Uma Singh
Memory as Resistance: A Tribute to WHRDs no longer with us
AWID’s Tribute is an art exhibition honouring feminists, women’s rights and social justice activists from around the world who are no longer with us.
In 2020, we are taking a turn
This year’s tribute tells stories and shares narratives about those who co-created feminist realities, have offered visions of alternatives to systems and actors that oppress us, and have proposed new ways of organising, mobilising, fighting, working, living, and learning.
49 new portraits of feminists and Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) are added to the gallery. While many of those we honour have passed away due to old age or illness, too many have been killed as a result of their work and who they are.
This increasing violence (by states, corporations, organized crime, unknown gunmen...) is not only aimed at individual activists but at our joint work and feminist realities.
The stories of activists we honour keep their legacy alive and carry their inspiration forward into our movements’ future work.
The portraits of the 2020 edition are designed by award winning illustrator and animator, Louisa Bertman.
AWID would like to thank the families and organizations who shared their personal stories and contributed to this memorial. We join them in continuing the remarkable work of these activists and WHRDs and forging efforts to ensure justice is achieved in cases that remain in impunity.
“They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds.” - Mexican Proverb
The Tribute was first launched in 2012
It took shape with a physical exhibit of portraits and biographies of feminists and activists who passed away at AWID’s 12th International Forum, in Turkey. It now lives as an online gallery, updated every year.
To date, 467 feminists and WHRDs are featured.
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Who should participate in the survey?
Groups, organizations and/or movements working specifically or primarily for women, girls, gender justice, LBTQI+ and allied people’s rights in all regions and at all levels, both newly formed and long-standing.
Leticia Eulalia Mary Mukasa- Kikonyogo
Leticia était une avocate et juge ougandaise.
Avant de prendre sa retraite, elle a occupé de nombreux postes de haut niveau, notamment celui de membre de la cour d’appel et juge en chef adjointe de l’Ouganda. Elle a été la première femme ougandaise à occuper le poste de magistrat en chef entre 1973 et 1986 et la première femme à être nommée juge à la Haute Cour de justice en 1986.
Elle fut l'une des premières femmes à recevoir le titre de chevalier pontifical de l'histoire de l'Église catholique en Afrique. Elle est morte d'une crise cardiaque.
Why did AWID choose Taipei as the location for the Forum?
We see Taipei as the location in the Asia Pacific region that will best allow us to build that safe and rebelious space for our global feminist community.
Taipei offers a moderate degree of stability and safety for the diversity of Forum participants we will convene. It also has strong logistical capacities, and is accessible for many travellers (with a facilitated e-visa process for international conferences).
The local feminist movement is welcoming of the Forum and keen to engage with feminists from across the globe.
Remembering: A Tribute to WHRDs no longer with us
AWID honors feminists and Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) who have died and whose contributions to the advancement of human rights are very much missed.
Celebrating Activists and WHRDs
AWID’s WHRD Tribute is a photo exhibition featuring feminist, women’s rights and social justice activists from around the world who are no longer with us.
The Tribute was first launched in 2012, at AWID’s 12th International Forum, in Turkey. It took shape with a physical exhibit of portraits and biographies of feminists and activists who passed away. The initiative was described by Forum participants as being a unique, moving and energizing way to commemorate our collective history.
At the 13th International Forum in Brazil, we honored activists and WHRDs with a mural unveiling ceremony in four languages, a dance performance and a Brazilian ritual.
In between the events, the Tribute lives as an online gallery that is updated every year as part of the 16 Days Campaign Against Gender Based Violence (25 November – 10 December).
Contributions from all over the world
Since 2012, through our annual Tribute to Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) no longer with us, over 400 feminists and WHRDs from 11 regions and 80 countries have been featured.
AWID would like to thank the families and organizations who shared their personal stories and contributed to this memorial. We join them in continuing the remarkable work of these women and forging efforts to ensure justice is achieved in cases that remain in impunity.
Visit the WHRD Tribute online exhibit
The violence and threaths against WHRDs persist
In addition to paying homage to these incredible activists, the Tribute particularly sheds light on the plight of WHRDs who have been assassinated or disappeared.
One third of those featured in the Tribute were activists who have been murdered or disappeared in suspicious circumstances. They were specifically targeted for who they were and the work they did to challenge:
- State power
- Heteronormativity
- Fundamentalisms
- Corporations
- Patriarchy
- Organized Crime
- Corruption
- Militarization…
Women like Agnes Torres, from Mexico, was killed because of her gender identity and sexual orientation; or Cheryl Ananayo, an environmental activist from the Philippines was assassinated as she struggled against a mining company; or Ruqia Hassan, a Syrian independent journalist and blogger killed for her criticism of ISIS. And so many others.
With the WHRD Tribute, we bring them all into our collective memory and carry their legacy of struggle as our torch in the feminists’ and women’s rights movements. We recognize that security, safety and self-care must be a priority in all our political agendas. And we call on to governments and international bodies to collectively address violence against feminists and WHRDs.
We believe this is a critical step to ensure the sustainability of our movements for gender equality, women’s rights, and justice for all.
