On 6 December 2025, around 200 people gathered in Amsterdam for a demonstration against the genocide in Sudan and in solidarity with Sudanese refugees in the Netherlands. They called on the Dutch government to send humanitarian aid, engage in diplomacy and sanctions, and grant Sudanese refugees in the Netherlands the right of residence.
Genocide and the role of the Netherlands
After the fall of El Fasher and the capture of the city by the RSF in October 2025, ethnic cleansing and mass killings in the Sudanese civil war reached a new peak. But this civil war is not only driven by internal conflicts – it cannot be separated from larger geopolitical interests and money flows. It is unacceptable that the inhabitants of Darfur are the victims of these.
That is why the Netherlands must use a maximum of their diplomatic efforts to end the genocide in Sudan and sever economic ties with players involved, such as the United Arab Emirates, which is the direct financier of the RFS.
Demonstration and open letter
The demonstration in Amsterdam was organised by the Sudanese Refugee Organisation, Yalla for Sudan and Doorbraak, an organisation that aims to bring people together to organise themselves to resist the established order and the status quo. In the run-up to the demonstration, Yallah for Sudan and the Sudanese Refugees Organisation sent an open letter to the Dutch House of Representatives calling for
– broad sanctions against all those fuelling the genocide;
– the establishment of an independent international investigation into the war crimes committed in Darfur during this war;
– an increase in humanitarian aid on the ground;
– the creation of safe escape routes and the acceleration of asylum procedures in the Netherlands.
Follow up
On 9 December, one of the representatives of the Sudanese Refugees Organisation spoke to the House of Representatives committee about the situation on the ground and how the Dutch government can contribute to ending this extreme violence.
Het Actiefonds is proud to have supported this demonstration, continues to support Yalla for Sudan, the Sudanese Refugee Organisation and Doorbraak, and stands in solidarity with everyone who fights against genocide, wherever in the world!
To raise awareness for female victims of (online) sexual violence in Nigeria, the Salma Attah Foundation for Women and Girls Support (SAFWGS) organised an Orange Walk.
Each year during the sixteen days in between the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November and Human Rights Day on 10 December, people around the world dress in orange and take action to end violence against women and girls in public spaces, at home, in peace and during conflict. From the KL tower in Malaysia to the University of Vienna, and with over 500 actions this year in the Netherlands, the Orange the World campaign, launched by the United Nations in 2008, highlights that the safety of women is of global concern.
Gender-based violence is one of the most widespread human rights violations globally. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), almost one in three women is subjected to a form of physical or sexual violence at least once in her life. Due to political unwillingness and the ineffective implementation of policy, this figure has remained largely unchanged over the last two decades. This is even more concerning considering the long-lasting consequences that experiences of sexual violence often have, with victims being more likely to suffer from unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections and depression. While violence against women occurs everywhere, women in conflict-ridden, lower-income and climate-vulnerable countries are disproportionately affected .
In Nigeria too, many women are subjected to such violence. A 2023 study found that nearly 40% of Nigerian women aged 17-24 has experienced some form of sexual violence. Alarmingly, only 13.1% of these victims sought care from healthcare providers and a mere 3.3% of the cases was reported to law enforcement institutions. What is more, over half the Nigerian women who use the internet experience abuse online. Many survivors choose to remain silent and withdraw from public or online spaces, resulting in social isolation, economic loss, and psychological distress.
To raise awareness for these women, the Salma Attah Foundation for Women and Girls Support (SAFWGS) organised an Orange Walk in the streets of Minna. The advocacy walk drew over 500 protestors from a cross-section of society and sparked conversations about (digital) sexual violence among local residents and beyond, through media coverage and online dissemination.
The project combined advocacy with the provision of practical support and services. On the same day, SAFWGS launched its own digital reporting and support platform for survivors of digital violence and shared information on referral pathways during a live demonstration. Moreover, a free community medical outreach was organized at the final stop of the walk, offering basic health screenings and consultations. The demonstration, thus, moved beyond symbolism into tangible community benefit.
Het Actiefonds is proud to have supported this action, and will continue to stand in solidarity with all groups organizing to protect the safety of women around the world, online and offline!
Tucumán, northern Argentina, where evangelical forced conversion therapies are not uncommon, is becoming an increasingly unsafe place for LGBTQ+ people. That is why, on 6 December 2026, a group of young people wrote a manifesto and an action plan for the coming years.
