We are concluding a 4-day convening in Manila with the LEF’s Southeast Asia cohort, focused on land and environmental justice. The convening centred cross-border learning and community power. Learn more about the cohort: tinyurl.com/3nhjyujy Reflections from the convening to follow soon.

What happens when ancestral knowledge meets cutting-edge tech and legal know-how? In Tamil Nadu, fisherfolk and activists are working together to defend coastal sand dunes—ecosystems that saved lives during the 2004 tsunami. Watch the video below and read the full story: bit.ly/4pgy9vd

“What’s the use of money with no water?” Developers are bulldozing sand dunes that have protected community water supplies for centuries in Tamil Nadu, India. But activists and fisherfolk are working together to defend the dunes. And it’s working. Watch our new video and share to expose the story.

The Legal Empowerment Fund is offering $10–30k grants for Caribbean grassroots organisations working on land and environmental justice through legal empowerment. Deadline to apply is 19th September. Full details: bit.ly/4fDXkDE

The Legal Empowerment Fund (LEF) is excited to launch the LEF Communications Grant—a new pilot initiative supporting ten grassroots groups that use communications to advance legal empowerment and broaden their impact. Read more: legalempowermentfund.org/updates/lef-...

“People at higher risk of HIV, such as gay men and people who inject drugs, are facing record levels of criminalisation worldwide, according to UNAIDS.” www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

ORRA has released a new documentary showing their long fight for justice after fossil fuel development displaced communities in Uganda. A direct look at legal empowerment in action. Watch and share: youtu.be/hZouBswsuVc?...

Messaging groups are becoming critical spaces of justice. A new LEF piece explores how grassroots organizers are using digital tools to support one another, resist, and build collective power. Read more: legalempowermentfund.org/commentary/w...

Explore grassroots justice in action. LEF’s video series with Mott Foundation follows amazing community leaders in Nairobi and Mexico City using legal know-how to demand rights and shape systems. Watch now: mott.org/legal-empowerment

At the World Justice Forum, LEF and Namati spotlighted how legal empowerment pushes back against authoritarianism + builds democratic resilience from the ground up. Justice isn’t just a right—it’s power in people’s hands. We’ll keep amplifying this where it matters most.

The Legal Empowerment Fund is joining global partners in Sevilla to push for more investment in grassroots justice. At this FfD4 side-event, we’re making the case: financing justice is key to equity, peace & opportunity. More: www.sdg16.plus/events/finan...

How can philanthropy use power more responsibly? We spent 18 months interrogating how power shows up—in philanthropy, in human rights, and in our own organization—and shared our findings over at Open Global Rights. Here are four key takeaways from the article:

In Uganda, Youth for Green Communities, supported by The Legal Empowerment Fund (LEF), is tackling rising human-wildlife conflict linked to oil extraction. This is what legal empowerment looks like. Learn more about LEF: legalempowermentfund.org/publications...

In the June 2025 issue of Alliance magazine, Fund CEO @gabucher.bsky.social joins Ashif Shaikh of People’s Courage International and Yasmin Madan of Co-Impact to reflect on how philanthropy can shift power, deepen trust, and support systems change. Here are six takeaways from their discussion.

Movements are shaping the future—but they’re also facing serious challenges. The Legal Empowerment Fund reflects on lessons from the African Social Movements Baraza and what it means to stand with those who are shifting power. Read more: legalempowermentfund.org/commentary/b...

Across much of South Asia, spring has brought stifling heat. In Delhi, temps topped 104°F (40°C) in April—and intense rains came early too, flooding cities and disrupting lives. For many, this “new normal” is more than uncomfortable—it’s deadly. [Image: Women working at a brick kiln near Mumbai]

Mexico’s Supreme Court has ruled that families displaced by femicide must be recognized as indirect victims—with full reparations. The ruling follows years of work by OCNF; a grantee of the Legal Empowerment Fund. Read their full statement (in Spanish): redtdt.org.mx/archivos/19351

MENA Rosa held legal literacy workshops in Algeria for women—including women with HIV and women migrant workers—with support from the LEF. Since 2010, they've built a strong network pushing for policies that reflect women's experiences. Learn more about LEF's work: legalempowermentfund.org

“The impact of...funding cuts on human rights is profound...These drastic funding cuts are resulting in the dismantling of human rights organizations and projects, increasing the vulnerability of [human rights defenders] to threats and attacks." From @frontlinedefenders.bsky.social latest report.

“As LGBTQI+ movements are increasingly abandoned by governments, philanthropy must step up. The...most important thing that foundations can do is move new, big, flexible funding to LGBTQI+ orgs on the frontlines.” Matthew Hart of @gpp-updates.bsky.social writes in @contextnewsroom.bsky.social.

On #EarthDay and every day, we stand with marginalized communities on the frontlines of climate change, and the activists pushing for a more sustainable future for people and planet. Here are 3 updates on our work supporting climate justice. ⬇️

Congrats to @bordercrim.bsky.social on being highly commended at the 2025 Social Sciences Impact Awards. Their open-source tool Detention Landscapes documents abuses in Greek immigration detention, built with @mobileinfoteam.bsky.social + @borderviolence.bsky.social

Recently, the LEF team visited grassroots organizations addressing urgent environmental and climate justice in the Caribbean. Find out what we learned and how these insights will shape our future support in the region: legalempowermentfund.org/stories/clim... #LegalEmpowerment #ClimateJustice

“Major funding sources...have been cut back...States have also passed laws to make it harder for organisations to receive international funding.” CIVICUS’s 2025 State of Civil Society Report highlights a “growing crisis of resourcing” for CSOs. But the human rights movement is persevering.