Snippet FEA We are living in a world (EN)
We are living in a world where the destruction of Nature fuels our current global economy. |
Even in times of climate crisis, governments continue to encourage large-scale agriculture industries to expand. These activities poison the land, threaten biodiversity, and destroy local food production and livelihoods. Meanwhile, while women produce the majority of our food in the world, they own almost none of the land. |
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What if we perceived land and Nature not as private property to exploit, but as a whole to live in, learn from, and harmoniously coexist with? What if we repaired our relationships with the land and embraced more sustainable alternatives that nurture both the planet and its communities? Nous Sommes la Solution (We Are the Solution, NSS) is one of many women-led movements striving to do this. This is their story. |
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Widad Mitri
Nuestra agrupación, organización o movimiento no ha tomado ni movilizado financiamiento de donantes externos, ¿deberíamos responder la encuesta?
¡Sí! Reconocemos y valoramos las distintas razones por las que los feminismos en sus contextos respectivos no cuentan con financiamiento externo, ya sea por no reunir los requisitos para solicitar donaciones o para recibir dinero del exterior, o bien porque se financian con recursos generados de manera autónoma como estrategia política en sí misma. Deseamos saber de ustedes con independencia de su experiencia de financiamiento externo.
Asma Jahangir
Asma was a leading Pakistani rights activist, fearless critic of the military’s interference in politics and a staunch defender of the rule of law.
She was the founding chairwoman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, an independent group, and was a trustee of the International Crisis Group. She won international awards and served as the United Nations rapporteur on human rights and extrajudicial killings.
She is remembered fondly by colleagues and friends at AWID
“With her life, Asma rewrote the history that many of us were told as women. Asma changed the world. She changed it in Pakistan, and she changed it in our imaginations."
En su lucha por los derechos humanos enfrentan la injusticia en América Latina
Este año honramos a 19 defensoras de la región de América Latina y el Caribe. De ellas, 16 fueron asesinadas, incluyendo a 6 periodistas y 4 defensoras LGBTQI. Únete a nosotras en la conmemoración de sus vidas y trabajo, compartiendo los memes aquí incluidos con tus colegas, amistades y redes; y tuiteando las etiquetas #WHRDTribute y #16Días.
Por favor, haz click en cada imagen de abajo para ver una versión más grande y para descargar como un archivo.
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Snippet FEA Agroecology And Food (EN)
AGROECOLOGY AND FOOD SOVEREIGNTY AS RESISTANCE |
Today, large-scale industrial food production uses single-crop plantations, genetically modified organisms and other pesticides that destroy the land and knowledge of local communities. |
Agroecology is a resistance to corporate-driven agriculture. It prioritizes smaller scale agriculture, multiple crops and diversified food production, and the centering of local knowledge and practices. Agroecology goes hand-in-hand with demands for food sovereignty, or the “right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems”(Via Campesina, Declaration of Nyéléni).
The role of women, indigenous and rural communities and people of color from the Global South is absolutely essential when it comes to food systems. Feminist agroecologists are working to dismantle oppressive gender roles and systems of patriarchy embedded within food production. As shown by the heroines of NSS, they are generating a liberatory agroecology by strengthening community resilience, empowering women peasants and farmers, and preserving local traditions, territories, and knowledge of food-producing communities.
Cecilia Loria
Quelles sont les langues officielles de l’enquête WITM?
À l’heure actuelle, l’enquête est disponible sur KOBO en français, anglais, arabe, espagnol, portugais et russe. Vous pouvez choisir votre langue au début du questionnaire.
Olivia Arévalo Lomas
Olivia era la líder espiritual del pueblo indígena Shipibo Konibo.
Sabia mujer indígena y abuela, era conocida por practicar la medicina tradicional y cantar las canciones sagradas de su pueblo (Íkaros). Olivia Arévalo fue una activa defensora de los derechos culturales y ambientales de su pueblo. Su asesinato tuvo lugar en un contexto de conflicto territorial entre la comunidad shipibo y las empresas que quieren apropiarse de sus tierras para cultivar palma aceitera.
Integrantes de su comunidad han dicho: «Su muerte es una agresión contra toda la comunidad shipibo. Ella era la memoria viviente de su pueblo».
WHRDs from the South and Southeast Asian region
7 Women Human Rights Defenders from across the South and Southeast Asian region are honored in this year’s Online Tribute. These defenders have made key contributions to advancing human and women’s rights, indigenous people’s rights, and the right to education. These WHRDs were lawyers, women’s rights activists, scholars, and politicians. Please join AWID in commemorating t their work and legacy by sharing the memes below with your colleagues, networks and friends and by using the hashtags #WHRDTribute and #16Days.
Please click on each image below to see a larger version and download as a file
Diana Staubli
Should I do any preparation to respond to the survey?
As the WITM survey is focused on resourcing realities for feminist organizations, most questions ask about your group’s funding between 2021–2023. You will need to have this information with you to fill out the survey (e.g., your annual budgets and key sources of funding).
Liliana Bodoc
Liliana était enseignante argentine, tisseuse et également une écrivaine reconnue.
Sa trilogie « La saga des confins » a reçu plusieurs prix. Son œuvre est la seule dans le domaine littéraire fantastique à avoir eu recours et ré-imaginé la mythologie autochtone sud-américaine.
L’engagement de Liliana envers le féminisme s’est exprimé à travers les voix féminines diverses, riches et fortes de ses écrits, et en particulier dans le cadre de ceux à destination du jeune public. Elle a également pris position publiquement en faveur de l'avortement, de la justice économique et de l’égalité de genre.
