📢 Campaigns & Global Advocacy Portfolio
The Defend International (DI) Mobilization Hub coordinates the launch, tracking, and execution of our cross-border campaigns dedicated to protecting human dignity, shaping international security policies, and countering systemic atrocities. Since our founding, our advocacy has bridged high-level diplomacy at the United Nations with direct, rapid-response field interventions to protect marginalized populations in real time.
Below is the structured registry of our major global campaigns, urgent appeals, and strategic mobilizations. Click on any initiative to access our full historical documentation, baseline data, and archive reports:
🕊️ 1. Disarmament, Gun Safety, & Environmental
Action
- Gun Free Valentine Campaign
Defend International mobilizes global networks annually between Valentine’s Day and International Women’s Day to counter gun violence and armed domestic abuse.
Disarming Domestic Violence: The #GunFreeValentine Initiative
The presence of a firearm in a domestic environment surges intimate partner homicide risks up to eight-fold. True human security within domestic spaces requires the absolute separation of conventional weaponry from intimate environments. — Dr. Widad Akreyi, Co-Founder of Defend International
Operational Mandates for Global Engagement:
- Digital Mobilization.
- Civic Education.
- Legislative Lobbying.
Global Alliances for Sustainable Energy & Public Health
Participation and coordination are important to fulfilling the objectives outlined above. We invite all governments, global organizations, and associations committed to sustainable development and public health to endorse our objectives and join this vital campaign.
— Dr. Widad Akreyi, Policy Director & Initiative Architect
Operating as an active cross-border initiative in partnership with the United Nations Foundation, this strategic campaign deploys sustainable energy assets, safeguards global public health, and empowers women across vulnerable regional infrastructures.
- Fostering Climate Action at the Human Level
Our strategic Euro-Med framework empowering everyday citizens to act as direct stakeholders in local environmental safety, climate mitigation, and resource security.
🛡️ 2. Atrocity Prevention, Minorities, & Cultural Rights
- Save the Yazidis: The World Has to Act Now
Our global mobilization and legal documentation tracking launched during the 2014 Sinjar crises, demanding immediate state protection and international genocide recognition.
- Save Free World: Ensuring Civilian Security
Launched by Defend International to confront evolving threats to global public safety, this security campaign advocates for proactive counter-terrorism frameworks to prevent attacks on civilian populations. Grounded in a philosophy of shared humanitarian responsibility, the initiative calls on governments to evaluate national security threats and monitor religious and educational centers to ensure they fulfill their vital role in minority integration rather than being leveraged for political radicalization.
- Dr. Widad Welcomes Opening of First Armenian Church in Erbil
Direct cultural advocacy celebrating minority preservation, religious freedoms, and gender-inclusive community integration in post-crisis regions.
Dr. Widad Welcomes Consecration of First Armenian Church in Erbil
Defend International co-founder Dr. Widad Akreyi has formally welcomed the opening of the first Armenian Orthodox church in Erbil, calling upon regional leaders to uphold the statutory rights of Christian populations and protect ethno-religious minorities across the MENA region from systemic persecution.
The recognition of religious plurality and the legal protection of religious liberty are foundational pillars for fostering social cohesion and sustainable regional stability. Ensuring absolute freedom of conscience, religion, and belief is a prerequisite for building global peace. — DR. WIDAD AKREYI
Historical Remembrances
& Civil Protections
The newly consecrated Church of the Holy Cross represents a vital sanctuary for Christian Armenians, many of whom face historical vulnerabilities. Defend International underscores that protecting human security means implementing robust public policies that systematically safeguard displaced and minority communities.
- Syria: Immediate Release of Kidnapped Church Leaders
International diplomatic tracking and legal petitions demanding the safe return of targeted community and religious leaders held in conflict boundaries.
- Defending the Rights of Protesters in Iran
High-level civil mobilizations and legal appeals backing civil rights movements, calling for the definitive abolition of the death penalty, and protecting activists from state execution.
⚖️ 3. Combating Hate, Anti-Semitism, & Systemic
Torture
- Condemning Anti-Semitism and All Forms of Hatred
Dr. Widad Akreyi’s global addresses anchoring DI’s strict stance on absolute impartiality, building inter-faith solidarity, and countering systemic discrimination.
- Campaign for the Universal Abolition of the Death Sentence
Strategic legal advocacy leveraging the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR to completely erase institutional state executions worldwide.
🌍 4. Eradicating Gender Violence & Human
Trafficking
- Defend International Calls for a Definitive End to FGM
Our frontline medical and legal campaign combating Female Genital Mutilation through community health diplomacy, legislative lobbying, and protective monitoring.
- 1st UN World Day Against Human Trafficking
Our flagship mobilization framework coordinating cross-border networks to eradicate modern-day slavery, protect forced laborers, and disrupt tracking corridors.
Defend International Promotes
Peace & Stability
through
Global Advocacy & Diplomacy