Exile Project
In 2022, Right Livelihood and the Global Campus of Human Rights launched the "Reconceptualising Exile" programme. This initiative gathers human rights activists and scholars from around the world, who have been forced into exile by repressive regimes.
The aim of this programme is three-fold. First, we provide fellows with holistic support in their hosting countries, ensuring they can thrive personally and professionally.
Our second aim is to build a supportive network among the fellows, amplifying their influence and fostering solidarity. Finally, we connect the fellows with partner institutions to support their research and solutions for counteracting repressive regimes.
Support and Empower
We provide ad hoc support—financial, legal, and psychosocial—to the programme fellows who have been forced to flee their home countries due to their human rights work.
Our goal is to enhance their resilience by recognising and mitigating the stress and trauma related to living and working in exile.
Collaborate and Connect
Through workshops, conferences, policy dialogues and more, we foster a support network that extends across borders.
Our goal is to amplify the collective influence of human rights activists in exile and link them with local, regional and international movements to advocate for common causes.
Inform and Disseminate
We incorporate research in our programme to gather and share learnings and solutions.
Our goal is to counter repressive governments' use of exile as a means to silence human rights experts and defenders, empowering those under oppression.
Through collaboration with a network of NGOs, universities and research institutes, our fellows have launched and advanced impactful projects in their home countries.
These partner institutions are vital for their diverse expertise and commitment to social progress and include Hagamos Democracia (Costa Rica); Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship (Lebanon); Sisters of Charity of New York (USA); Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (USA); Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at Lund University (Sweden); Vienna Forum for Democracy and Human Rights (Austria); Avant-Garde Lawyers (France); Queerbase (Austria); Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society at Leiden University (the Netherlands); Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development at Chiang Mai University (Thailand), and University of Padova/EMA Programme (Italy).
Our partners have also enabled us to provide tailored, high-quality support to the fellows. Notably, Open Briefing has contributed instrumental training in cross-cultural and trauma-sensitive communication and psychosocial programmes to enhance fellows' well-being and resilience
If your organisation would like to be part of our network or receive further information on the programme, please reach out to:
Camilla Argentieri
Protection and Advocacy Manager
Right Livelihood
Julia Runte
Project Officer for the Threatened Students and Scholars Programme
Global Campus of Human Rights
Please note that we are not receiving applications for this programme.