International Federation for Human Rights

Description

The International Federation for Human Rights, FIDH, is a federation of national human rights organizations. It was founded in 1922 and today brings together nearly 200 member organizations from over 115 countries. It is nonpartisan, nonsectarian and independent of any government.

FIDH works to defend all the rights set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related international covenants. It protects human rights defenders, promotes women’s and migrants’ rights, and pushes for judicial mechanisms that hold perpetrators of violations to account. It runs fact-finding and trial observation missions, conducts research, carries out advocacy and brings litigation, often through cases before the International Criminal Court or regional human rights courts.

The federation supports and coordinates its member organizations at local, regional and international level, and builds their capacity through training and cooperation programmes. It maintains permanent delegations to the United Nations in Geneva, the European Union in Brussels and the International Criminal Court in The Hague. It also raises public awareness of human rights violations through reports, press releases, urgent appeals and petitions.

FIDH holds consultative status before the United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe, and observer status before several regional and international bodies. Its headquarters are in Paris, with a regional office in Tunis and joint offices in Ivory Coast, the Central African Republic and Mali. It is governed by a Congress held every three years and an elected International Board.