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The 2022 World Cup gave us one of the greatest finals in football history.
It also exposed the darker side of the tournament: corruption, repression, and thousands of migrant worker deaths.
In the world's most closed society, a flash drive is a revolutionary tool for freedom. HRF's Flash Drives for Freedom program travels the world to inspire people to donate their USB drives, microSD cards, and hard drives to help disseminate information into North Korea to counter
As authoritarian regimes increasingly weaponize tech to trap populations inside a total information vacuum, digital resistance is more important than ever.
Resistance is spreading within North Korea’s closed digital world. Activists and defectors have smuggled flash drives packed with Western news, K-dramas, movies, and glimpses of normal life into the country.
Full episode on YouTube.
At the Oslo Freedom Forum, Indonesian comedian Pandji Pragiwaksono turned lived experiences into punchlines that challenged repression, proving that a well-timed joke can do more than get a laugh.
On March 18, HRF appeared before the Court in BrasĂlia to argue in favor of the right to democracy under international law, following its November 2025 written submission explaining why democracy should be recognized as a justiciable right in the Americas.
Watch HRF’s
In our op-ed for Open Global Rights, HRF’s Chief Legal & Policy Officer @JavierElHage and members of HRF’s legal and policy team argue that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (@CorteIDH) must recognize democracy as an autonomous right before democratic erosion becomes
The #UAE has spent $4.5B+ sponsoring sports leagues and teams around the world to sportswash its image. They use commercial branding partnerships to try to enhance their reputation and to make a profit.
Tell @NBA@Arsenal and other sports leagues, teams, athletes, and governing
At the 2026 Oslo Freedom Forum, activists, artists, technologists, and changemakers from around the world came together to confront authoritarianism and strengthen the movement for freedom.
For the authoritarian government that rules Qatar, the World Cup was not just about promoting football. It was an opportunity to whitewash the regime's image domestically and internationally.