Key Takeaways:
- RFK Human Rights secured a landmark voting rights win in Ethiopia and helped establish protest as a right in Zimbabwe.
- The organization’s strategy hinges on long-term partnerships and local empowerment across Africa, Latin America, and Asia.
- Kerry Kennedy calls for courage, replication, and visionary leadership to uplift the next generation of defenders.
A lifelong fight for civic space
Kerry Kennedy, President of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, has laid out a powerful roadmap for the future of human rights advocacy. In a new global anthology titled Visions for the Future, Kennedy details how RFK Human Rights’ decades-long work has helped shift international legal norms through persistence, partnerships, and precedent-setting litigation.
“This work is not about how powerful you are. Human rights defenders are defined by their commitment,” she writes.
Since 1968, RFK Human Rights has partnered with grassroots organizations across Africa, Asia, and Latin America to defend civic space and uphold freedoms like peaceful protest, free speech, and fair elections. One of the most significant recent victories came in Ethiopia, where after eight years of litigation, a landmark ruling affirmed the right to vote and raised new standards for election credibility. Another came in Zimbabwe, where the African Commission declared peaceful protest a right—not a privilege.
Justice is a process, not a verdict
Kerry Kennedy emphasized that international legal progress takes time—and that lasting change only happens through collaboration.
“Our attorneys take cases to court,” she said, “but our partners are the ones monitoring the situation on the ground, ensuring that those verdicts translate into actionable change.”
By training local lawyers, leveraging its Civic Space Case Tracker, and sharing strategies globally, RFK Human Rights continues to strengthen civil society while helping other organizations replicate success.
A call for courageous leadership
Kennedy invokes the spirit of her father, Robert F. Kennedy, as she urges the next generation of leaders to step forward.
“Those with the courage to enter the moral conflict will find themselves with companions in every corner of the globe,” she quotes him.
She concludes with a vision rooted in unity and resilience: “This courage will be what provides the visionary leadership to continue and strengthen the championing of human rights which is what is needed as we go forward.”
About the anthology
Kerry Kennedy’s contribution is featured in Visions for the Future, a global collection of leadership stories curated by Amir Dossal, President and CEO of the Global Partnerships Forum.
The anthology amplifies voices of changemakers working across borders to reshape a more just, inclusive, and sustainable world—spotlighting bold action, collaborative solutions, and what it means to refuse the status quo.
“This is our invitation to you,” Dossal writes, “please join us in reshaping our world for the better.”
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