Conversion therapy and intimidation
In Argentina, the 2025 midterm elections resulted in a nationwide victory for the ruling party, which spreads hate speech and has shut down all diversity programmes over the past two years. Moreover, this party has opened the door to raids by fundamentalist religious groups that harass LGBTQ+ people with, among other things, conversion therapy. The eastern region of the province of Tucumán is where LGBTQ+ people suffer most from intimidation as a result of the rise of evangelical groups, specifically in Los Ralos.
Focus on young people
Familias Diversas Tucumán has been a meeting place for queer individuals, families and their communities since 2009 – the year same-sex marriage was recognised in Argentina. They are committed to facilitating queer relationships and family planning in all areas. Although their previous focus was on adults and families, the growing number of attacks and conversion therapies has made it increasingly urgent to focus on protecting young people.
Manifesto and pride
On 6 December 2025, they organised a meeting for young people from across the province of Tucumán. They gathered in Los Ralos to draft a manifesto. They spent a whole day discussing how best to organise themselves to safeguard their rights and peace. The final manifesto serves as a tool for the work of Familias Diversas Tucumán for the coming years and also includes an action plan with workshops and activities throughout the province.
The day ended with the first pride march in the eastern region of Tucumán, which led to the town square of Los Ralos. The youngsters marched with pride and joy. In the town square, various queer activists gave speeches:
“It is very important that, despite all the setbacks, we continue to march with pride and maintain the visibility that is essential to continue promoting our rights. Currently, we have fewer and fewer opportunities to access rights such as work, healthcare, shelter and food, because the national government’s policy is exclusive. Without the protection of the state, we will have even less access to rights. Our alternative is mobilisation! LGBTQ+ young people must organise and build political participation. That is why it is important that we are here today.”
Follow-up
In 2026, Familias Diversas Tucumán will take this manifesto to various cities in the province, organise meetings to stimulate debate and identify the needs of local LGBT+ young people and incorporate them into their actions. They will also continue to organise themselves to raise awareness of the current situation for young people in the province and to emphasise its urgency. They are in contact with local authorities, social movements and other LGBT+ organisations to work together to find the best ways to protect vulnerable young people. You can read the manifesto here.
Het Actiefonds is proud to have supported this action, and will continue to stand in solidarity with all groups organising for and protecting the rights of LGBTQ+ people around the world!
To resist the yearly anti-abortion ‘Mars for Life’, the Dolle Mina’s organised a counter-demonstration to show that the Netherlands will not regress to the past but will instead stand for the protection of abortion care.
In November 2025, the annual “Silent March for Life” (Stille Mars voor het Leven) took place in The Hague. Disguised as an initiative for a “hopeful future for mothers, fathers, and children,” the organizations behind the demonstration, in reality, violate the bodily autonomy of people with a uterus by advocating against the recognition of abortion as a fundamental right. Moreover, according to many of the demonstrators, the criminalization of abortion in the Netherlands is justified, while the law should guarantee that even unwanted pregnancies are carried to term. Although a 1984 law currently exempts certain procedures from the maximum prison sentence of four years and six months still imposed for intentional termination of pregnancy, anti-abortion rhetoric appears to be increasingly prevalent in the Dutch parliament. Not only do radical right-wing parties regularly label the decision to have an abortion as ideological, but prominent Christian Democratic party members also continue to campaign against abortion by, for example, annually attending the March.
Despite the relaxation of abortion laws in dozens of countries since the 1960s, the currently resurgent pressure on abortion rights in the Netherlands is not unique. For example, in 2022, the United States Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling that established a national right to abortion, prompting several states to implement bans. In Europe, too, nationalist leaders like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán are taking steps to discourage abortion. Since 2022, pregnant women in Hungary have been legally required to listen to “fetal vital signs” before undergoing an abortion. This type of policy unnecessarily burdens the decision to have an abortion more than it almost always is and also undermines the dignity and health of these pregnant women.
To raise awareness for accessible abortion care, to break down stigma, and with the ultimate goal of removing abortion from the Dutch Criminal Code, the Dolle Mina’s organized a counter-demonstration to the Mars for life. Founded in 1969 and crucial to the second feminist wave in the Netherlands at the time, the Dolle Mina’s reignited their campaign for women’s rights in January 2025 through direct actions. Their message is clear: stay out of our wombs! Abortion is care and it should not be part of criminal law, but in the hands of those who need it.