A collective of mothers searching for missing relatives has discovered the remains of victims at an alleged "cartel training site" in Mexico. Government records show 120,000+ people have been forcibly disappeared—yet the state has failed to provide justice or accountability for families.

Just Like My Child Foundation in Uganda is receiving one of the Legal Empowerment Fund’s Innovation and Learning Grants. Their Save for Justice project is preventing gender-based violence by pooling and expanding access to resources like trainings on rights. Learn more: tinyurl.com/28zcchpt

The Legal Empowerment Fund and the Children & Youth Rights Program of the Fund for Global Human Rights are launching a $1 million fund to support youth-led groups using legal empowerment strategies to protect their communities and environments. Learn more: legalempowermentfund.org/updates/anno...

"At what point does restrictions to protest rights, a deeply toxic discourse against protesters and a growing intolerance from police and the state towards any form of protest finally tip over into repression?" New laws in the UK are criminalizing protesters according to a report from @netpol.org.

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has been arrested on an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for crimes against humanity, linked to thousands of extrajudicial killings during his controversial “war on drugs”.

The Guatemalan state responded to Virginia Laparra’s courageous work prosecuting corruption and organized crime with trumped-up charges and solitary confinement. All that led to Virginia—winner of the 2025 Sir Henry Brooke Award—taking the difficult decision to live in exile in Mexico.

Researchers from Civic Power Fund analyzed 20,000+ grants in the UK and found that just 0.2% was being directed to community organizing work. Grassroots organizing is critical to driving social change. It needs proper funding and resources. Read the report: lnkd.in/eKCUKJsH #socialjustic

The 2025 Waging Justice for Women Fellowship—a collaboration between the Legal Empowerment Fund and Clooney Foundation For Justice—has been announced. Learn more: cfj.org/news/clooney...

Good article by James Savage of @fundhumanrights.bsky.social on donor responses to foreign agent laws. europeandemocracyhub.epd.eu/defending-ci... #civicspace #humanrights

Fisherfolk in Bataan, Philippines, are resisting forced evictions & fighting for their right to the sea. Through legal empowerment, they are organizing & demanding justice. Watch their full story here tinyurl.com/49ujd9ey #LegalEmpowerment #ClimateJustice

In Bataan, Philippines, fishing communities are protecting their land and waters. With support from LEF grantee partner NCFBM, they’re using legal empowerment to challenge forced evictions & corporate impunity. Watch: tinyurl.com/49ujd9ey #LegalEmpowerment #ClimateJustice

Congratulations to Virginia Laparra—winner of the 2025 Sir Henry Brooke Award, for her fight against corruption in Guatemala. A grantee partner of the Fund, Virginia was unjustly detained for two years and still faces persecution for exposing wrongdoing. We stand with her in the fight for justice.

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Greece is pushing back migrants. People on the move, and activists standing up for their rights, are also facing rising threats. We must support those pushing for dignity and safety for all. www.euractiv.com/section/poli...

After a year of global turbulence and crises, 2025 offers both new challenges and opportunities for human rights defenders. Fund President and CEO @gabucher.bsky.social reflects on the current state of human rights and shares her outlook for the coming year.

"Repression of climate activism is a global trend." New research reinforces what many of our grantee partners already know, that standing up for a world that prioritizes people and planet over profit is more dangerous than ever. Full story: www.climatechangenews.com/2025/01/06/r...

Fund staff have shared why they have hope for change, progress, and a better, fairer future in 2025. The most common refrain was a single word—Syria. Read their responses. globalhumanrights.org/stories/what...

Carlos*, a trans man in El Salvador, was fired unjustly after years of discrimination. COMCAVIS TRANS helped him win his case and become an LGBTQ+ advocate. Support activists defending rights. Donate now—your gift will be doubled. *Names changed globalhumanrights.org/activists-ne...

Think you know your human rights history? Test your knowledge of human rights with our quick quiz: bit.ly/4gtbiI3

Our VP of Development & Communications, Rona Peligal, joins Brandolon Barnett on the Giving Compass "Guide to Good" podcast. Listen and explore how donors can empower grassroots activists to defend rights and lives amid rising threats. Tune in: givingcompass.org/blog/guide-t...

On #InternationalMigrantsDay, we stand in solidarity with migrants and activists protecting their rights in the face of threats and criminalization. Defending the rights of people on the move is not a crime. We all have the right to seek safety, dignity, and a better life.

In Bataan, grassroots communities are resisting coal and nuclear projects harming their land and lives. Climate justice starts with their voices. Watch the full video: legalempowermentfund.org/stories/coal... #ClimateJustice #GrassrootsVoices

What are human rights? Where do they come from? And do they still matter? This #HumanRightsDay, read our latest Fund 101 Q&A to learn more: globalhumanrights.org/commentary/f...

76 years ago—#HumanRightsDay—the UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To realize its vision, we must: - Defend rights defenders - Demand climate justice - Build a new economy that works for all - Shift power to front line communities - Innovate for bold solutions

On #HumanRightsDay we honour activists like Leni working courageously and creatively to achieve change in the Philippines

In September, donors, allies, and Fund staff visited grantee partners in Morocco. They met with activists supported by the Fund, and learned about the issues that these groups and their communities face. One of our donors—Jenny Fan Raj—shared her reflections: bit.ly/3OSUtdj

7 of the 8 people convicted of murdering the feminist climate justice activist Berta Cáceres have been sentenced by the Supreme Court of Honduras. Our grantee partners COPINH have shared this statement on the sentencing. ⬇️ x.com/copinhhondur...