Hassan Shire

Hassan Shire (@Hassan_Shire) is the Executive Director of DefendDefenders (the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project). He has steered the organization through its growth over the years. He is also the Chairperson of AfricanDefenders (the Pan-African Human Rights Defenders Network). A human rights defender from Somalia, he regularly engages with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Community of Democracies, government authorities, and African and foreign diplomatic missions for the advancement of human rights in Africa. Hassan Shire has received numerous awards, including the U.S. State Department’s 2011 Human Rights Defender Award, the Leadership Award of the Pan-African Human Rights Defenders Network in 2015, and the Richard C. Holbrooke Leadership Award by Refugees International in 2017.