Confronting Extractivism & Corporate Power
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.
Why resist extractive industries?
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.
Critical risks and gender-specific violence
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.
Acting together
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.
We encourage activists, members of social movements, organized civil society, donors and policy makers to read and use these products for advocacy, education and inspiration.
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"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.
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"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.
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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.
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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.
Share your experience and questions!
◾️ How can these resources support your activism and advocacy?
◾️ What additional information or knowledge do you need to make the best use of these resources?
Thank you!
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!
Related Content
Stella Mukasa
Stella a commencé sa carrière au ministère du Genre et du Développement communautaire en Ouganda. Elle œuvrait auprès des décideurs-euses politiques, pour encourager des réformes législatives, dont celle de la Constitution ougandaise en 1995 qui a entériné certaines des réformes les plus progressives pour les femmes dans la région.
Elle était adorée dans la région tout entière pour ses incessants efforts pour la création et l’application de lois et politiques sensibles au genre. Elle a joué un rôle clé dans l’ébauche de la loi sur les violences domestiques en Ouganda. Elle a aussi contribué à une mobilisation importante en faveur de Constitutions sensibles au genre à la fois en Ouganda et au Rwanda.
Par son travail au Centre international de recherches sur les femmes (International Center for Research on Women, ICRW), elle a abordé les thématiques de la violence à l’égard des enfants. Stella s’est attachée à renforcer les organisations locales qui luttent contre les violences basées sur le genre. Conférencière en Droits genrés et loi à l’université Makerere, elle a également siégé aux conseils d’administration d’Akina Mama wa Afrika, ActionAid International Uganda et l’Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa.
Snippet - WITM Why now_col 2 - RU
Обеспечение ресурсами феминистских движений имеет основополагающее значение для обеспечения более справедливого и мирного настоящего и свободного будущего.
За последнее десятилетие спонсоры выделили значительно больше средств на обеспечение гендерного равенства, однако лишь 1% средств, выделенных на благотворительность и развитие был направлен непосредственно на поддержку социальных изменений, проводимых под руководством феминисток.
В солидарности с движениями, которые по-прежнему остаются невидимыми, маргинализированными и не имеют доступа к основному, долгосрочному, гибкому и основанному на доверии финансированию, данный опрос освещает фактическое состояние ресурсного обеспечения, выявляет ошибочные решения и указывает на то, как необходимо изменить модели финансирования, чтобы движения процветали и решали сложные задачи современного мира.
Snippet FEA Brisa Escobar Quote (FR)
« Mes rêves et mes objectifs ont toujours été les mêmes que ceux de Lohana Berkins : que la coopérative continue à exister et non à fermer. Continuez à offrir cet endroit à nos collègues travesti, à leur donner du travail et un lieu de soutien»
Brisa Escobar,
présidente de la Coopérative
Ahmal Mahmoud
Juana Ramírez Santiago
Juana was one of the founders and current Board Member of Red de Mujeres Ixiles de Nebaj, an Indigenous women’s rights organization that is a member of the Mesoamerican Initiative of WHRDs (IM-Defensoras).
She was also a midwife and a mother of 7 children. Juana had received death threats that were reported to the Prosecutor’s office. Juana is the third Indigenous WHRD murdered in the area during 2018. The Guatemala Ombudsman reports that a total of 20 HRDs were killed in the country this year.
Juana Ramírez Santiago was shot dead by unidentified attackers while crossing a bridge in Nebak, Quiché, Guatemala. Investigations to identify the perpetrators are ongoing.
Snippet - WITM RESOURCES - RU
Ресурсы
(Доступно на английском языке)
Snippet FEA Map of Georgia (EN)

Key opposition actors
We are witnessing an unprecedented level of engagement of anti-rights actors in international human rights spaces. To bolster their impact and amplify their voices, anti-rights actors increasingly engage in tactical alliance building across sectors, regional and national borders, and faiths.
