Following a court case that legalized commercial fishing near the Filipino coast, PAMALKAYA-Pilipinas submitted an alternative bill that safeguards the security of local fisherfolk and ecosystems.
In August 2024, the Filipino supreme court ruled in favor of the Mercidar Fishing Corporation (MFC), owned by an elite bureaucrat family with political ties, in its civil court case against the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) – a governmental agency under the Filipino Department of Agriculture. Where the BFAR could formerly restrict commercial fishing operations within the first fifteen kilometers off the Filipino coasts in areas up to seven fathoms deep, the landmark ruling opened the door for further exploitative fishing and corporate environmental plunder in nearshore waters. With the additional access to municipal territories, commercial fishing companies may operate in 98% of viable fishing territories amidst already increasing cases of illegal and unregulated fishing.
This ruling is problematic for several reasons. First, commercial operators are equipped with types of devices, baits and gear which allow for a much more aggressive mode of capture; commercial vessels may catch in a day what municipal fisherfolk harvest in months or even years. These vessels fish with much higher fuel intensity, destroy vital coral reefs and altogether threaten local ecosystems that are already severely overfished. Moreover, the increased market dominance of export-oriented companies like MFC exacerbates a shortage crisis in fish provision for consumption by the Filipino masses.
On top of that, the extension of nearshore fishing rights happens at the expense of local fisherfolk, for whom fishing represents not only a way of life but also a source of identity-construction. The economic well-being of Filipino fisherfolk lags significantly behind the national average with a poverty incidence of 39.2% compared to the 25.2% nationally) and this gap is bound to be extended by increasing commercial competition. Without social justice the local fisherfolk will have no choice but to resort to more polluting and destructive practices, as lacking economic stability means subsistence will outweigh sustainability.
To protest the supreme court’s ruling, PAMALKAYA-Philipinas helped draft and file the “Atin ang Kinse Bill” (15km is Ours Bill) before the House of Representatives on October 20th 2025, to mandate the exclusive right of subsistence fisherfolk over the 15-kilometer municipal waters. With the support of Het Actiefonds, national fisherfolk representatives gathered and staged a protest on the same day, in which they emphasized the link between hunger, poverty, environmental degradation and the extension of commercial authority over nearshore waters. By including various local leaders, the protestors ensured that the intersectional perspectives of grassroots communities from across the Philippines were included in the national campaign for fisheries justice and urged Congress to consider the cross-generational implications of current inaction against overfishing.
Since filing the bill, PAMALAKAYA-Pilipinas has continued campaigning for protections of local fisherfolk through lobbying efforts and is currently planning an even larger summit in May to maintain pressure on policymakers and ensure the bill is passed swiftly. Het Actiefonds is proud to have supported this action and stands in solidarity with local fisherfolk in the Philippines as they continue to face economic hardship, community loss and environmental degradation.
Every year, around 40 women or trans persons are murdered in the Netherlands because of their gender. On 25th of November 2025, Feministas Rotterdam gathered to commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, shedding light on this urgent issue, raising their voices against sexual abuse, gender violence, and patriarchal oppression.
After forced eviction from their original land in the 1960s, the residents of Padang Halaban re-occupied parts of their lawful territory. Now, their right to settlement is once again threatened by the Indonesian state.
In 1968, the residents of six villages in the Padang Halaban plantation area, Northern Sumatra, were forcibly evicted from their land by the Indonesian state. Although the residents had lived in the area for an extensive period and held official land occupation registration cards, the military wanted to create room for the cultivation of palms and fruit by the agricultural company Plantagen AG, now PT SMART, and launched a violent campaign against the community in 1965. During this period, over 50 residents disappeared, were tortured, raped and even killed under the guise of being affiliated with the communist party. To this day, an area of approximately 7000 hectares is still controlled by the company, while the human rights violations that the victims suffered remain unaddressed by the Indonesian government.
Since the 1970s, various efforts have been carried out to get justice for the original residents and victims of the massacre, but these have always ended in procedural deadlock. Therefore, in 2009, collective representatives from the six villages resorted to direct action and slowly re-occupied an area of 83.5 hectares that belonged to one of the original villages. Despite ongoing lawsuits, the land became a place of settlement and food production once again during the following years, and plays a central role in the identity of the local population. In 2016, the Supreme Court ruled against the community’s rights to the land and eviction was scheduled for 2025.
In December 2025, KontraS North Sumatra, with the support of Het Actiefonds, erected a monument on the still-occupied Padang Halaban lands, displaying the names of the 50 massacre victims. Although the organization, which has been fighting for vulnerable populations in the area since 2000, was planning to assist the occupation of additional land to house twenty more households, the residents of the originally claimed 83.5 hectares were forcibly removed from their land on 28 January 2026. With 21 bulldozers and secured by approximately 800 police agents and military forces, PT SMART evicted the community and destroyed their houses, agricultural land and infrastructure.
Driven by their spirit of resistance, the people of Padang Halaban continue to occupy the only building that still stands: the mosque. The 150 residents that remain have gathered there to set up temporary shelter, organize a communal kitchen and pray for their struggle. KontraS North Sumatra continues to assist the community by providing food and will soon launch a public campaign to build solidarity with the victims. Although all houses have been destroyed, the occupation perists! Het Actiefonds is proud to have supported the Padang Halablan community and will continue to stand in solidarity with their struggle for restitution of their land.
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!
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