Dublin Castle to host more than 100 human rights defenders from around the world
Dozens of the most at-risk human rights defenders (HRDs) from all regions of the world will meet in Dublin Castle for three days from 26-28 October at Front Line Defenders’ flagship event, the Dublin Platform.
This year’s Dublin Platform – the first since the Covid-19 pandemic, and the 11th ever – will bring together more than 100 HRDs from around 100 countries.
Among them are: Rula Jamal of the Palestinian organisation Al-Haq, which Israeli authorities have targeted with intimidation and surveillance; persecuted land and housing rights defenders from countries including Brazil, Côte d’Ivoire and South Africa; and journalists under attack, including Carlos Ernesto Choc Chub from an indigenous Maya Q'eqchi community in Guatemala.
“Human rights defenders and the freedoms they champion have been under attack like never before in our lifetime, with countries in all regions of the world seeing increased repression of civil society,” said Andrew Anderson, Executive Director of Front Line Defenders.
“The Dublin Platform builds hope and solidarity as a way to fight back against that bleak picture. It provides a unique opportunity for dozens of courageous human rights defenders to gather, network and strategize in safety.
“Equally as important, it gives human rights defenders a forum to speak out about the violations they face at the hands of some of the world’s most repressive governments.”
First held in 2002, the previous 10 Dublin Platforms have given hundreds of HRDs from almost every country the opportunity to share strategies for advocacy and protection, build solidarity with colleagues around the world, and network with high-level decision makers.
Among the dignitaries addressing this year’s Platform will be Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, and Jack Chambers TD, Irish Government Chief Whip and Minister of State for Sport and the Gaeltacht.
The HRDs attending the Dublin Platform work on a wide range of issues including: land and environmental rights; enforced disappearances; LGBTIQ+ rights; journalists facing threats and persecution; women human rights defenders; and those working to fight corruption and corporate abuse.
Ahead of each Dublin Platform, Front Line Defenders works with all HRD participants to coordinate panel discussions, defender testimonies, presentations and working groups to address the HRDs’ most pressing security and protection issues.
Besides providing HRDs with applicable skills for their advocacy work when they return home, the Dublin Platform is a crucial moment for them to build solidarity with like-minded activists in other regions of the world.
“I have travelled [thousands of] miles, over mountains, over seas, and over countries to get here to this gathering of frontline human rights defenders to speak a secret violence that my people have lived through,” said Cressida Kuala, a women’s rights defender and environmental activist from Papua New Guinea who attended the 2019 Dublin Platform.
The HRDs in attendance will also commemorate their colleagues around the world who have been killed for their peaceful work, at a special candlelight vigil held at the HRD Memorial monument in Dublin’s Iveagh Gardens.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
Front Line Defenders is an international human rights organisation founded in Dublin in 2001, with the specific aim of protecting human rights defenders at risk (HRDs). Hosting the Dublin Platform is one of the key ways in which the organisation supports HRDs from around the world.
Each of the 10 previous Dublin Platforms (in 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019) brought together more than 100 human rights defenders from over 80 countries around the world.
For more information, to receive bios of the human rights defenders in attendance or to arrange an interview, please contact:
Aisha Hamdulay: ahamdulay@frontlinedefenders.org or +353 (0)83 364 1677
Conor Fortune: cfortune@frontlinedefenders.org or +353 (0)85 802 0895
