On the fifth anniversary of the launch of the Stand As My Witness campaign, global civil society alliance CIVICUS calls on governments around the world to immediately release all unjustly imprisoned human rights defenders. The campaign has contributed to the release of 31 people since its start on Nelson Mandela International Day 2020.
“The imprisonment of human rights defenders and civil society activists is a worsening global crisis,” said Stand As My Witness campaign lead Asma Darwish. “We call on governments—from Algeria to Belarus to Hong Kong to India to Mexico—to immediately and unconditionally release detained human rights defenders. We urge the international community to amplify our call.”
Stand As My Witness first launched to draw attention to jailed human rights defenders around the world and to provide a platform for activists, artists, academics, journalists and others around the world to show solidarity and demand justice. The campaign is now a symbol of global solidarity and resistance against the unjust imprisonment of human rights defenders like Nelson Mandela, who was sentenced for his opposition to South African apartheid.
Stand As My Witness currently features 18 imprisoned human rights defenders who must be immediately and unconditionally released. These people include pro-democracy parliamentarians Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube in Eswatini, Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora, civil society leader Khurram Parvez held by Indian authorities, Iranian women’s rights activist Narges Mohammedi, and human rights lawyer Buzurgmehr Yorov in Tajikistan.
While CIVICUS continues to agitate for all jailed human rights defenders to be released, the organisation also celebrates the dozens of human rights defenders who have walked free since the start of the Stand As My Witness campaign, such as Burundian journalist Floriane Irangabiye, Nicaraguan human rights defender Maria Esperanza Sanchez, Kazakhstan protester Asya Tulesova, Pakistani civil society leader Professor Muhammad Ismail and Saudi Arabian women’s rights activist Loujain Al-Hathloul.
"The Stand As My Witness campaign was instrumental in ending the persecution my family and I faced from the Pakistan authorities just for speaking up,” said Muhammad Ismail, who was jailed under false terrorism accusations following extensive judicial harassment. “As the campaign marks its fifth anniversary, I hope that CIVICUS will continue to raise the cases of many other human rights defenders behind bars across the world and stand in solidarity with these activists until they are released."
Stand As My Witness shows that the collective action of people standing up, civil society pressure and diplomatic engagement can make a difference.
“As a human rights defender targeted by my own government and forced into exile, I understand the isolation and danger faced by those who are silenced,” said Asma Darwish. “Working on behalf of human rights defenders kept in the dark is not just a cause—it’s a lived experience. I know what it means to feel forgotten, but I also know the power of being remembered. Stand As My Witness is more than a campaign—it is a call for solidarity, resistance, and courage.”
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