With the support of Het Actiefonds, the counter-demonstrators, dressed in green, took to their own stage along the anti-abortion march route to show that the Netherlands will not regress to the past but will instead stand for the protection of abortion care. Featuring several guest speakers and over 1,500 participants, the counter-demonstration demonstrated a strong sense of community solidarity and delivered a strong counter-voice that affirmed reproductive autonomy as a human right. The Dolle Mina’s are determined to organize another counter-demonstration next year. In the meantime, Het Actiefonds will proudly continue to stand in solidarity with the fight for abortion rights.
Following the arrest of the Russian musician Naoko for performing anti-regime songs on the streets of St Petersburg, the Hermanas Rosas activists in Barcelona took to the streets to raise awareness for the repression of cultural expression and LGBTQIA+ lives in Russia.
After a video went viral in October 2025 of the underground rock band, Stoptime, performing a banned anti-war song by the exiled rapper Noize MC in a St Petersburg square amidst a large group of chanting young Russians, the band members were arrested and sentenced to thirteen days in prison. Over the following month, Stoptime’s lead singer Diana Loginova, known as Naoko, and the band’s guitarist Alexander Orlov faced a series of immediate re-arrests upon release. Following these “carousel arrests”, both Naoko and Orlov fled Russia on 23 November.
Due to laws passed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the public expression of criticism of the Russian authorities abroad, like performing songs by artists the Kremlin deems ‘foreign agents’, can be punished with prison sentences up to fifteen years. This repression of cultural expression not only instills fear and self-censorship among the Russian youth, but also disproportionately affects LGBTQIA+ people and allied artists who appear especially vulnerable to harassment and smear campaigns.
In response to the increasing repression of queer people in Russia, activists in Barcelona founded Hermanas Rosas in 2024 to provide a small mutual-aid and information network which offers support to Russian-speaking young women and LGBTQIA+ people – whether in Russia, in transit or in exile. Led by Russian-speaking queer women with forced-displacement experience, Hermanas Rosas aims to connect young women and queer people to legal and health-care resources and foster a supportive ecosystem around artistic freedom and human rights across borders while minimizing their unnecessary exposure to risks. Since then, the activists have gained a significant online following for their practical safety-first videos (covering topics from legal basics to digital security hygiene) and have launched an anonymous hotline which has handled over 100 consultations.
To support Naoko, but also women and queer youth in Russia alike, the Pink Sisters organized a peaceful action in the center of Barcelona in November 2025 with the support of Het Actiefonds. In the central Plaça Catalunya, the activists raised awareness about the marginalization of minority communities and artists in Russia, by waving banners, distributing flyers and performing acoustic songs and readings. The action was also streamed and further reported on online, attracting thousands of people on the internet and sparking discussions about artistic freedom and repression.
Het Actiefonds is proud to have supported this action and stands in solidarity with Russian artists and marginalized communities criticizing their war-hungry and repressive government.
The Bo District in Sierra Leone has been subjected to illegal deforestation, land grabbing and complete destructions of wetlands. In 2025, Green Leone started a protest campaign with over 100 activists to force the government to intervene.
Between 2002 and 2024, 43 kilohectares (or sixteen percent) of Sierra Leone’s primary wet forests were destroyed by agricultural, industrial, and urban development projects. The Bo District, located in southern Sierra Leone, is one of many regions being ravaged by increasing deforestation, illegal land grabbing, and the complete destruction of wetlands. The destruction of these forests, which once comprised 60 percent of Sierra Leone’s land area, has not only had disastrous consequences for the climate and local ecosystems by disrupting rainfall patterns and biodiversity, but has also caused food shortages among rural communities. As a result, women and children, in particular, are forced to travel further to collect wood, medicinal plants, and other materials and, consequently, have less time to spend on education or income-generating activities.
In 2021, student activists from Bo Town founded Green Leone to protect vulnerable communities, fight for land rights, and resist environmental degradation in Sierra Leone. Since then, the activists have organized a climate strike with over 300 participants, prevented an illegal logging agreement, and launched a training program for climate activists from rural areas.
With support from Het Actiefonds, Green Leone launched a community-led protest campaign in 2025 to force the government to intervene. With over 100 participating activists, youth organizations, and affected farmers, the activists marched to the local office of the Ministry of Land, Spatial Planning, and the Environment and delivered a petition with over 1,000 signatures. They also reported live on social media, contacted local radio stations, and staged street theater performances to dramatize the consequences of climate inaction. The campaign not only raised public awareness of deforestation and its disproportionate impact on marginalized communities, but also led to government officials declaring their commitment to revise and enforce environmental laws more rigorously.
