On Wednesday 14 January, Front Line Defenders launched its 2015 Annual Report, "Human Rights Defenders, Lives in the Balance" which examines in detail the deteriorating situation for human rights defenders (HRDs) around the world, in the period January – December 2014...Over the last two years Front Line Defenders has documented a growing global backlash against human rights defenders (HRDs) which has now reached crisis point...[O]ver 130 HRDs were killed or died in detention in the first ten months of 2014...HRDs are [also] exposed to digital attacks, with varying degrees of sophistication, virtually everywhere.