ABOUT us
RECLAIM was founded in 2019 by Ms. Esther Martinez and Ms. Ane Sommer Knudsen - out of concern for the state of democracy in Europe and the increasing global disregard for human rights.
The RECLAIM team now supports European civil rights groups, anti-corruption activists, judges, and independent media when their role as democracy’s watchdogs is challenged. RECLAIM intervenes and mobilizes push-back to protect freedom of speech, association, and other fundamental rights when under pressure within Europe. And ally with rights defenders, legal scholars, and policy-makers to develop strong joint strategies.
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RESPONSE
We document attacks
RECLAIM documents unlawful restrictions hampering NGOs, rights defenders, and journalists' ability to do their job.
We keep track of governmental attempts to undermine judicial independence and harassment of judges.
We produce policy reports exposing emerging trends affecting civic freedoms, media pluralism and the independence of the judiciary.
We share evidence to help NGOs and activists across Europe pre-empt and push back.
We leverage EU law
RECLAIM turns to EU institutions and EU law for effective responses to violations of civil rights, the rule of law, and media pluralism by Member States.
We use our research to prepare recommendations for decision-makers across political divides who are willing to open new avenues to safeguard these principles.
With the support of pro-bono lawyers and economists, we help develop legal strategies to shield NGOs from frivolous lawsuits or bring legal complaints before EU regulators to promote more robust human rights' safeguards.
We ally with grassroots
RECLAIM builds diverse civil society coalitions to push back against democratic backsliding.
We ally with a wide range of local activists, NGOs, scholars, and judges facing restrictions and state-sponsored smear campaigns.
We connect legal scholars and human rights defenders to develop joint strategies for pushing back against legal restrictions.
We facilitate joint action between affected rights defenders and relevant EU and Member State officials and parliamentarians.
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PARTNERS
