How to talk about 2020 without starting out with COVID-19? Yet, 2020 was so much more: it was our second year of existence during which we consolidated our work, but also, like many other organizations, faced the various challenges posed by the pandemic.

Operationally, we streamlined our work into four main areas of human rights that we estimate especially important to support peace efforts: freedom from discrimination and the promotion of the rights of women and girls, child rights and children’s right to education, cultural rights, including the protection of cultural heritage, and freedom of expression. We implemented four projects and several activities to promote the respect for these rights in Syria and beyond.

On the one hand, the human rights challenges in a post-pandemic context may seem daunting – reports of increased levels of child recruitment and use, domestic violence against women and children, crackdowns on freedom of expression and democratic processes, etc. On the other hand, many organizations – local, regional, and global – are also coming out of the health crisis with a mindset that change is needed and indeed possible, if we work together and rethink what is not working. These organizations can count on Fight for Humanity and its passion for human rights in this struggle.