This “unholy alliance” of traditionalist actors from Catholic, Evangelical, Mormon, Russian Orthodox and Muslim faith backgrounds have found common cause in a number of shared talking points and advocacy efforts attempting to push back against feminist and sexual rights gains at the international level.
Holy See
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Key activities: As the government of the Roman Catholic Church, the “Holy See” uses its unique status as Permanent Observer state at the UN to lobby for conservative, patriarchal, and heteronormative notions of womanhood, gender identities and “the family”, and to propagate policies that are anti-abortion and -contraception
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Based in: Vatican City, Rome, Italy.
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Religious affiliations: Catholic
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Connections to other anti-rights actors: US Christian Right groups; interfaith orthodox alliances; Catholic CSOs
Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
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Key activities: Self-described as the “collective voice of the Muslim world”, the OIC acts as a bloc of states in UN spaces. The OIC attempts to create loopholes in human rights protection through references to religion, culture, or national sovereignty; propagates the concept of the “traditional family”; and contributes to a parallel but restrictive human rights regime (e.g. the 1990 Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam).
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Based in: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
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Religious affiliations: Muslim
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Connections to other anti-rights actors: Ultra conservative State missions to the UN, such as Russia
World Congress of Families
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Key activities: International and regional conferences; research and knowledge-production and dissemination; lobbying at the United Nations “to defend life, faith and family”
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Based in: Rockford, Illinois, U.S.
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Religious affiliation: Predominantly Catholic and Christian Evangelical
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Connections to other anti-rights actors: Sutherland Institute, a conservative think-tank; the Church of Latter-Day Saints; the Russian Orthodox Church’s Department of Family and Life; the anti-abortion Catholic Priests for Life; the Foundation for African Culture and Heritage; the Polish Federation of Pro-Life Movements; the European Federation of Catholic Family Associations; the UN NGO Committee on the Family; and the Political Network for Values; the Georgian Demographic Society; parliamentarians from Poland and Moldova, etc; FamilyPolicy; the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies; and HatzeOir; C-Fam; among others
Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam)
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Key activities: Lobbying at the United Nations, particularly the Commission of the Status of Women to “defend life and family”; media and information-dissemination (Friday Fax newsletter); movement building; trainings for conservative activists
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Based in: New York and Washington D.C., U.S.
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Religious affiliations: Catholic
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Connections to other anti-rights actors: International Youth Coalition; World Youth Alliance; Human Life International; the Holy See; coordinates the Civil Society for the Family; the Family Research Council (U.S.) and other Christian/Catholic anti-rights CSOs; United States CSW delegation
Family Watch International
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Key activities: Lobbying in international human rights spaces for “the family” and anti-LGBTQ and anti-CSE policies; training of civil society and state delegates (for example, ‘The Resource Guide to UN Consensus Language on Family Issues’); information dissemination; knowledge production and analysis; online campaigns
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Based in: Gilbert, Arizona, U.S.
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Religious affiliations: Mormon
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Connections to other anti-rights actors: leader of the UN Family Rights Caucus; C-Fam; Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality (JONAH); the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH); World Congress of Families; CitizenGo; Magdalen Institute; Asociación La Familia Importa; Group of Friends of the Family (25 state bloc)
World Youth Alliance
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Key activities: Advocacy in international policy spaces including the United Nations, the European Union, and the Organization of American States for “the family”, against sexual and reproductive rights; training youth members in the use of diplomacy and negotiation, international relations, grassroots activities and message development; internship program to encourage youth participation in its work; regular Emerging Leaders Conference; knowledge production and dissemination
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Based in: New York City (U.S.) with regional chapter offices in Nairobi (Kenya), Quezon City (The Philippines), Brussels (Belgium), Mexico City (Mexico), and Beirut (Lebanon)
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Religious affiliations: primarily Catholic but aims for interfaith membership
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Connections to other anti-rights actors: C-Fam; Human Life International; the Holy See; Campaign Life coalition
Russian Orthodox Church
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Key Activities: The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), capitalizing on its close links to the Russian state, has operated as a “norm entrepreneur” in human rights debates. Russia and the ROC have co-opted rights language to push for a focus on “morality” and “traditional values” as supposed key sources of human rights. Russia led a series of “traditional values” resolutions at the Human Rights Council and has been at the forefront of putting forward hostile amendments to progressive resolutions in areas including maternal mortality, protection of civil society space, and the right to peaceful protest.
