Women human rights defenders (WHRDs) worldwide defend their lands, livelihoods and communities from extractive industries and corporate power. They stand against powerful economic and political interests driving land theft, displacement of communities, loss of livelihoods, and environmental degradation.
Extractivism is an economic and political model of development that commodifies nature and prioritizes profit over human rights and the environment. Rooted in colonial history, it reinforces social and economic inequalities locally and globally. Often, Black, rural and Indigenous women are the most affected by extractivism, and are largely excluded from decision-making. Defying these patriarchal and neo-colonial forces, women rise in defense of rights, lands, people and nature.
WHRDs confronting extractive industries experience a range of risks, threats and violations, including criminalization, stigmatization, violence and intimidation. Their stories reveal a strong aspect of gendered and sexualized violence. Perpetrators include state and local authorities, corporations, police, military, paramilitary and private security forces, and at times their own communities.
AWID and the Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition (WHRD-IC) are pleased to announce “Women Human Rights Defenders Confronting Extractivism and Corporate Power”; a cross-regional research project documenting the lived experiences of WHRDs from Asia, Africa and Latin America.
"Women Human Rights Defenders confronting extractive industries: an overview of critical risks and Human Rights obligations" is a policy report with a gender perspective. It analyses forms of violations and types of perpetrators, quotes relevant human rights obligations and includes policy recommendations to states, corporations, civil society and donors.
"Weaving resistance through action: Strategies of Women Human Rights Defenders confronting extractive industries" is a practical guide outlining creative and deliberate forms of action, successful tactics and inspiring stories of resistance.
The video “Defending people and planet: Women confronting extractive industries” puts courageous WHRDs from Africa, Asia, and Latin America in the spotlight. They share their struggles for land and life, and speak to the risks and challenges they face in their activism.
Challenging corporate power: Struggles for women’s rights, economic and gender justice is a research paper outlining the impacts of corporate power and offering insights into strategies of resistance.
AWID acknowledges with gratitude the invaluable input of every Woman Human Rights Defender who participated in this project. This project was made possible thanks to your willingness to generously and openly share your experiences and learnings. Your courage, creativity and resilience is an inspiration for us all. Thank you!
Razan was a 21-year-old volunteer medic in Palestine.
She was shot as she ran toward a fortified border fence, in an effort to reach a casualty in the east of the south Gaza city of Khan Younis.
In her very last Facebook post, Razan said: “I am returning and not retreating,” adding: “Hit me with your bullets. I am not afraid.”
Ȃurea Mouzinho es una activista feminista por la justicia económica de Luanda, Angola, que tiene una carrera de diez años en investigación, otorgamiento de subvenciones, incidencia y construcción de movimientos por los derechos de las mujeres y la justicia económica en toda África y en el Sur global. Actualmente es Directora de Programa para África en Thousand Currents, y es parte del consejo editorial de Feminist Africa. También integra Ondjango Feminista, una colectiva feminista que cofundó en 2016. Recientemente ha sido madre de un niño de Géminis, y disfruta los días tranquilos con su joven familia y los largos paseos por la playa. Ocasionalmente publica tweets con el nombre de usuarie @kitondowe.
Sue fue artista, activista y maestra y nació en 1936 en Maryland, Estados Unidos.
Creó arte para mujeres y sobre mujeres. Como lesbiana feminista, y durante un tiempo también separatista, se dedicó a la creación de espacios sólo para mujeres. En 1976 compró tierras que todavía son conservadas por mujeres que van temporariamente a hacer arte. Sue mantuvo una apasionada posición en la protección de las mujeres y las niñas.
Con su innovador enfoque futurista, clásico y antropológico, llenaba cada habitación en la que entraba con su intelecto, su excentricidad auténtica, su ingenio implacable y su humor. Sus ideas acerca de la conciencia y la creatividad siguen inspirando a mucha gente.
Meet the Solidarity Network, a health and service union mostly led by women. Emerging as a response to increasing precarity, severe underpayment and hostile work environments faced by workers in Georgia, Solidarity Network fights for dignified compensation and work places.
Its goal? To create a national worker’s democratic movement. To do so, it has been branching out, organizing and teaming up with other local and regional unions and slowly creating a network of unions and empowering women workers to become union leaders.
Its political approach is a holistic one. For Solidarity Network, labor rights issues are directly connected to broader national political and economic agendas and reforms. That’s why they are pushing for tax justice, women and LGBTQIA+ rights, and fighting against the dismantling of the Georgian welfare state.
The Solidarity Network is also part of Transnational Social Strike (TSS), a political platform and infrastructure inspired by migrant, women and essential worker organizing that works to build connections between labor movements across borders and nurture global solidarity.