But Green Leone’s fight in Bo District does not end here. Building on the campaign’s success, the protestors intend to establish a ‘Youth Climate Watch Network’ to monitor and report illegal cases of deforestation and wetland degradation in the Bo District. The activists also aim to be involved more formally in the development of future policy by the municipality and the Ministry of Climate. Het Actiefonds is proud to have supported this action and stands in solidarity with Green Leone’s further commitments to protect Sierra Leone’s natural environment and its vulnerable communities.
In the face of escalating and unpredictable violence in northern Togo, Het Actiefonds supported the Association des Jeunes Engagés pour l’Action Humanitarian (AJEAH – Association of Concerned Youth for Humanitarian Action) in developing an emergency network for first response to raids.
Northern Togo
Since 2023, violent attacks and raids are recurrent in the Savannah region in northern Togo. Bordering with Burkina Faso, towns and villages have seen jihadist groups like JNIM crossing into Togo since 2023. The government in the capital on the coast is absent, unable to effectively protect citizens or even putting at risk the inhabitants by their responses. The people of the Savannah region thus must rely on themselves and each other to survive.
Emergency response workshop
In the summer of 2025, the attacks intensified. To help local communities respond and act during the unpredictable and chaotic raids, the Association des Jeunes Engagés pour l’Action Humanitaire (AJEAH) in Togo organized a first response seminar for young women from the region. Eleven people from villages in the border region were invited to talk about their personal experiences with the violent raids in their villages. During the seminar, they received a theoretical and practical training and covered fundamental rights, nonviolent action methods and rapid mobilization techniques. Every participant developed a concrete action plan that was adapted to their own village and circumstances. The swiftly organized training was meant to immediately respond to the intensified violence. The participants left with tools to mobilise other youngsters and strengthen the resilience of their communities back home.
After the workshop, a secure communication network was set up between the participants to rapidly share information between them. AJEAH is keeping close contact with the villages as well, monitoring and evaluating the action plans and their implications, ready to help out where needed.
Follow up
In the long term, AJEAH wants to develop this network. They are aiming to expand the number of participants in future workshops and be able to provide more financial means to react more quickly in emergency contexts. By developing a Citizen Lab, they want to consolidate and expand the local network of trained activists. Furthermore they want to create more visibility for their actions and spread awareness across Togo and beyond about the security situation in the Savannah. Eventually, they want to intensify efforts with local and national authorities to make sure the safety of the inhabitants of the border area is taken into account by the government.
The objective is thus to transform this first workshop organized with the help of Het Actiefonds into a structured and sustainable process, capable of strengthening the resilience of vulnerable communities in the Savannah region and of perpetuating the civic engagement of women and young activists. Het Actiefonds is proud to have supported this first workshop, and will stand in solidarity EJEAH in their efforts to consolidate this resilience network!
While many people rely on public transport for their daily pursuits and the vitality of the sector’s stimulation to reach climate goals, the Polish government has been implementing budget cuts on public transport for year. Ostatnie Pokolenie has had enough of these infuriating policies and occupied the parliament in September 2025.
Despite international treaties and growing global pressures to combat climate change, the greenhouse gas emissions in the Polish transport sector increased by 77 per cent between 2005 and 2017. Simultaneously, the Polish government implemented drastic cuts to the public transport sector, resulting, for example, in the termination of several bus lines. Although the promotion of public transport use would bring Poland closer to its promised climate goals, the government’s policies are making its population more dependent on cars and have left approximately 15 million Poles excluded from transport (out of a population of 38 million!). This is not only harmful for the environment but also a source of social inequality: according to Unicef, the measures have mainly cut off poorer rural children and teenagers from their social network, education, the cultural sector and essential health services.
In 2024, a group of activists, previously active in movements that employ conventional protest methods, founded Ostatnie Pokolenie (Last Generation) to focus on direct action instead. The organization’s first actions, including a blockade of the entrance to Taylor Swift’s Warsaw concert to draw attention to the emissions of the richest 1% and the twentyfold occupation of a major highway, were successful and received extensive media attention. As a result, Ostatnie Pokolonie was invited to speak in the Senate and received endorsement letters from over 100 Polish public figures.
