Human Rights Watch (HRW) has been advocating for human rights for decades. Privately financed and completely independent, several hundred employees are fighting worldwide for the rights of the persecuted, of children, of women and ethnic minorities; for the rights to asylum and freedom of speech. What chances does the struggle against persecution, torture and expulsion have today? How can it be financed? What can governments as well as the individual do? What is the future of human rights?

In this timely book HRW Executive Director Kenneth Roth, Zama Coursen-Neff, Executive Director of the Children’s Rights Division at HRW, and philanthropist and financier George Soros discuss the work of one of the most important human rights organizations of our time.

In the accompanying photo-essays, photojournalist Ed Kashi shows the people for whom Human Rights Watch and others across the world are fighting.

This book is an annual publication by the IFA, based in Germany, the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations, and this year’s book is about Human Rights Watch. Ed Kashi was honored by having his personal work on Syrian Refugees and his ongoing project on chronic kidney disease among sugar cane workers in Central America used to illustrate the topic of human rights.