ProtectDefenders.eu has been the featured project during the Paris Peace Forum's conversation on the United Nations declarations on Human Rights and Human Rights Defenders. Andrew Anderson, Front Line Defenders' executive director and member of the Board of ProtectDefenders.eu, highlighted that "over the last three years, we have been able to provide emergency support to more than 11,000 human rights defenders worldwide. This is not only statistics: it is immediate and practical assistance to people defending human rights when they are most at risk".
"On issues of women's rights and LGBTQ rights we see a very well organized backlash so that attention can be taken away from corruption and authoritarianism. But that in itself is a sign that there is avancement on these rights", Anderson pointed out, alluding to the current context in which when human rights defenders are increasingly the subject of severe attacks and threats.
ProtectDefenders.eu has participated in the first Paris Peace Forum, showcasing the experience of the international civil society implementing the EU HRD mechanism as a successful example of civil society partnership and taking stock of the achievements and challenges of ProtectDefenders.eu as an essential and consolidated tool for the protection, empowerment and sustainability of human rights defenders and human rights organizations in the places where they are most at risk.
