UN reports 950 rights activists, journalists and unionists killed or disappeared in 2025.

The United Nations reports that preliminary data shows at least 950 human rights defenders, journalists, and trade unionists were killed or forcibly disappeared worldwide in 2025.

This figure appears in the latest global dataset on attacks against rights defenders, titled “Human Rights Count.”

The dataset was released by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

The data indicate that one human rights defender, journalist, or trade unionist is killed or disappears every 10 hours.

“Every 10 hours, a human rights defender, journalist or trade unionist is killed or disappeared,” the report stated, adding: