The Human Rights Defender Hub held a public event on 5th October at the King's Manor, University of York.  Andrea Rocca from Frontline Defenders introduced the award winning documentary Backlash - the War on Human Rights.

“Violence against human rights defenders is not new, but this documentary looks beyond individual attacks to highlight the alarmingly concerted attack by the powerful on the very idea of human rights. All around the world, Governments are becoming far more malicious, creative and insidious in the way that they suppress critical voices and repress and discredit the work of NGOs and human rights defenders.  This is increasingly happening even in countries that profess to support democracy and human rights.”

Unless we act now, our society faces a fundamental challenge as to what type of world we're going to live in…

The film was followed by presentations touching upon issues raised in the film:

Monette Zard, Center for Strategic and International Studies

Memory Bandera, Eastern Horn of Africa Human Rights Defender Project

Angela Kuga Thas, Gender Evaluation Methodology Research and Business Services Coordinator at the Association for Progressive Communications and University of Queensland.

The evening will be chaired by Alice Nah, Lecturer at the Centre for Applied Human Rights - with ample opportunity for questions and discussion.