On Friday March 15, the Charity & Security Network (C&SN) celebrated its tenth anniversary by gathering with members of over two dozen humanitarian, human rights, and advocacy organizations. Director Kay Guinane spoke briefly before introducing keynote speaker Maina Kiai, former UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association and current co-director of InformAction and a partner with Human Rights Watch on their Build Local Support for Rights initiative. Maina spoke about how human rights have shifted and expanded during his lifetime, as well as the importance of grassroots activism. In particular, he urged optimism in the face of rapidly expanding—though by no means assured—rights for women and LGBT+ people, which he said even twenty years ago would have been considered unthinkable. Read more