Civil Rights Defenders

Civil Rights Defenders is an independent expert organisation founded in Stockholm in 1982 with the aim of defending human rights, in particular people’s civil and political rights, while also supporting and empowering human rights defenders at risk. 30 years of human rights work Civil Rights Defenders (previously known as the Swedish Helsinki Committee for Human Rights) was originally a part of the Helsinki Movement. During the Cold War, an agreement was signed by the Eastern and Western Bloc countries in the Finnish capital in 1975. This inspired citizens all around Europe and in the United States to form non-governmental organisations to monitor their own governments with regard to respecting human rights. The Helsinki family grew to include more than 40 organisations.

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