Mr. Onesmo Paul Olengurumwa
In 2016 he was chosen the best Eastern African Human Rights Defender of the year.
Onesmo Olengurumwa is a prominent human rights lawyer and civil rights, activist. He's the National Coordinator of Tanzania's Human rights Defenders Coalition.
As a founding coordinator of an umbrella human rights group, Olengurumwa is also a vice chairperson of Regional Civil Society forums in consolidating peace and security in the Great Lake region. He is a focal point in the eastern and horn of Africa's Human rights defenders' network and southern Africa's Human rights defenders' network.
HRDs in Tanzania work in a relatively complex environment despite a prevailing level of stability that the country enjoys in comparison to neighbouring countries in the African Great Lakes region. Subtle forms of threats to human rights defenders are regularly recorded, particularly during electoral seasons. Occasional physical attacks against prominent human rights defenders have been noted in the past, and were never followed with meaningful investigations.
