Society for Threatened Peoples

Description

The Society for Threatened Peoples, known in German as Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker, is an international human rights organization based in Göttingen, Germany.

It grew out of Aktion Biafra-Hilfe, founded in 1968 during the Biafra war to draw attention to famine and genocide in Nigeria. The group became the Society for Threatened Peoples in 1970 and moved its headquarters to Göttingen in 1978. It has held consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council since 1993 and participatory status with the Council of Europe since 2005.

The organization works to protect ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities and Indigenous peoples who are threatened, persecuted or denied their rights. It acts through political advocacy, public campaigns and direct support for affected communities, and it publishes reports and the journal Pogrom. It lobbies governments and international bodies and organizes letter-writing and postcard campaigns on behalf of threatened groups.

It is independent, non-partisan and funded mainly by donations and membership fees. The Society for Threatened Peoples is part of an international network with sections in Switzerland, South Tyrol and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it has been active on issues from Eastern Europe and Africa to Indigenous peoples in the Americas.