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Between 1989 and 2023, more than 350 advocates from nearly 100 countries have attended the program. HRAP participants have ranged from early-career advocates who cut their teeth in very urgent human rights situations to mid-career advocates who have founded organizations. HRAP alumni have served as UN special rapporteurs, in the ministries of their governments, and at leading human rights organizations around the globe. They have been recognized with honors including the Rafto Prize, the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award and the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, the highest acknowledgment from the international human rights community.
Below are the biographies of current Advocates and descriptions by select alumni as to why they became human rights advocates.
To see a list of additional past Advocates click here.
To read about more about the work of our Advocates click here .
El Salvador, 2016
President, Salvadorian Association for Survivors of Torture
Santos is the founder and president of the Salvadorian Association for Survivors of Torture, an association that gives psychological care to survivors of torture and their families and investigates various human rights abuses. He is the creator of a webpage called the Yellow Book, which documents the names of victims of injustice and abuse by the state. Santos has a degree in literature from the Autonomous University of Mexico. Through Scholars at Risk, he studied international law and human right law at the University of York in 2013.
The Whitney M. Young, Jr. Memorial Fund sponsored the participation of Santos in the 2016 HRAP.
Nepal, 2016
Advisor of NIWF (National Indigenous Women's Federation), Immediate past chair of Tewa (women's philanthropy organization) and founder member of Mountain Spirit, Nepal Participatory Action Network (NEPAN), SAGUN-NGO (search for harmony) and Just Nepal Fou, NIWF, Mountain Spirit, Tewa, NEPAN, Sagun
Chhing is Advisor of NIWF (National Indigenous Women's Federation), Immediate past chair of Tewa (women's philanthropy organization) and founding member of Mountain Spirit, Nepal Participatory Action Network (NEPAN), SAGUN-NGO (search for harmony) and Just Nepal Foundation. Just Nepal Foundation promotes education, social justice, and human rights by working within the rural mountain communities of Nepal. Chhing has been working to empower women and extremely marginalized groups in Nepal for the past 30 years.
Since participating in HRAP in 2016, Chhing has been Participating and promoting human rights, conservation and rights of Indigenous Women and enhancing Inter-Generational Feminist Forum (IGFF) for joint voices country's issues and raise issue of older people. Chhing is also facilitating an internship program between ISHR and Mountain Spirit since 2017. She participated in a summer course of Columbia University on Indigenous Peoples Policy in 2023 and is now preparing an Indigenous Peoples' policy for an Indigenous Peoples Led organization.
She is one of the founding members, chair, and current advisor of Mountain Spirit, another indigenous people’s organization. She has been active in relief efforts after the earthquake in Nepal. Chhing earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics, Culture and Literature from Padma Kanya University in 1988, a Post Graduate Diploma in Rural Extension & Women from University of Reading in 1991, and a master’s degree in Rural Development in 2016.
