Medellín, Colombia – Nearly 200 human rights organizations from 115 countries gathered in Bogotá, Colombia, for the triennial Congress of the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) from October 27 to 31, 2025.
Attendees sought to redefine priorities and address ongoing challenges in the global fight for justice. During the closing session on October 31, Belgian lawyer and activist Alexis Deswaef- who has devoted his career to defending human rights- was elected as new FIDH president.
“I want to begin by thanking all the organizations that have placed their trust in me. I am aware that many […] are suffering due to the current international context and the cuts in development aid budgets.” Deswaef said.
“Following in the footsteps of my predecessor, Alice Mogwe, whose work I sincerely commend, we will make FIDH a bold and committed organization in the service of human rights around the world. Victims, human rights defenders, and civil society organizations will remain at the heart of our struggle,” he continued.
“With Alexis leading FIDH, the organization is in good hands,” Mogwe noted, commending his “energy, passion, and gift for persuasion and reflection.”
Deswaef, who has worked as vice president of the FIDH since 2019, is widely recognized for defense of human rights in Europe- where he has championed migrants’ rights- as well as countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Palestine, Israel, and Egypt. He is also a practicing lawyer before the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Over three decades, Deswaef’s career has been marked by a deep commitment to justice. Early in his practice, he represented homeless individuals living in Brussels Central Station before civil and criminal courts, and later defended undocumented migrants, challenging detention and deportation cases before Belgian administrative courts.
He also participated in the March to Gaza and the Global Sumud Flotilla, and as a member of the FIDH’s International Board, has visited Israel, Palestine, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, and Tunisia to support local member organizations.
EU Reports spoke with Deswaef about how his past experiences have shaped his approach to today’s human rights crises, the challenges facing FIDH, and his vision for strengthening global solidarity within the movement.
The below interview has been edited for length and clarity.
EU Reports: How will your early work defending homeless and undocumented people in Belgium influence your leadership at FIDH?
Alexis Deswaef: Defending homeless people in Brussels and undocumented migrants showed me, when I was a young lawyer, that the defense of human rights is not only something that happens far away, but also here at home, in the capital of Europe.
It taught me to defend people with them, not in their place. Both within the undocumented migrants’ movement, where I supported several collectives, and in the defense of homeless people, I saw people speak up to defend their rights and their dignity; and as activists, we always assist them and work on their cases at their side.
This is how I understand the defense of human rights: not only behind closed doors, but also out in the field, alongside those who fight for their dignity and their rights, sometimes in remote places. In this sense, the FIDH must stand alongside social movements that are also fighting for human rights.
EUR: What is the most urgent challenge facing the global human rights movement today?
AD: We saw it during the congress: human rights organizations are being directly attacked in their own countries simply for doing their work. Within the international human rights movement, we must be strong together to face not only the direct assaults on human rights themselves, but also the attacks against those who embody them: the human rights defenders.
We need a strong FIDH, a fighting FIDH, to stand up to these attacks against human rights, against anti-rights movements, against neo-fascists and the far right that are coming to power in several governments around the world. This is a major challenge that the FIDH must take on: to defend the defenders and the organizations working on the ground in a world that is increasingly hostile to human rights.
EUR: FIDH brings together organizations from very different regions and contexts. How do you plan to strengthen unity and impact across such diversity?
AD: FIDH’s strength lies in its ability to bring together all its member organizations from different regions of the world, working in diverse contexts and sometimes with different priorities.
But, this diversity precisely illustrates the universality of human rights, because a congress like this one reveals the convergences and synergies between struggles taking place across the world, where organizations nevertheless face the same challenges, the same hostility, and the same attacks. The congress, held every three years, is a moment of mutual strengthening: we all return to our countries stronger than when we arrived, while maintaining the connection between us.
As president, I can reinforce this connection among organizations across the world, through country visits aimed at supporting member organizations on the ground- working alongside them, with the weight and legitimacy of this federation, which helps support and amplify the local action of a human rights organization, wherever it may be in the world.
EUR: How will FIDH balance its response to immediate humanitarian crises with its long-term pursuit of international justice?
AD: Indeed, there is always urgent work to be done, particularly when it comes to human rights defenders in danger. There are many humanitarian crises today, whether in Gaza, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Myanmar, or with the Rohingya people, that require immediate intervention.
Through its advocacy and awareness-raising efforts with governments and international institutions, FIDH acts in relation to these humanitarian crises, which demand urgent solutions and immediate responses. All of this is combined with the work carried out by FIDH in the fight against impunity, with litigation.
But we know that international justice, and justice in general, takes time. Justice is slow and it requires patience. We must pursue both of these long-term struggles, because one complements the other. Current humanitarian crises must be documented so that justice can be rendered, that the truth can be known, that victims can be recognized and compensated, and so that we can work toward the non-repetition of the crimes committed.
EUR: Many young activists are seeking new ways to engage in human rights work. How do you plan to involve and empower them within FIDH’s mission?
AD: We can see that social movements, such as the flotilla for Gaza, have deeply resonated with and mobilized youth around the world, who feel a strong need to act in the face of the inaction of our governments, which often allow atrocities to happen, or even become complicit in the crimes committed, for example, in Gaza.
FIDH must therefore stand alongside social movements and open itself to young people through its member organizations, because we can see that issues of human rights, feminist struggles and climate justice are being taken up by youth who aspire to a fairer world. This is essential for a global human rights organization.
EUR: You’ve often highlighted the link between defending individuals and defending communities. How will that idea guide your priorities as president?
AD: As a lawyer for 30 years, I defend individuals. My commitment to the Belgian Human Rights League, and later to FIDH, represents collective defense through voluntary civic engagement. These two aspects feed into each other. My expertise as a lawyer supports my work and engagement at FIDH.
Conversely, everything I do at FIDH enriches my work as a lawyer when I am defending an individual before the courts, or representing a victim who has filed a complaint for international crimes. For example, a Belgian-Congolese or Belgian-Palestinian client before the courts in Belgium.
I believe that it is essential for me to maintain this dual engagement: individual defense, which is my profession, and collective defense, which is my civic commitment through an organization like FIDH.
