Our story
Why PHRD exists
Human rights defenders — journalists, lawyers, activists, community organisers — are among the most targeted individuals in the world. They face surveillance, imprisonment, exile, and violence precisely because their work matters. When national systems fail them, they need international structures willing to act.
PHRD was founded in 2026 out of the conviction that no defender should face repression alone. We combine rigorous documentation with strategic advocacy, bringing defenders' cases and the systemic failures that enable repression to the attention of the international community.
We operate at the EU institutional level, engaging policymakers, MEPs, and international bodies — not as observers, but as active participants in shaping the policies and mechanisms that determine whether defenders survive and thrive.
Our work is grounded in a defender-centred, trauma-informed approach that recognises the whole person behind every case, and that treats solidarity as a genuine commitment rather than a rhetorical gesture.