Freedom Now is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit, non-partisan organization that protects individuals and communities from government repression and defends human rights through direct legal support, targeted high-leverage advocacy, and capacity-building analysis and assistance.[1]

Freedom Now
Founded2001; 23 years ago (2001)
FounderJared Genser
FocusHuman rights
Location
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Maran Turner
(Executive director)
Websitefreedom-now.org

Its approach is to use focused legal, political, and public relations advocacy efforts[2] designed to compel the release of individuals deprived of their liberty in violation of the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and other international human rights instruments.[3]

A small organization with limited resources, Freedom Now works closely with other human rights organizations and lawyers[example needed] to identify high-impact cases that would benefit from the organization's approach.

Notable campaigns edit

Freedom Now represents 38 prisoners of conscience worldwide, including:[4]

Notable past campaigns edit

 
Óscar Elías Biscet in 2016.

Prisoners of conscience previously represented by Freedom Now include:[4]

UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Database edit

In 2011, Freedom Now partnered with the UN and Thomson Reuters to create the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Database. The online database includes over 1,000 legal decisions from 1992 to the present.[5] It is the only searchable, complete database of Working Group decisions available. Freedom Now continues to monitor and update the database.[6]

References edit

  1. ^ "About Us | Freedom Now". www.freedom-now.org. Retrieved 2021-07-23.
  2. ^ Kashino, Marisa M. "I'm an American" Washingtonian Oct. 12, 2010. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  3. ^ Jared Genser & Margaret Winterkorn-Meikle, The Intersection of Politics and International Law: The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in Theory and Practice, 38 COLUM. HUM. RTS. L. REV. 101, 131 n. 139 (2008).
  4. ^ a b "Cases | Freedom Now". www.freedom-now.org. Retrieved 2021-07-23.
  5. ^ MarketScreener. "Thomson Reuters Corp : United Nations, Thomson Reuters and Freedom Now Establish Legal Database | MarketScreener". www.marketscreener.com. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
  6. ^ "United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Document Search".

External links edit