Support Human Rights Defenders
Sign the petition now!
Worldwide, countless individuals are working day-by-day to alleviate suffering and promote peace and justice within their own communities. These unnamed heroes often risk their own lives and well-being in the process.
Human rights defenders represent change from the ground up, and strive for the the effective elimination of all violations of human rights and for the fundamental freedoms of peoples and individuals (OHCHR). They are our most powerful catalysts for conflict resolution and peace building between groups and nations.
Unfortunately, being a human rights defender has never been so dangerous (Amnesty HRD report, OHCHR).
The increasing risks that human rights defenders contend with is evident, as is their role in championing positive social change.
For most however, their ability to function is unsustainable without basic support from those who can give it, and there is currently no mechanism in place that rewards or sustains the activities of those that fight for peaceful change from the ground up.
In a world where global military expenditure in 2019 was estimated at $1917 billion, and 80 million people were forcibly displaced as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, and human rights violations, we believe that Changemakers on the ground deserve a budget as well.
It is time to reserve some of our global capital to encourage and sustain the human rights-orientated goals of our society. It is only through a concerted effort by an inclusive civil society, that real political, social, and environmental transformation be achieved.
This petition simply calls to recognize the need to support society’s Changemakers.
By signing this petition, you are recognizing the need to support Human Rights Defenders and Environmental Activists in their pursuit of human rights, democracy and a healthy planet, and as vital catalysts of change in communities around the world.
Acknowledge the need to support Changemakers!
You already pay your taxes, it is now time to have a say in what they are used for.
“… Capitalism turns out to be amazingly ineffective in watching out for people” (Trebor Scholz, 2017).
In his ‘Elements of the Philosophy of Right,’ Georg Hegel proclaimed that within a realm strictly governed by economic incentives —void of institutional market barriers— responsibility and charity are too volatile to structurally persist.
While the ethical currency of human rights activities carries little or no value in the market place (which mainly serves to discourage them) it is time to reserve some of our global capital to encourage and sustain the human rights-orientated goals of our society.
The good news is that there are more coordinated efforts to stop human rights abuses, to stop dictators, to stop environmental degradation, to stop police brutality, to stop discrimination, and to bring perpetrators to justice, than ever before.
The bad news is that all of these grass-root initiatives are severely understaffed, under-trained, and under-supported. Should these efforts be properly supported, we would all benefit from seeing the changes happening around us.
Please sign this petition to acknowledge the need to support those, who against all odds, dedicate their lives to defending basic human rights for all.
THANK YOU!
This petition will be sent to the Peace Palace in The Hague and the European Parliament. This is the first step towards gathering sufficient support in order to lobby for new international legislation that sustains human rights defenders around the world.
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