In many countries around the world, human rights defenders are persecuted for their work and convictions. They are put under surveillance, threatened, harassed, and detained arbitrarily; often, they face enforced disappearance, torture, and even death. One of the organizations concerned with the protection of human rights defenders is the Dutch NGO Justice & Peace. In 2012, the organization founded the program Shelter City. Under the program, human rights defenders are offered temporary protection for three months in a Dutch city. In this time, they can recover and resume their work in peace.

Torture is considered to be the most common human rights violation in today´s modern world, not only in underdeveloped and/or authoritarian countries, but also in long-established democracies with strict laws about the topic. Cases of police or military violence against civilians that might amount to torture fill newspaper pages all over the world. A prominent case is the one that occurred during the G8 summit in Genoa, Italy, also known as the “Scuola Diaz e Bolzaneto” (Diaz School and Bolzaneto) scandal. It remains unresolved.