Boulder, and Augsburg University to bring the global struggle for freedom to campus.
HRF has also convened leading experts and dissidents to expose the world’s most dangerous autocrats, beginning with the world’s first PutinCon in 2018. Featuring speakers such as Garry Kasparov, Bill Browder, Amy Knight, Preet Bharara, Vladimir Kara-Murza, and the late Alexei Navalny, PutinCon examined how the Kremlin’s web of propaganda, corruption, and violence enabled Putin to build one of the world’s most repressive and dangerous regimes. PutinCon marked a key milestone in our ongoing efforts to confront authoritarianism through truth-telling, international solidarity, and unwavering support for Russia’s pro-democracy movement.
HRF’s NK Insider Forum elevates the voices of defectors and sheds light on life inside totalitarian North Korea. Taking place in Seoul, the forum offers rare firsthand testimonials from defectors, insights from regional and global experts, and strategic discussions that illuminate the realities of life under the Kim regime. In 2025, the NK Insider Forum served as the opening event of the first-ever Seoul World Convention on North Korean Human Rights. More than 400 attendees and 11 diplomatic offices have participated in the event. As authoritarian regimes increasingly collaborate and evolve, the forum provides a crucial platform to equip activists and inform global audiences.
Raising awareness about authoritarianism
HRF uses the power of art, culture, and entertainment to spark global awareness of the tactics of authoritarian regimes.
In closed societies, art provokes dialogue, reclaims narrative space, and inspires resistance where open debate is silenced. HRF’s Art in Protest Residency is a leading program dedicated to supporting and amplifying dissident artists living under authoritarian regimes. Through exhibitions, digital galleries, residencies, and mentorship, HRF has offered platforms for over 70 dissident artists whose work advances freedom and human rights. Through installations in Oslo, New York, Miami, and Los Angeles, global digital showcases, and displays at OFF, Art in Protest uplifts voices that regimes try to erase.
HRF’s Celebrities & Dictators program has exposed celebrities for performing for dictators, from Mariah Carey and Jennifer Lopez to Kanye West and Nicki Minaj, and inspires them to use their platforms to stand with those struggling for freedom. Even when celebrities didn’t listen to our calls for change, others did, garnering global attention. Behind the scenes, HRF has helped celebrities make more principled choices.
Elevating human rights in global conversations
Through storytelling across film, podcasts, and media, HRF amplifies dissident voices, exposes injustice, and shapes global conversations about human rights.
In 2020, HRF co-produced “The Dissident,” an exposé uncovering the complex web of lies behind Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The film premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival to sold-out screenings, and received rave reviews in outlets like Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.
The 2023 documentary “Beyond Utopia,” executive produced by HRF, sheds light on the untold stories of those living in the world’s most totalitarian country: North Korea. The BAFTA- and Emmy-nominated film follows the harrowing journeys of North Korean defectors and the work of Pastor Seungeun Kim, an Oslo Freedom Forum speaker and leader of the South Korea-based Caleb Mission, who has rescued more than 1,000 people over more than two decades.
Beyond the screen, HRF continues to elevate human rights narratives through podcast storytelling, reaching new audiences with powerful voices and urgent truths. HRF’s flagship podcast series, Dissidents & Dictators, spotlights the voices of those challenging authoritarian regimes, including Iranian journalist and activist Masih Alinejad and “Hotel Rwanda” hero Paul Rusesabagina.
HRF also produces original video series that spotlight bold individuals and untold human rights stories. Dare to Dissent chronicles powerful stories of defiance against dictatorship, from Kazakhstan to Saudi Arabia, and mobilizes international solidarity. The Struggle for Freedom, Explained delves deeper into the stories behind major human rights crises, from the resilience of the Sudanese people in the face of dictatorship and civil war to China’s systematic repression against the Uyghur people.
Keeping freedom in the spotlight
Since its founding, HRF has used the media to confront authoritarianism and elevate stories of resistance. In 2004, HRF’s founder Thor Halvorssen denounced the crimes of the Chávez regime in The Wall Street Journal. That piece marked the first of many where HRF turned to the media to expose human rights abuses, challenge authoritarian narratives, and spotlight the courage of individuals standing up to tyranny.
Media coverage has continued to amplify our impact: shaping public opinion, shifting political conversations, and ensuring that those living under repression are not forgotten. In The New York Times, the BBC, Vogue, CNN, the Economist, and other outlets, HRF’s campaigns and programs have reached millions, bringing light to stories too often left in the dark.
HRF remains committed to using every platform possible to keep freedom in the spotlight and ensure that the truth is impossible to ignore. Check out HRF’s 20th anniversary media highlights booklet here.
2026 and Beyond: Propelling the movement for freedom and democracy
Over the past two decades, HRF has become a global force for human rights, with programs active worldwide and a network of changemakers ready to answer when freedom is under threat. But our work is far from over: 73 percent of the world still lives under authoritarian rule. As we look to the next chapter of HRF’s journey, our purpose is clearer than ever. Dictators are not resting, and the struggle for freedom and democracy must keep pace to confront their abuses.
Over the next two decades, we plan to expand our global footprint, deepen our partnerships with dissidents, and continue to launch new initiatives that confront tyranny in all its forms. We will grow our reach, strengthen our advocacy, and continue to be a relentless voice for the millions still waiting for the world to hear their stories.
None of this would be possible without you.
Every prisoner freed and every piece of banned information that crosses a border, begins with someone who refuses to look away: someone like you.
Thank you for standing with us. With your continued support, HRF will carry this mission into the next 20 years, stronger, bolder, and more determined than ever.
Take Action
There are many ways to support our mission and the ongoing struggle against tyranny. As a charitable nonprofit organization, HRF is only able to conduct our work thanks to the generosity of committed individuals like you.
Donate Cash
Donate to HRF or your favorite HRF program. HRF is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, and all donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law. Our tax ID number is 20-2669700.
Donate Bitcoin
HRF accepts Bitcoin donations via BTCPay Server, a self-hosted, open-source cryptocurrency payment processor. Learn more here.
Donate Stock
Donate stock online at every.org/hrf or contact our team at [email protected] for our DTC (direct-to-consumer) information to make a stock gift to HRF today.
Donate Flash Drives
Donate USB drives and SD cards as in-kind donations to HRF’s NYC office to help us smuggle outside information into North Korea.
