ProtectDefenders.eu Conference 2022 - The Human Rights Defenders’ Movement at a crossroad

For the first time since the beginning of the COVID crisis, ProtectDefenders.eu resumes the organization of its annual conference in person, in Brussels. This year, more than thirty human rights defenders from all over the world took the floor in a moment of a global backlash against the grass-roots movement for human rights and democracy, and called to renew the EU pledge to human rights defenders.

This conference featured the testimonies and experiences of a great diversity of grassroots activists coming from all backgrounds, with the participation of the United Nations Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights Defenders, Mary Lawlor; the French Ambassador at Large for Human Rights, Delphine Borione; the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Rapporteur on the Rights of Human Rights Defenders and Justice Operators, Commissioner Joel Hernández García; the Human Development, Migration, Governance and Peace Unit Acting Director at the European Commission, Chiara Adamo, as well as Human Rights NGOs, Representatives of international and regional Protection Mechanisms, representatives of the European Union institutions, and Members of the EU Temporary Relocation Platform.