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Indigenous women human rights defenders in Africa face unique challenges, from standing up to patriarchal norms and fighting land grabs by extractive industries, to resisting the gendered impacts of climate change and forced evictions-

In this episode, we chat to two indigenous women human rights defenders - Janepher Baitwamasa from Uganda, and Ilaria Potipa Loonkolia from Kenya, both of whom organise for women’s rights, land rights and access to justice within their communities.

They’ve faced pushback from within their communities, harassment, and threats. They speak candidly about what it means to work as a woman human rights defender in patriarchal societies, confronting both cultural and systemic violence; and how they continue to resist, organise, and protect land and people.

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Mona Shtaya is a pioneering digital rights defender with more than a decade of experience. Her advocacy and campaigning has resulted in exposing digital discrimination against oppressed people, building coalitions, and mobilising groups to hold governments and tech giants accountable.

In this episode she talks about:

- What it means to be a digital rights defender (1:00 +)
- Challenges in the digital space in the MENA region (4:00 +)
- The (mis)use of laws to criminalise HRDs online (8:00)
- Digitial rights aspects of Israel/Palestine and the most recent Gaza genocide: (11:00 +, 46:00 +)
- Shadow banning (20:20 +; 29:00 +)
- How social media companies have responded to the violation of rights online (22:00 +)
- Personal challenges she has faced online as a woman human rights defender (25:00 +)
- Technology facilitated gender based violence (27:00+)
- How algorithms and other technical aspects of censorship works (35:00 +)
- How to beat the algorithm (41:00+)

*Note: This was recorded in October 2024, prior to the ceasefire of the Gaza genocide.

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Idris Khattak, a Pakistani human rights defender, was forcibly disappeared 5 years ago. He was, and remains, a single father of 2 daughters. For almost two years after his disappearance, they had no clue about his whereabouts, worried about his safety and whether he was alive.

Authorities eventually revealed that he was being held in Military custody under the Official Secrets Act (OSA), a law aimed at protecting information held by government employees. He was tried and wrongfully convicted by a military court under the OSA and sentenced to 14 years imprisonment in December 2021. An appeal against his conviction is pending before a military court and offers some hope for his release, but there has been little movement or response. The human rights defender has spent nearly five years of imprisonment in crowded and unsanitary conditions.

We talk to his daughter, Talia, who has been campaigning tirelessly for his release and for the Court to respond. She tells us about what it was like to lose her only parent, and what her father and her family has endured since his disappearance.

Front Line Defenders calls on the Pakistan authorities to immediately end his persecution, remove all legal cases against him and release Idris Khattak safely to his family. We call for accountability for his enforced disappearance and treatment by the Pakistan authorities, including the unlawful and unjust practice of trying a civilian in a military court, and denying him access to an effective legal remedy and due process rights.

See more details here: https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/profile/idris-khattak

How You Can Take Action

1. Advocate to the President:
Urge the President of Pakistan to act for the release of Idris Khattak. You can:

• Post on Social Media: Share your message on X (Twitter) by tagging @PresOfPakistan, @AAliZardari, or @mohrpakistan.
• Send a Letter by Mail:
  Address your letter to:
  The President of Pakistan
  Aiwan-e-Sadr
  Islamabad, Pakistan

2. Send Messages to Idris Khattak:
Although direct letters cannot reach Idris in Adiala Jail, his family can print and share your messages. Here's how to get involved:

• Post on Social Media: Share your message on X, Facebook, or Instagram, tagging:
  • X: @ReleaseIdrisK
  • Facebook: Release Idris Khattak
  • Instagram: @releaseidriskhattak

Use hashtags like #ReleaseIdrisKhattak to amplify your voice.

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In this multi-episode series, we take a look at the use of laws in Europe and Central Asia criminalising funding received by human rights organisations from foreign sources.

In Georgia, Parliament adopted the ‘’Transparency of Foreign Influence’’ bill in May 2024. The Georgian government has already starting listing organisations as foreign agents.

We chat to Nona Kurdovanidze from the Georgian Young Lawyers Association to find out how the re-introduction of this law has been, and will be, impacting human rights defenders and organisations.

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Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frontlinedefenders/

Send us a text

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frontlinedefenders/

Send us a text

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frontlinedefenders/

Send us a text

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frontlinedefenders/