The Dublin Platform aims to create a space in which human rights defenders can share experiences and learn from each other. It is also a space in which the voice of individual HRDs can be heard allowing them to speak of their own experience without the risk of threat or intimidation.To name the problem is to go part of the way to finding a solution and working together, that is what we seek to achieve.

Every single testimony speaks of the cruelty and viciousness of those who will resort to anything to hold onto their power or privileges. They also speak of the immense courage of brave men and women who are willing to challenge this abuse of power and defend the rights of others. Confronted on a daily basis with images and reports of violence and atrocities it is very easy to give up hope. Yet in reading these testimonies I am reminded of the quote from the Torah used by Thomas Kenneally, author of Schindler’s List, “He who saves a single life saves the world entire” which reminds us that hope can ultimately triumph, not with dramatic changes but with individual acts of courage such as we read here.

Mary Lawlor
Director
Front Line