- PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS -
Internationally, the year 2025 was particularly hostile to the defence of human rights, in a context characterised by a reduction of the civic space, the rise of increasingly rigid and security-minded policies and a decrease in funding for international solidarity. These developments have a direct impact on civil society organisations and human rights defenders, who are having to act in generally worsening conditions.
Faced with these challenges, FIACAT has increasingly concentrated on networking and consortia, which have become essential for the continuance of its activities. We have thus continued our commitment as a member of the United Against Torture Consortium, work with the Defenders project and cooperation with the Human Rights Platform. This dynamic grouping of NGOs and actors took shape in May 2025 with the organisation in Dakar, in conjunction with ACAT Senegal, of a capitalisation seminar bringing abolition of the death penalty to the attention of local and religious leaders.
With the deteriorating human rights situation an ever-greater cause for concern, FIACAT has continued its efforts to anticipate and respond to crises, and, working closely with its members and partners, has concentrated on the situation in Burundi and the crisis in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
A further feature of 2025 was greater commitment to strengthening the ACATs’ capacity for action and improving their working and safety conditions. The ninth “Norbert Kenne” training course was a major focus of this project, enabling the upcoming generation of defenders to consolidate their competences and strengthen their capacity for action to combat torture and ill-treatment.
In a worldwide environment that is more and more restrictive, FIACAT remains fully committed to the service of its network, committed to the protection of human rights defenders, committed to a total ban on torture and committed to abolition of the death penalty.
Christophe d'Aloisio
President of FIACAT
 Fiacat_rapport_2025-ENG_web(pp).pdf |