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The East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP) is a Ugandan non-governmental organization established in 2005. This institution has a wide range of networks that contain a support system for human rights defenders at risk of facing death, arbitrary arrest, forced exile and other forms of opposition because of the nature of the human rights works. It is operational in Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia (including Somaliland), Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

ORGANISATION
EHAHRDP serves as the secretariat for East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (EHAHRD-Net) which is represented in more what is the exact number than 70 members from 12 different countries. Since April 23rd 2009 it has also been serving as the Secretariat of the Pan-African Human Rights Defenders Network.

History
In 1998, fifty years on from the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), human rights defenders and activists from around Africa participated in a conference in Johannesburg, organised by Amnesty International as part of a campaign to mark the anniversary. This led to the November Johannesburg Declaration of Human Rights Defenders.

EHAHRDP was thus founded in 2005 by current executive director Hassan Shire Sheikh, a human rights defender and political exile of the Somali government

OBJECTIVES
The work of EHAHRDP is aimed at three main objectives; to protect and defend human rights defenders in the sub-region, to build up their capacity to defend human rights, and to advocate and raise public awareness and profiles of human rights defenders in the sub-region. EHAHRDP offers temporary refuge and economic support to human rights defenders [9] in terms of food, shelter etc. They also use a system of reference whereby defenders are placed with partner organizations who provide more comprehensive support EHAHRDP also conducts trial observation, makes legal and medical interventions on behalf of human rights defenders at risk. It also shares capacity building tools for safety with human rights defenders operating within the network. EHAHRDP’s Advocacy team releases international appeals to the UN, the African Commission and government officials when human right violations occur. EHAHRDP’s research department employs fact finding and analysis to recommend solutions for human rights violations faced by human rights defenders

Pan-African Human Rights Defenders Network.
In February 2013 the European Union supported the East and Horn of African Human Rights Defenders Network, along with four other sub-regional African human rights defenders’ networks to improve their networking and share best practices between the human rights defenders. The network coalitions are: Central African HRD's Network - Réseau des défenseurs des droits de l’homme en Africa Centrale (REDHAC), East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (EHAHRD-Net), West African Human Rights Defenders Network , Southern African Human Rights Defenders Trust (SAHRDT) and Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies. The project aims to contribute to a safe working environment for human rights defenders in Africa, especially the most-at-risk groups LGBTI rights defenders, woman human rights defenders, journalists and human rights defenders working in areas in conflict.

PARTNERS
Between 2007-9 the Sigurd Rausing Trust provided grants totalling £77,000.

EHAHRDP works closely with European Union delegations, European Union member states and governments who fund part of their human rights defenders support and relocation activities.

EHAHRDP also partners with universities in Uganda, Canada, Kenya, the US and England, to place human rights defenders in academic programs.

2013 runner-up for Human Rights Tulip -

PUBLICATIONS
Available in English, French, Arabic, Swahili and Somali.
 * 'For Us, Silence is Not an Option: Human Rights Defenders and the South Sudan Civil War'
 * 'Human Rights Defenders: A Key to Fighting Sexual Violence in African Conflicts'
 * ‘Change will not come until we talk about reality': The Closing Space for Human Rights Defenders in South Sudan
 * ‘Only the Brave Talk About Oil': Human Rights Defenders and the Resource Extraction Sectors in Uganda and Tanzania (2012)
 * 'Ernest Manirumva: A Lost Light, a Derailed Trial, and an Embattled Civil Society' (2011)
 * 'Johannesburg +10 All-Africa Human Rights Defenders Conference – Conference Report' (2009)
 * 'Promoting the Rights of Human Rights Defenders in the East and Horn of Africa' (2009)
 * 'Report of the Regional Workshop on Women and Minority Human Rights Defenders' (2009)
 * 'Workshop for Kenyan Human Rights Defenders' (2007)
 * 'Working in Areas of Conflict: A Workshop for Human Rights Defenders' (2007)
 * 'Journalists on the Frontline of Human Rights Defence' (2007)
 * "East Africa and the Horn of Africa – “Defending the Defenders”: a Human Rights Defenders Conference (2006)