With the support of The Action Fund, Ostatnie Pokolenie occupied the Polish parliamentary grounds in Warsaw for five days in September 2025. On the first day of the occupation, the protesters parked two trucks in front of the parliament’s exit while around twenty people glued themselves to the ground, wearing their signature orange traffic vests. Their demands? A transfer of all money, earmarked for highway expansion, to public transport starting in 2025 and the introduction of a 50 zloty per month (around twelve euros) ticket for the entire public transport system to make transport accessible to all Polish residents.
The occupation was successful! After four weeks of deliberation, the Ostatnie Pokolenie bill was passed by 94.3% of parliament, supporting the introduction of the affordable public transport ticket. The Action Fund is proud to have supported this action and continues to stand in solidarity with everyone fighting for the climate and accessible public services for all!
In East Albania, the region of Librazhd is facing the construction of a new highway connecting Elbasan with Qafë Thanë, cutting right through villages and important ecosystems. Local communities are blocking roads to oppose this unsolicited construction project and making sure their voices are heard!
The highway could change the natural flow of the Shkumbin river, puts at risk the local wildlife and ecosystems of theShebenik-Jabllanica National Park, a UNESCO site, and cuts right through the village of Hotolisht, putting over 35 families at risk of losing their homes and affecting essential services like schools and healthcare.
Many residents are frustrated by the lack of public consultation about the project, feeling their voices have not been heard. So now, they are calling for alternatives to the current plan that would protect the river and their homes.
The initiative launched by Qendra Mjedisore për Studime dhe Zbatime (QMSZ, translates to Environmental Center for Studies and Applications) is called “United for Our Home: Resisting Harmful Infrastructure,” and aims to bring the community together to fight against the construction of this new highway.
Amplifying voices since 2018
QMSZ began in 2018 with grassroots efforts to clean up the heavily polluted River Shkumbin, addressing issues that local authorities had neglected. This successful project sparked a culture of activism and volunteerism in Librazhd, and allowed for the organization to grow and expand their focus on various community projects related to environmental protection, youth empowerment, rural development, and minority rights. QMSZ’s goal is to empower the Librazhd community to advocate for sustainable development and environmental protection, focusing on preserving the Shkumbin River and its surrounding ecosystems.
Through regular community meetings and workshops, the organization of protests and awareness campaigns, educational programs and a close eye on local and national policies, they try to foster a culture of activism in their community, amplify the voices of local residents and particularly marginalized groups, working towards social justice.
The action
During the summer of 2025, their campaign “United for Our Home: Resisting Harmful Infrastructure” was a big success. With the support of Het Actiefonds, QMSZ raised awareness, and advocated for sustainable alternatives to the highway construction.
Through community meetings and workshops, a media campaign, a petition presented to local officials and partnerships with organizations all over the region of Librazhd, they made sure the community was well informed and represented. The crown on their campaign was a big protest march, which they prepared for by organizing action trainings. They effectively blocked the main road leading through Hotolishti, the village that would be cut in half by the prospected highway.
A few stakeholders of the construction project have taken a step back and officials have invited a group of farmers and activists for roundtable discussions. There is now hope that the harmful infrastructure projects will not proceed, helping to protect local homes, communities, and the natural environment.
The struggle continues
QMSZ will continue to amplify the voices of Librazhd, partake in the roundtable discussion concerning the highway, and maintain pressure on the local governments. They are rooted in the community and will raise awareness around environmental issues in their region. Het Actiefonds will continue to stand in solidarity with GMSZ and all locally active environmental activist.
For over two decades, opposition leaders, activists, and others who disagree with the Ugandan regime have been detained without clear and fair charges. Instead of being tried in civilian courts, they are tried by military courts, even though they are civilians. It has been clear for years that they are not receiving a fair trial there, sometimes resulting in the death penalty.
On January 31 of this year, the Supreme Court of Uganda ruled in a major court case that this practice is illegal and that civilians should be tried in a civilian court. Despite this ruling, dozens of people remain in custody on trumped-up charges, awaiting unfair trials in a military court.
A group of young Ugandans, including several former political prisoners, have formed the action group We The People, with which they are raising awareness of, and fighting against, the use of military courts to try civilians. Because demonstrating against the regime is often physically dangerous for activists, the activist group, with funding from the Action Fund, created a crowd of mannequins in the street leading to the court.
Each mannequin bore the name of a political prisoner who is being wrongly imprisoned. The group hoped this would raise awareness for the prisoners and increase pressure on the regime to release them. The prisoners haven’t been released yet, but there’s been more attention to the situation, and the willingness to demonstrate in this way has increased. They keep fighting for justice!
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