WHRDs are self-identified women and lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LBTQI) people and others who defend rights and are subject to gender-specific risks and threats due to their human rights work and/or as a direct consequence of their gender identity or sexual orientation.
WHRDs are subject to systematic violence and discrimination due to their identities and unyielding struggles for rights, equality and justice.
The WHRD Program collaborates with international and regional partners as well as the AWID membership to raise awareness about these risks and threats, advocate for feminist and holistic measures of protection and safety, and actively promote a culture of self-care and collective well being in our movements.
Risks and threats targeting WHRDs
WHRDs are exposed to the same types of risks that all other defenders who defend human rights, communities, and the environment face. However, they are also exposed to gender-based violence and gender-specific risks because they challenge existing gender norms within their communities and societies.
By defending rights, WHRDs are at risk of:
Physical assault and death
Intimidation and harassment, including in online spaces
Judicial harassment and criminalization
Burnout
A collaborative, holistic approach to safety
We work collaboratively with international and regional networks and our membership
to raise awareness about human rights abuses and violations against WHRDs and the systemic violence and discrimination they experience
to strengthen protection mechanisms and ensure more effective and timely responses to WHRDs at risk
We work to promote a holistic approach to protection which includes:
emphasizing the importance of self-care and collective well being, and recognizing that what care and wellbeing mean may differ across cultures
documenting the violations targeting WHRDs using a feminist intersectional perspective;
promoting the social recognition and celebration of the work and resilience of WHRDs ; and
building civic spaces that are conducive to dismantling structural inequalities without restrictions or obstacles
Our Actions
We aim to contribute to a safer world for WHRDs, their families and communities. We believe that action for rights and justice should not put WHRDs at risk; it should be appreciated and celebrated.
Promoting collaboration and coordination among human rights and women’s rights organizations at the international level to strengthen responses concerning safety and wellbeing of WHRDs.
Supporting regional networks of WHRDs and their organizations, such as the Mesoamerican Initiative for WHRDs and the WHRD Middle East and North Africa Coalition, in promoting and strengthening collective action for protection - emphasizing the establishment of solidarity and protection networks, the promotion of self-care, and advocacy and mobilization for the safety of WHRDs;
Increasing the visibility and recognition of WHRDs and their struggles, as well as the risks that they encounter by documenting the attacks that they face, and researching, producing, and disseminating information on their struggles, strategies, and challenges:
Mobilizing urgent responses of international solidarity for WHRDs at risk through our international and regional networks, and our active membership.
“Je n’adhère pas au concept de ‘tiers-monde’. Je fais des films pour que les gens puissent les comprendre indépendamment de leur race ou de leur couleur. Pour moi, il n’y a que des exploiteurs et des exploités, c’est tout. Faire un film, c’est prendre position.” - Sarah Maldoror
Sarah Maldoror, cinéaste française d’origine antillaise, fut une pionnière du cinéma panafricain. Elle plaça ses préoccupations politiques et son engagement de longue date dans les mouvements de décolonisation au coeur de son oeuvre.
Son film révolutionnaire Sambizanga (1972), avec son “image révolutionnaire”, retrace la lutte de libération anticoloniale des activistes angolais et retranscrit le point de vue d’une femme qui se trouve dans ce moment historique.
“Pour beaucoup de cinéastes africains, le cinéma est un outil de la révolution, une éducation politique pour transformer les consciences. Il s’inscrivait dans l’émergence d’un cinéma du Tiers-Monde cherchant à décoloniser la pensée pour favoriser des changements radicaux dans la société.” - Sarah Maldoror
Au cours de sa carrière, Sarah a fondé, aux côtés d’un certain nombre d’artistes africain·e·s et caribéen·ne·s, la première compagnie de théâtre noire en France (1956). Elle a réalisé une quarantaine de films, y compris d’importants documentaires qui mettent en valeur les vies et l’oeuvre d’artistes noir·e·s, notamment celles de son ami et poète Aimé Césaire qui lui écrivit ceci:
“À Sarah Maldoror qui, caméra au poing,
combat l’oppression, l’aliénation
et défie la connerie humaine”.
Sarah a également voulu permettre aux femmes africaines de s'approprier davantage le processus de réalisation des films. Dans une interview, elle faisait remarquer :
"La femme africaine doit être partout. Elle doit être à l'image, derrière la caméra, au montage, à toutes les étapes de la fabrication d'un film. C'est elle qui doit parler de ses problèmes…”
Sarah a laissé un héritage incroyablement puissant qui doit être transmis.
