The human rights defenders targeted killings (HRD-TK) dataset

Repression against human rights defenders has escalated globally, becoming increasingly dangerous over the last decade. Their human rights advocacy work and the information they wield about abuses by those in power put these defenders at mortal risk. We review what research tells us about where and why defenders are targeted and killed, and discuss why better data can give us more nuanced insights about these assassinations. We describe our new dataset, which contains disaggregated and geocoded event data for each of the 2,877 reported targeted killings of human rights defenders globally from 2014 to 2023, as well as aggregated country-year data on the number of defenders killed, total and by issue type. We examine the data, revealing new insights about where, when, why, and by whom human rights defenders are killed. We also discuss the reliability and validity of the data; how the data enables more research in this crucial area; and how it provides a resource that may be useful beyond researchers, to advocates and policymakers in their work to accurately document, advocate for protections for, and reduce impunity for those who threaten the actors on the front lines of the defense of human rights.