Myriam Merlet
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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Why should I consider responding to the survey?
There are many reasons why your response to the WITM survey matters. The survey offers the opportunity to share your lived experience of mobilizing funding to support your organizing; claim your power as an expert on how money moves and who it reaches; and contribute to collective and consistent advocacy to funders moving more and better funding. Over the last two decades, AWID’s WITM research has proven to be a key resource for activists and funders. We wholeheartedly invite you to join us in its third iteration to highlight the actual state of resourcing, challenge false solutions, and point out how funding must change for movements to thrive and meet the complex challenges of our times.
Snippet FEA EoS The Bold (ES)
La Osada
Producción y emprendimiento
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.
Hala Salaam
En nuestro caso, reorientamos dinero a nuestros socios beneficiarios y nos identificamos como fondo de mujeres/feminista, ¿deberíamos responder la encuesta?
No. Valoramos muchísimo su trabajo, pero no estamos buscando respuestas de fondos de mujeres/feministas por el momento. Alentamos a compartir la encuesta con sus socios beneficiarios y con sus redes feministas.
Snippet FEA Nous Sommes la Solution (ES)
Nous Sommes la Solution es un movimiento de mujeres rurales por la soberanía alimentaria en África Occidental. Originalmente fundada como una campaña contra la agricultura hiper-industrializada, Nous Sommes la Solution se ha convertido en un movimiento de más de 500 asociaciones de mujeres rurales de Burkina Faso, Senegal, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Malí y Guinea.
Este movimiento liderado por mujeres está construyendo y fortaleciendo la soberanía alimentaria y de semillas en África Occidental. Alimentan a las comunidades, fortalecen las economías locales, amplían el conocimiento de las mujeres agricultoras y mitigan los efectos devastadores de la crisis climática a través de las prácticas agroecológicas. También organizan talleres, foros y transmisiones de radio comunitarias para compartir sus mensajes, conocimientos tradicionales y prácticas agroecológicas en las comunidades rurales.
En colaboración con universidades y centros públicos de investigación, Nous Sommes la Solution trabaja para restaurar las variedades indígenas de arroz (un alimento esencial de África Occidental) y promover economías alimentarias locales basadas en principios agroecológicos para influir en la formulación de políticas nacionales, mientras apoya a las mujeres en la creación de asociaciones agrícolas y su acceso a la propiedad y gestión colectiva de las tierras agrícolas.
Body
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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Patrona Benita Sandoval
Faith Kandaba
Puis-je accéder à l’enquête et répondre aux questions depuis mon téléphone?
Oui, l’enquête est accessible depuis les téléphones intelligents.
Snippet FEA What are the objectives (FR)
Quels sont les Objectifs de Nous Sommes la Solution?
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
Parvin Paidar
Leidiane Drosdoski Machado
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).
Snippet FEA NSS Quote (EN)
“It’s the indigenous knowledge and the practices that have always supported food sovereignty and this knowhow is in the hands of the women … Ecofeminism for me is the respect for all that we have around us.”
Mariama Sonko
Interview to The Guardian