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Connections to other anti-rights actors: Organization of Islamic Cooperation; Eastern European and Caucasus Orthodox churches, e.g. Georgian Orthodox Church; U.S. Christian Right including U.S. Evangelicals; World Congress of Families; Group of Friends of the Family (state bloc)
Other Chapters
Fidan Dogan
Ana M. Tallada Iglesia
Ana fue una firme defensora de los derechos de las mujeres y trabajó con una amplia diversidad de mujeres, desde aquellas que están redes de base hasta las que son parte del sector privado.
Creía que había que tender puentes entre sectores. Ana fue integrante de la Red Nacional de Promoción de la Mujer (RNPM), y tuvo participación activa en el desarrollo de muchos programas sociales que abordan temas como la salud y los derechos sexuales y reproductivos.
Quem deve participar no inquérito?
Grupos, organizações e movimentos cujo foco específico ou principal seja os direitos das mulheres, de jovens, a justiça de género, os direitos das pessoas LBTQI+ e de aliados em todas as regiões e em todos os níveis, quer sejam novos ou já estabelecidos.
Snippet FEA collaborator and allies Photo 1 (ES)

Defendiendo nuestra tierra del poder corporativo

Estas industrias 'extraen' materias primas de la tierra: minería, gas, petróleo y madera son algunos ejemplos.
Este modelo económico explota desenfrenadamente la naturaleza e intensifica las desigualdades norte, donde sus grandes corporaciones se benefician y sur, de donde extraen los recursos.
Contaminación del agua, daño irreparable al medioambiente, comunidades forzadas a desplazarse son algunas de las consecuencias inmediatas.
Lee nuestro reporte de INDUSTRIAS EXTRACTIVAS
Hay alternativas sostenibles para el medioambiente y los derechos humanos de la mujer.
Descubre además cómo nos afecta económicamente

Camille Lepage
Marceline Loridan-Ivens
Née en 1928, Marceline était actrice, scénariste et réalisatrice.
En 2003, elle avait réalisé « La petite prairie aux bouleaux », mettant en vedette Anouk Aimée, ainsi que plusieurs autres documentaires. Survivante de l'holocauste, elle n'avait que quinze ans lorsque son père et elle furent arrêtés et envoyés dans des camps de concentration nazis. Les trois kilomètres qui la séparaient de son père à Auschwitz alors qu’elle-même était à Birkenau furent une distance insurmontable, décrite dans l’un de ses romans majeurs « Et tu n’es pas revenu ».
En parlant de son travail, elle a un jour déclaré: « Tout ce que je peux dire c’est que tout ce que je peux écrire, tout ce que je peux dévoiler, c’est à moi de le faire. »
هل على مجموعتنا، منظمتنا أو حركتنا تعبئة الاستطلاع مع أننا لم نحشد أو نأخذ تمويلاً من ممولين/ات خارجيين/ات؟
نعم! نلاحظ ونقدّر الأسباب المختلفة لعدم تلق الحركات النسوية التمويل الخارجي، حيث من الممكن أن تكون غير مؤهلة لتقديم الطلبات للتمويل و\ أو تلقّي المال من خارج البلاد، أو الاعتماد على المصادر التي يتم إنتاجها بشكل مستقل كاستراتيجية سياسية. نريد أن نسمع منكم/ن بعيدا عن تجربتكم/ن مع التمويل الخارجي.
Snippet FEA Workers demonstrations in Georgia 2 (FR)
