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AWID is an international, feminist, membership organisation committed to achieving gender equality, sustainable development and women’s human rights

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.

Visit the online exhibit

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.

Visit the online exhibit

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Eni Lestari

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Eni Lestari is an Indonesian domestic worker in Hong Kong and a migrant rights activist. After escaping her abusive employer, she transformed herself from a victim into an organizer for domestic workers in particular, and migrant workers in general. In 2000, she founded the Association of Indonesian Migrant Workers (ATKI-Hong Kong) which later expanded to Macau, Taiwan, and Indonesia. She was the coordinator and the one of the spokesperson of the Asia Migrants Coordinating Body (AMCB) - an alliance of grassroots migrants organisations in Hong Kong coming from Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Nepal and Sri Lanka. She is also the current chairperson of International Migrants Alliance, the first-ever global alliance of grassroots migrants, immigrants, refugees, and other displaced people.

She has held important positions in various organizations including and current Regional Council member of Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD), former Board Member of Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW), spokesperson for Network of Indonesian Migrant Workers (JBMI), advisor for ATKI-Hong Kong and Macau as well as the Association of Returned Migrants and Families in Indonesia (KABAR BUMI). She has been an active resource person in forums organized by academics, interfaith groups, civil societies, trade unions and many others at national, regional, and international arenas.

She has actively participated in United Nations assemblies/conferences on development and migrants’ rights and was chosen as a speaker at the opening of the UN General Assembly on Large Movement of Migrants and Refugees in 2016 in New York City, USA. She received nominations and awards such as Inspirational Women by BBC 100 Women, Public Hero Award by RCTI, Indonesian Club Award, and Non-Profit Leader of Women of Influence by American Chamber Hong Kong, and Changemaker of Cathay Pacific.

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Crear | Résister | Transform est fait pour vous et pour tou·te·s les superbes activistes féministes et de la justice sociale que nous connaissons. Rassemblons-nous pour partager nos stratégies de résistance, co-créer un peu de magie féministe, et transformer ce monde ensemble.

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LEARN MORE GET THE USER GUIDEWHO CAN FUND ME DATABASE  JOIN THE DATABASE

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Does AWID provide scholarships to attend the Forum?

Our Access Fund will offer a limited number of scholarships to fund the participation of activists who cannot otherwise make it, and don’t have relationships with funders who could cover their participation. So if you have other possibilities, please explore them. We will do our best to offer as many scholarships as we can, and will share more information about this process and how to apply in early 2024.

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Brenda Salas Neves

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Brenda Salas Neves is a feminist queer strategist born and raised in the southern Andes. They organize to shift narratives and mobilize resources to support racial and climate justice movements around the world. They have produced media projects to uplift migrant power and rise against U.S. military intervention across Latin America, with Deep Dish TV and the Portland Central America Solidarity Committee. They are a proud member of the Audre Lorde Project and a graduate of the United World Colleges (UWC) movement.

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Rachel Mabaudi

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Rachel is a financial professional with over two decades of experience. She has overseen financial affairs and projects for private and public entities, non-profits, and international non-governmental organizations. A Chartered Accountant with a Global Master’s in Business Administration, she is also a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants. In her spare time, Rachel designs typography art, enjoys traveling and spending time with family and friends over a bottle of wine.

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Animation: Calling all Feminist Superheroes!

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Je suis un bailleur de fonds ou un donateur individuel. Comment puis-je soutenir le Forum de l'AWID ?

Nous vous invitons à prendre contact avec nous pour trouver des moyens d’apporter un soutien significatif au Forum.

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Encuentro Ecosocialista Internacional

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