What we have achieved in 2024
In our annual report, we provide detailed information about our work over the past year. This continued to be significantly influenced by Russia’s war against Ukraine and the ongoing extremely precarious human rights situation in Belarus.
In 2024, we celebrated our 15th anniversary. LIBERECO was founded in 2009 by ten student friends in Bonn. Today, our organisation has 115 members from ten countries (excluding LIBERECO Switzerland), all of whom are committed to carrying forward our founding principle: partnership-based work to uphold and defend human rights.
This past year, Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine, has left behind great suffering and a trail of devastation. Together with our local partners, we provided aid near the front line, including financing a mobile clinic and several evacuation vehicles, procuring fuel for the winter and first aid courses in Kharkiv for war injuries. With the “Voices of Ukraine” project and other campaigns, we are also raising awareness of the situation in Ukraine and Germany.
Meanwhile, the human rights situation in Belarus remains devastating. Torture and ill-treatment of political prisoners are commonplace in the prisons there, and the offences go unpunished. At the same time, the judicial system is abused to suppress critical voices. Last year, we were able to provide 140 released political prisoners with medical treatment for the consequences of their imprisonment and, for the first time, offer extrajudicial legal counselling for politically persecuted people from Belarus.
Support the people in Belarus and Ukraine
We have carried out important advocacy work across Europe to draw attention to the situation in Belarus. So successful that the regime of dictator Alexander Lukashenko felt compelled to declare our social media accounts on the platforms X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram as “extremist”. We will not be silenced by this.
We have provided individual psycho-social support to over 700 people affected by war or repression across all countries. Thousands more civil society activists have been trained in stress and trauma-informed training programmes.
All these highlights show: Our actions are having an impact! I would be delighted if you read our annual report and the projects listed in detail to see for yourself and support our work.
Download of the 2024 Annual Report:
