Tarek Lamouchi, Tunisia New Tactics field & training development officer, describes his work with activists and organizations on human rights issues to improve people’s lives and communities.

Curt Goering, CVT's executive director, reflects on the uncertainty for residents of Dadaab as the world honors the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

Rights and freedoms are the focus of this year’s Human Rights Day, according to the UN. Those rights and freedoms—freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear – are the basis of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which applies to all human beings. But this year in particular, that last one, “freedom from fear,” gets stuck in my throat. Because we’re not all free from fear these days. Not by a long shot.

Annie Sovcik, director of CVT's Washington, D.C., office, shares her thoughts on being among those in attendance at the White House reception for Pope Francis.

Each year, thousands of Eritreans flee to refugee camps in northern Ethiopia to escape forced military inscription, persecution, and torture. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recently announced that Ethiopia is now the largest refugee-hosting country in Africa. According to UNHCR, Ethiopia is host to 629,718 refugees. The largest refugee population is South Sudanese (247,000), followed by Somalis (245,000), and Eritreans (99,000). UNHCR says that, over the past seven months, almost 15,000 Eritreans arrived in Ethiopia.As the Eritrean government targets the families of young men who flee the country to avoid forced conscription, more women and children have also fled Eritrea seeking refuge in Ethiopia.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recently issued a report on the plight of Syrian refugee women. Woman Alone: The Fight for Survival by Syria's Refugee Women shows that more than 145,000 Syrian refugee families in Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan – one in four of all households – are headed solely by women. According to UNHCR, the report uncovers that “Many [women] live under the threat of violence or exploitation, and their children face mounting trauma and distress.”