Née le 19 juillet 1929, Sarah est décédée le 13 avril 2020 des suites de complications liées au coronavirus.
We transcend time and place, Hand cut found paper (2017)We will remember who we are and We will persist Cotton embroidered hand cut lamé on wool silk cloth (2018)We will return home, Silk embroidered hand cut lamé on cotton velveteen (2018)We will heal in the now, Hand cut silk, wool, lamé, cotton, direct digital print silk satin on linen (2018)
we are infinite
An exhibition by Nicole Barakat, embodying her reconnection with the diaspora of objects from her ancestral homelands in the South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA) region.
Barakat presents a collection of textile works as manifestations of her practice of engaging with displaced, and often stolen objects held within Western museum collections including the Louvre, British Museum and Nicholson Museum.
To by-pass the gatekeepers and breach the vitrines holding these ancestral objects, Barakat reclaims pre-colonial, non-linear, receptive forms of knowing that are often devalued and dismissed by colonial and patriarchal institutions - engaging with coffee cup divination, dream-work, intuitive listening and conversations with the objects themselves (source).
About Nicole Barakat
Nicole Barakat is a queer femme, SWANA artist born and living on Gadigal Country (so-called Sydney, Australia). She works with deep listening and intuitive processes with intentions to transform the conditions of everyday life. Her work engages unconventional approaches to art-making, creating intricate works that embody the love and patience that characterises traditional textile practices.
Her works include hand-stitched and hand-cut cloth and paper drawings, sculptural forms made with her own hair, cloth and plant materials as well as live work where she uses her voice as a material.
Nicole’s creative practice is rooted in re-membering and re-gathering her ancestral knowing, including coffee divination and more recently working with plants and flower essences for community care and healing.
Snippet - CSW69 - Feminist Solidarity Space 12 - FR
Espace de solidarité féministe
✉️ Sur inscription pour les grands groupes. Espace ouvert pour les petits groupes. Inscrivez-vous ici
📅 Mercredi 12 mars 2025
🕒 14.00h-16.00h EST
🏢 Chef's Kitchen Loft with Terrace, 216 East 45th St 13th Floor, New York
Organisé par : AWID
Snippet FEA Objectives NSS Advocacy (FR)
LE PLAIDOYER
Influencer les politiques et promouvoir un accès plus équitable à la terre pour les femmes travaillant dans l'agriculture
Gloria Chicaiza, an Ecuadorian social and environmental activist, was a fervent defender of land and water. She defied the status quo, fighting against a model of development based on extraction and worked tirelessly for ecological justice and the rights of communities affected by mining.
In diverse areas of Ecuador, Gloria was part of resistance actions in favour of protecting the ecosystem. With passion and dedication, Gloria supported the indigenous and environmental movement, its communities and organizations who oppose mining projects and protect their territories and collective life projects. She spoke out, in local and international foras, against the criminalization of dissent and resistance, the pressure and violence being enacted against community activists, in particular, women human rights defenders and in support of community led efforts for food sovereignty and sustainability.
She was the Mining Justice Coordinator at Acción Ecológica, member of the Latin American Network of Women Defenders of the Social and Environmental Rights and a Board member at the Observatory of Mining Conflicts of Latin America.
In 2014, Gloria supported the coordination of a delegation to the UN COP 20 Dialogue on Climate Change. The group consisted of 25 Indigenous women from Latin America.
Gloria passed away due to complications from a lung transplant on December 28, 2019. She is remembered for her resistance and tireless work.
