For many people listening to or reading the personal testimonies is one of the highlights of the Dublin Platform. What is most interesting is to hear the direct experience of you and your colleagues, the problems that you have faced and how you have responded to them. It is these shared experiences that help people to see the common concerns of human rights defenders around the world. Given the number of testimonies being presented it is difficult for people to absorb a lot of very detailed political or historical background, so it is better to give a simple summary of the current situation as a way of introducing your personal testimony which details your personal experiences