Welcome

Association for the Defense of Human Rights

“Poverty is the worst form of violence”
(Ghandi)

ADDHU – Association for the Defense of Human Rights - is an International NGO, registered and accredited by the Portuguese Institute for Development, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as an NGO for Development and a Public Utility Institution, according to the articles 8th and 12th, Law 66/98, 14th October. Our main fields of action are human rights defense and advocacy, humanitarian relief and cooperation for development.

ADDHU was founded in 2006 by Laura Vasconcellos, a writer and university teacher, and her strong will to fight for the liberation of Burma and Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. After having visited this country in 1997, Laura Vasconcellos was firmly determined upon her return home to fulfill the demands she received to “be our voice outside”.

Our objective is to conceive, implement and support projects of information, education and development made to promote the liberties and the protection of the citizen’s rights, in the full respect of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Message from the President and Founder of ADDHU, Laura Vasconcellos:

Humanitarian assistance is a first step, of vital importance, in the defense of human rights, as it creates the necessary survival conditions for populations whose precarious situations prevent them from having access to instruction, knowledge, respect and dignity and from the path they wish to pursue in life.

We have done a lot, and have plans to do a lot more. Our determination makes us, despite all the difficulties, continue to fight for a more just and equitable world. In order for that to happen, we need your help.

We can all make a difference, even with a small gesture, in this troubled and suffered world we live in. A word of encouragement for those who work with the ugliest side of the world, a side which we often don’t want to see, may signify the strength to carry on, when, by solving a problem, by saving a child or a family, we look around us and so many others appear... and the horizon fills with people who reach out for us. It is difficult, but with the help, friendship and faith of all of you, we will certainly succeed and keep on saving more people around this world that, in the end, belongs to us all.

To all our members, supporters, sponsors, volunteers and foster parents: thank you so much! Without you help and support, none of this would be possible! Thank you!

Laura Vasconcellos - President and Founder of ADDHU