Thriving Through Trials

I had the privilege of spending a powerful day at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy, surrounded by inspiring human rights defenders from across the world.

Outside the conference center, hundreds of Iranians had gathered, waving flags and chanting in solidarity with their Crown Prince, Reza Pahlavi. Their passion was electrifying, but it also meant a long, freezing wait. After over three hours in the queue, I was told the venue was at full capacity. In that moment, I almost felt like I needed a human rights defender myself—was it fair to travel from Italy, register in advance, only to be turned away? But in the end, a hot cup of tea felt like the more urgent battle….

Once inside, I was engulfed by stories of resilience and resistance, from Iran to Sudan, Eritrea to Cuba, and Russia. I listened to Namkyi, a Tibetan activist imprisoned at 15, who endured torture and forced labor before escaping to India. Then Edmundo González, Venezuela’s president-elect, who won the 2024 election but was forced into exile when Nicolás Maduro refused to accept defeat.

At the end of the conference, shaking González’s hand felt like touching history, like touching Ndadaye, Burundi’s first democratically elected president, a former refugee who dared to believe in change.

As I listened, I saw myself in those who spoke. We have all faced different degrees of oppression and success, but one truth remains: we are not perfect. Human rights defenders are not righteous people. We are flawed, imperfect, and sometimes deeply broken. Yet we act. Not because we are saints, but because we refuse to be silent in the face of injustice.

I found myself angry, heartbroken, and hopeful all at once, as if my emotions were dancing to the rhythm of each speaker’s story. The weight of injustice, the raw pain of suffering, and the defiant courage of those who refuse to be broken stirred something deep within me; a mix of rage at the cruelty of oppression, sorrow for those who have lost everything, and hope that change, however slow, is still possible.

If justice waited for perfect people, it would never come. Calling evil by its name does not require moral purity, it requires a conscience. Some fight in the spotlight. Others, unseen, open doors for the persecuted, offer shelter, tend to the wounded. They may never be known, yet they are the greatest defenders of all.

But this work has a price. Threats, Imprisonment, Exile and Death. The world often punishes those who try to fix it. We do not fight because we are fearless, we fight because we cannot ignore injustice.

Human rights defenders are not righteous humans. We are simply people who choose justice over comfort. And that is enough.