Defend International is an international non-governmental organisation

Non-governmental organization

A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...

 whose mission is "to respond to grave violations of human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

 and of International Humanitarian Law

International humanitarian law

International humanitarian law , often referred to as the laws of war, the laws and customs of war or the law of armed conflict, is the legal corpus that comprises "the Geneva Conventions and the Hague Conventions, as well as subsequent treaties, case law, and customary international law." It...

 and to monitor the implementation of preventive measures that are designed to end impunity for the perpetrators of these crimes." Based in Norway, DI aims to disseminate knowledge about human rights and mobilise public opinion in favour of the implementation of international law and UN resolutions.

Widad Akrawi

Widad Akrawi

Widad Akrawi, , is a Kurdish author, lecturer, senior lobbyist, human rights defender and currently the President of Defend International.-Early years:Akrawi was born in Akre, Iraq and has been residing in Denmark since 1992...

 is currently the president of Defend International.".

Work

As a non-state actor, Defend International targets governments, international institutions and non-governmental groups.

DI works on the following key areas:

• Ending Capital Punishment
  Capital punishment
  Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
  
   ,
• Stopping Torture
  Torture
  Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
  
   ,
• Protecting the rights of Prisoners of Conscience
  Prisoner of conscience
  Prisoner of conscience is a term defined in Peter Benenson's 1961 article "The Forgotten Prisoners" often used by the human rights group Amnesty International. It can refer to anyone imprisoned because of their race, religion, or political views...
  
   and Civil Society Activists ,
• Defending Children's Rights
  Children's rights
  Children's rights are the human rights of children with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to the young, including their right to association with both biological parents, human identity as well as the basic needs for food, universal state-paid education,...
  
   ,
• Defending Women's Rights
  Women's rights
  Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
  
   ,
• Defending the rights of Human rights defenders,
• Defending the rights of Refugee
  Refugee
  A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
  
  s,
• Safeguarding the Environment
  Natural environment
  The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
  
   ,
• Promoting Disarmament
  Disarmament
  Disarmament is the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing weapons. Disarmament generally refers to a country's military or specific type of weaponry. Disarmament is often taken to mean total elimination of weapons of mass destruction, such as nuclear arms...
  
   and International Security
  International Security
  International Security is a peer-reviewed academic journal in the field of international and national security. It was founded in 1976 and is edited by the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University and published four times a year by MIT Press, both of Cambridge,...
  
  .

External links

• Defend International official site