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Freedom Now is a Washington, D.C.-based
non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
, non-partisan organization that protects individuals and communities from government repression and defends human rights through direct legal support, targeted high-leverage advocacy, and capacity-building analysis and assistance. Its approach is to use focused legal, political, and public relations advocacy efforts designed to compel the release of individuals deprived of their liberty in violation of the rights and freedoms enshrined in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt ...
, the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is a multilateral treaty that commits nations to respect the civil and political rights of individuals, including the right to life, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, fre ...
, and other
international human rights instruments International human rights instruments are the treaties and other international texts that serve as legal sources for international human rights law and the protection of human rights in general. There are many varying types, but most can be clas ...
. A small organization with limited resources, Freedom Now works closely with other human rights organizations and lawyers to identify high-impact cases that would benefit from the organization's approach.


Notable campaigns

Freedom Now represents 38 prisoners of conscience worldwide, including: *
Abdulhadi Alkhawaja Abdulhadi Abdulla Hubail al-Khawaja ( ar, عبد الهادي عبد الله حبيل الخواجة) is a Bahraini political activist. On 22 June 2011, al-Khawaja and eight others were sentenced to life imprisonment following the suppression o ...
(
Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and a ...
) * Loujain Alhathloul (
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Ara ...
) * G.N. Saibaba (
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
) *
Buzurgmehr Yorov Buzurgmehr Yorov (russian: link=no, Бузургмехр Ёров, tg, Бузургмеҳр Ёров; 9 July 1971) is a Tajik human rights lawyer and member of the opposition Social Democratic Party of Tajikistan. Throughout the 2000s, serving as ...
(
Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...
)


Notable past campaigns

Prisoners of conscience previously represented by Freedom Now include: *
Eskinder Nega Eskinder Nega ( Ge'ez: እስክንድር ነጋ, born 7 November 1969) is an Ethiopian journalist, blogger and politician who has been jailed at least ten times by the Ethiopian government on convictions for treason and terrorism. Early life ...
(
Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
) *
Óscar Elías Biscet Óscar Elías Biscet González (born July 20, 1961 in Havana, Cuba) is a Cuban physician and an advocate for human rights and democratic freedoms in Cuba. He is also the founder of the Lawton Foundation. Biscet was given a 25-year prison se ...
, M.D. (
Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...
) *
Father Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fath ...
(
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...
) *
Andrei Sannikov Andrei Olegovich Sannikov (or Andrei Sannikau, be, Андрэй Алегавіч Саннікаў, russian: Андрей Олегович Санников, born 8 March 1954) is a Belarusian politician and activist. In the early 1990s, he heade ...
(
Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
) *
Lapiro de Mbanga Lambo Sandjo Pierre Roger (7 April 1957 – 16 March 2014), better known as Lapiro de Mbanga, was a Cameroonian singer who is noted for his 1985 recording of "Pas argent no love" and for being imprisoned in 2008 after criticising Cameroon presid ...
(
Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the ...
) * Dr. Yang Jianli (
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
)


UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Database

In 2011, Freedom Now partnered with the UN and Thomson Reuters to create th
UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Database
The online database includes over 1,000 legal decisions from 1992 to the present. It is the only searchable, complete database of Working Group decisions available. Freedom Now continues to monitor and update the database.


References


External links


Freedom Now homepage
Human rights organizations based in the United States {{Nonprofit-org-stub