A nomad of cultures, born in Hong Kong, rooted in Turkish-Pakistani heritage, Fatima’s love for narratives - both in reading and co-creating them - fueled her passion for communications activism. Supported by her education in journalism, Fatima has worked for 7 years in digital and media communications fields with NGOs that provide education opportunities and legal aid to refugee and asylum seekers, as well as with the Muslim feminist movement which applies feminist and rights-based lenses in understanding and searching for equality and justice within Muslim legal tradition. She is a regular op-ed writer on feminist issues in the Global South.
Through storytelling in this hyper-digital age of social media, Fatima continues to collaborate with community organizers and grassroots activists to create audiovisual content with the aim to cultivate bridges of understanding towards collective liberation and decolonization. On days when she’s not working, she intently watches independent feminist films coming from Iran, Morocco and Pakistan and on other days, she performs spoken word poetry with her comrades in Kuala Lumpur.
Sim, é acessível para pessoas com uma variedade diversificada de capacidades auditivas, de movimento, visuais e cognitivas.
Ottilie était une militante féministe, éducatrice et politicienne namibienne.
Elle était l'une des fondatrices de l'Organisation populaire du Sud-Ouest africain (SWAPO), du Yu Chi Chan Club (groupe révolutionnaire armé) et du Front de libération nationale du Sud-Ouest africain (SWANLIF). Ottilie a également été une des fondatrices de la Namibian Women’s Association et du Girl Child Project. Tout au long de sa vie, Ottilie a plaidé en faveur du droit de discuter, de penser, de contester et de réclamer. Elle a mobilisé des femmes, organisé des assemblées d’étudiants et d’enseignants et critiqué d'autres camarades pour leur élitisme et leur corruption.
Ottilie a œuvré sans relâche pour démanteler le patriarcat et faire émerger une démocratie participative, féministe, libératrice et transformatrice.
Ottilie disait souvent : « Je me reposerai quand je serai morte. »
Nana es una organizadora feminista e investigadora en derechos reproductivos y políticas demográficas que reside en Egipto. Es miembro de RESURJ (organización feminista por la justicia sexual y reproductiva), del Órgano Asesor del Proyecto A del Líbano y de la Comisión de la Comunidad de Mama Cash. Nana tiene una maestría en Salud Pública del Instituto KIT y la Universidad Vrije de Ámsterdam. En su trabajo, da seguimiento y contextualiza las políticas demográficas nacionales, al tiempo que reúne información para abordar la eugenesia moderna, las ayudas internacionales de carácter regresivo y el autoritarismo. Anteriormente, formó parte de la Fundación de Ginebra para la Educación y la Investigación Médica, la Iniciativa Egipcia para los Derechos Personales y el Colectivo Feminista Ikhtyar de El Cairo.
Al unirte a AWID, te sumas a un proceso organizativo feminista mundial, un poder colectivo surgido del trabajo entre movimientos y basado en la solidaridad.
الوقت المقدّر لتعبئة الاستطلاع هو 30 دقيقة.
Most of María’s life was devoted to incorporating a feminist and gender perspective in institutional and organizational work, and capacity building in Latin America.
As a child, María had a strong interest in art, communication, nature, literature, and the achievement of justice, especially for women and marginalized groups.
María was committed to sexual and reproductive rights and was a member of the National Board for Integral Education in Sexuality. She is remembered by those who loved her as a “passionate and restless fighter” with a strong commitment to women’s and children’s rights.
Lutter contre vents et marées : le récit de la victoire sans précédent du Réseau Solidarité.
En janvier 2022, le Réseau Solidarité a organisé une grève avec 400 travailleur·euses. Sa principale demande ? L’augmentation des salaires. La grève a été déclenchée après des mois de discussions sans résultats avec le ministère géorgien des Affaires Sociales.
Après avoir manifesté, négocié, parlé à la presse, résisté aux représailles et enduré le froid de l’hiver géorgien pendant des semaines, les travailleur·euses ont obtenu des concessions sans précédent de la part du gouvernement: augmentation des salaires, congés payés de maternité, couverture des frais de transport, arrêt des licenciement, indemnisation des jours de grève, et plus.
La grève a non seulement abouti à des gains matériels, mais a également permis aux travailleur·euses de se sentir uni·e·s et habilité·e·s à se défendre et à lutter pour des conditions de travail décentes, dans le présent et à l'avenir. Iels sont devenu·es une source d'inspiration pour tous·tes les travailleur·euses du pays.
Pour en savoir plus sur leur victoire, cliquez ici.
AWID surgió en 1982 y se ha ido transformando con el paso de los años en una verdadera organización mundial.
Leer «From “WID” to “GAD” to Women’s Rights: The First Twenty Years of AWID» (en inglés)
Etendez vos frontières. Les membres de l'AWID représentent de plus en plus une section transversale dynamique et variée de féministes travaillant, entre autres, sur les questions foncières, les droits des travailleures, les droits sexuels et l'autonomie corporelle. En devenant membre, vous pouvez relier vos luttes entre mouvements.