Why be active for human rights?
The confrontations with National Socialism during his student days left their mark on him: „How could this happen … Why didn’t more people stand up against it?“ Peter Franck talks about his decades-long commitment to human rights – as an Amnesty activist and current board member of the Human Rights Foundation.
What moves us
We live in fragile times. Even in our western democracies, we have to wake up and make sure that what we have so gloriously fought for is not taken away from us. We must stand up for human rights and freedom of expression, for a vibrant, colourful society, for the privilege of being able to go to sleep at night without fear of being picked up by henchmen for what we may have said the day before.
Many of us rarely realise how protected we are in our constitutional state. And how important it is to support those who have to live differently, who are at risk when they speak out, when they defend human rights, when they defend people against political arbitrariness.
Everyone can do something. Anyone can help. And they don’t even have to test the limits of their courage, like those we are introducing to you here and – hopefully with your help – would like to continue to support.
Our work has become more difficult – and all the more important.
We want to support human rights defenders. So that they can continue their important and courageous work and realise their projects. Whether it’s standing by the side of people whose rights are being arbitrarily violated by those in power. Or collecting testimonies and documents of human rights violations so that those responsible can one day be brought to justice. Or to support those who are being subjected to criminal proceedings in order to silence them
More and more governments are fighting against international cooperation and financial support across borders, as explicitly legitimised in the UN Declaration on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders. Harassment and imprisonment are not uncommon. That is why human rights defenders need our protection and our solidarity.
Our Human Rights Foundation has been supporting the work of the German section of Amnesty International with its projects since 2003.
