Mary Lawlor is the United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. She is adjunct professor of business and human rights in the Centre for Social Innovation at Trinity College Dublin.
When Lodkham Thammavong attended a peaceful demonstration in Thailand about human rights abuses in her native Laos, she had no idea it would land her in prison. But soon after her return home to Laos, she was arrested and sentenced to 12 years in jail after an unfair trial.
