Human Rights Watch

Working with Platon and The People’s Portfolio on crises from Burma to Russia to Egypt has given Human Rights Watch a powerful new tool to tell the world’s most pressing stories to key policy-makers and the general public. By brilliantly highlighting the human dimension, Platon’s portraits give a fresh urgency to even longstanding human rights problems like the abusive US immigration system. - Kenneth Roth, Executive Director 

Human Rights Watch is a nonprofit, nongovernmental human rights organization. Its staff consists of human rights professionals including country experts, lawyers, journalists, and academics of diverse backgrounds and nationalities. Established in 1978, Human Rights Watch is known for its accurate fact-finding, impartial reporting, effective use of media, and targeted advocacy, often in partnership with local human rights groups. Platon and The People's Portfolio have collaborated with Human Rights Watch on projects including human rights defenders from Burma, Russia, Egypt, and in the United States. 

Physicians for Human Rights 

Platon's work empowers survivors of human rights abuses to tell their stories and adds a poignant and inspiring visual dimension to our advocacy efforts. We at Physicians for Human Rights are proud to partner with The People's Portfolio to document the incredible network of doctors, nurses, police officers, lawyers, and judges who are combatting sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Platon is elevating their work and making sure the essential stories of these frontline human rights defenders are heard around the world. - Donna McKay, Executive Director. 

Since 1986, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has used medicine and science to document and call attention to mass atrocities and severe human rights violations. PHR was founded on the idea that physicians, scientists, and other health professionals possess unique skills that lend significant credibility to the investigation and documentation of human rights abuses. PHR's specialized expertise is used to advocate for persecuted health workers, document mass atrocities, and hold those who violate human rights accountable.

Captain David Kazadi Nzengu (standing left), a military prosecutor; Dr. Désiré Alumeti (seated), a pediatric surgeon at Panzi Hospital; and Honorata Uvoya (standing right), an officer in the Congolese police’s Women and Child Protection Unit. All th…

Captain David Kazadi Nzengu (standing left), a military prosecutor; Dr. Désiré Alumeti (seated), a pediatric surgeon at Panzi Hospital; and Honorata Uvoya (standing right), an officer in the Congolese police’s Women and Child Protection Unit. All three trained in best forensic practices with PHR. | Platon for The People’s Portfolio

Originally published at physiciansforhumanrights.org.

Panzi Hospital and Foundations

There are things we experience that we cannot say aloud. Emotions and journeys to healing or justice are often indescribable. Platon sees that unfiltered, untouched part of our being and captures it. The images convey more than a moment, or a feeling. Platon delivers a path for human rights workers and survivors to express the inexpressible. In telling stories of sexualized violence in particular, sensitivity is essential. Platon and The People's Portfolio embrace the challenges and the humanity, enabling us to communicate the power of holistic healing, family and community reintegration. With media partners, we will do more than break the silence and stigma surrounding sexualized violence. We will forge an authentic, solutions-focused path to peace. - Elizabeth Blackney, Media & Communications Director

In 1999, Dr. Denis Mukwege founded Panzi Hospital as a response to the devastating war that surrounded his community in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The hospital now serves a population of 400,000 as the General Reference Hospital for the Ibanda Health Zone in the DRC, with a full range of health services. The US based Panzi Foundation makes strategic investments at Panzi Hospital and Panzi Foundation DRC to end violence against women and girls in the Congo and around the world. 

UN Foundation / OCHA

In collaboration with Platon and The People's Portfolio, UN-OCHA was able to highlight an important selection of civil and human rights defenders in New York's Times Square for World Humanitarian Day, 2014By illuminating and displaying portraits of these new cultural heroes of our time in the 'crossroads of the world,' this partnership honored the importance and value of those who fight for human dignity and respect everyday.  - Belinda Gurd, Campaigns and Special Projects 

The United Nations Foundation links the UN’s work with others around the world, mobilizing the energy and expertise of business and non-governmental organizations to help the UN tackle issues including climate change, global health, peace and security, women's empowerment, poverty eradication, energy access, and U.S.-UN relations. OCHA is the part of the United Nations Secretariat responsible for bringing together humanitarian actors to ensure a coherent response to emergencies.

The Center for Civil and Human Rights

Platon’s defining images are bringing the story of human rights to life for our visitors. His portraits introduce us to rights defenders on the front lines—a doctor fighting sexual violence in the Congo, an LGBT advocate in Russia, or a woman’s rights activist from Iran. Platon’s work shows these brave people not as victims of state repression but as true heroes of our time.  - Doug Shipman, founding CEO

The National Center for Civil and Human Rights is an innovative new cultural institution that opened in 2014 in Atlanta, dedicated to the history and real-life heroes of the civil and human rights movements. Along with Dr. Martin Luther King's papers, Platon’s life-size portraits are a centerpiece of the global human rights exhibit, and are a way for hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren and visitors to connect personally to the struggle for human rights. The entrance to the museum features Platon's 36-foot mural installation of human rights defenders.  

 

King Philanthropies

Promoting excellence in leadership is central to the mission of King Philanthropies. We are keenly inspired by the vision that Platon and his team have brought to their Leadership Films Project, and we are happy to support this effort to showcase a variety of high-impact leaders - Kim Starkey Jonker, President and CEO of King Philanthropies and co-author of Engine of Impact: Essentials of Strategic Leadership in the Nonprofit Sector