Dr Yuri Melini of Guatemala was riddled with bullets for his work to protect the environmental rights of indigenous people.
He survived, but interpreter and fellow human rights activist Nicole Moreno of Honduras was not so lucky: she was the third transsexual to be murdered by police in her country within a three-month period.
Meanwhile in Mexico, Lucha Castro campaigns regularly to heighten awareness of the murder of women in Chihuahua state and Ciudad Juárez. Because of her work, she has been threatened and harassed.
These activists are the kind of people that Front Line – which bills itself as ‘the international foundation for the protection of human rights defenders’ – seeks to protect around the globe.
More than 100 human rights defenders from 85 countries attended Front Line’s conference in Dublin Castle last week, according to Jim Loughran of the Blackrock-based group.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin and Front Line director Mary Lawlor were guest speakers at the group’s Platform event, which hosted representatives from Central America, China, Afghanistan, Iran, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Burundi, Russia, Peru, and the United States.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, one of the conference speakers, praised the human rights defenders and their ability to effect change on the ground, and emphasised that they need and deserve protection.
Front Line seeks to raise €300,000 this year for security grants of up to €6,000 each. This funding can help provide for bulletproof windows, safe homes for journalists in Iraq, security cameras in India, and digital security protection for human rights activists who use the internet.
“The protection of human rights defenders is our core business,” said Loughran after the event. “The most effective thing we can do is to let them learn from each other, to share their experience, and also to look specifically at areas where they can use the expertise of Front Line and other experts.”
