How does Freedom Now differ from other organizations like Amnesty International?
In contrast to larger organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, which address many kinds of human rights issues all over the world, Freedom Now focuses exclusively on individual cases regarding only one kind of abuse – arbitrary detention. Unlike these other groups, we only take up cases where we are retained by a member of the person’s family to represent the person detained. This approach gives Freedom Now the credibility to speak on the person’s behalf and an ethical duty to vigorously advocate for her or his release. In all cases, acting as counsel to our clients, we assess the range of legal, political, and public relations activities that might be undertaken and implement a plan to conduct these activities in a carefully sequenced manner designed to maximize pressure on the government detaining our clients so as to secure their release.
