Chapter 2 Human Rights Instruments Human rights activists
Learning outcome 1.5
Students should be able to share stories of individuals or groups who inspire them because of their work for human rights.
A human rights acti vist, or defender, is a person who works on their own or as part of an organisation to protect human rights. Activists also make others aware when human rights are being threatened or not being respected. They can do this as a volunteer or as a paid employee of an organisation. In many countries, human rights activists are threatened, punished, imprisoned, tortured or even disappeared because they are seen as being a threat to the government.