"The fastest way to achieve sustainability is still resistance." - Gloria Chicaiza (2010 interview)
Tributes:
“Para GLORIA. GLORIA Agua. GLORIA Tierra. GLORIA Madre. GLORIA Revolución. GLORIA Hermana. GLORIA Cielo. GLORIAmiga. GLORIAstral. Thank you for weaving us together.” -Liliana Gutierrez
“Thank you Glorita, for sustaining hope, for keeping the fabric strong, for connecting the community, for the united hands, for solidarity, thank you Glorita for standing with us in the most difficult moments. Thank you for teaching us that throughout life, nobody gets tired.” (Chakana News)
“Gloria Chicaiza cherished and flourished in being one of many. And as humble as she was, she had an uncanny ability to lead and maintain a steady and thunderous beat, a life-affirming pulse that guided, mobilized, and inspired communities and networks in the protection of Mother Earth. She denounced all forms of violence against cuerpos-territorios. She endorsed el buen vivir.” - Gabriela Jiménez, Latin America Partnerships Coordinator, KAIROS
“Thank you Gloria Chicaiza from infinity we are sure that you will continue to support our struggle. You who continued to struggle with us despite your failing health. You will live on in the forests and the water that you defended with such courage. You will live on in our hearts.”- The community of Intag in Ecuador
Tendencias anti-derechos en los sistemas regionales de derechos humanos
Chapter 6
En la Comisión Africana y en el Sistema Interamericano, los actores antiderechos impulsan nociones esencialistas de cultura y género para impedir el avance de los derechos y socavar las responsabilidades. Como vemos, los actores anti-derechos están ejerciendo su influencia sobre los sistemas regionales de derechos humanos, así como en los espacios internacionales.
La Comisión Africana de Derechos Humanos y de los Pueblos ha comenzado a definir a los derechos sexuales y de las mujeres como un menoscabo a su capacidad de ocuparse de los «derechos reales» y como contrarios a los «valores africanos», con lo cual se establece un precedente anti-derechos preocupante. La anulación del estatus de observador de la Coalición de Lesbianas Africanas es un ejemplo de esta tendencia y muestra la forma en que el espacio para el involucramiento feminista panafricanista está siendo restringido.
En la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA) y en el Sistema Interamericano de Protección de los Derechos Humanos, las estrategias anti-derechos incluyen la oenegización de grupos religiosos, la utilización de discursos seculares, y la cooptación de marcos de discriminación. La influencia antiderechos se ha materializado de diversas maneras, que incluyen la intimidación de activistas trans y la obstrucción de la introducción de lenguaje progresista en las resoluciones.
Índice de contenidos
Silenciamiento de feministas en el Sistema Africano de Derechos Humanos
Grupos anti-derechos en América Latina: Asamblea General de la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA) y el Sistema Interamericano de Protección de los Derechos Humanos
Feminist and gender justice movements continue to be chronically underfunded in the face of global funding cuts and freezes, and rising fascisms. Growing resource scarcity has impacted the most vulnerable communities, particularly in Global South regions with progressively closing civic spaces.
In response to these challenges, we collaborated with Impactmapper to co-create a comprehensive resource that combines two powerful tools to strengthen the funding ecosystem for social justice movements.
Lorena Borjas, una mujer trans latina y activista, vivía y trabajaba en el barrio de Jackson Heights de Queens, en la ciudad de Nueva York. En esas calles, cuidó de su comunidad durante años, defendiendo los derechos de las personas trans e inmigrantes, apoyando a lxs sobrevivientes del tráfico humano y del abuso, y haciendo campaña por los derechos de lxs trabajadorxs sexuales y de las personas que viven con VIH y SIDA.
Lorena era fuerte e incansable en su lucha por apoyar, defender y proteger a quienes son más marginalizadxs y discriminadxs por la transfobia, la misoginia y el racismo.
«Ella nos empujaba a brillar auténticamente, a convertirnos en un grito de subversión que dice “Aquí estoy, y merezco felicidad también”.» - Cecilia Gentili, activista trans amiga de Lorena
Luego de haber enfrentado ella misma numerosos traumas y dificultades como mujer trans inmigrante y víctima de tráfico humano, recabó conocimientos y memoria emocional de la fuente de sus propias experiencias para ayudar a construir y fortalecer la comunidad de la cual era parte, y que era parte de ella. Algunas de las formas en que llevó esto a cabo fue organizando y movilizando apoyo, que abarcaba desde proveer preservativos y conectar a las mujeres trans con distintos servicios sociales, hasta armar una clínica para el testeo de VIH en su propia casa.
«Era un alma tan bella que ayudaba a otrxs, aun cuando su propio camino era difícil y doloroso como inmigrante, como inmigrante trans. Creía que la comunidad trans necesitaba amor, aceptación, y compasión, y lo daba todo.» - Luchia Dragosh, supervisora de producción de QPTV de un documental sobre Lorena
En sus más de 25 años de activismo, también fundó con Chase Strangio (abogadx y activista por los derechos trans) el Lorena Borjas Community Fund. Este fondo ayuda a lxs diferentes integrantes de su comunidad (y en especial a las personas trans) que lidian con problemas de inmigración, para evitar el ciclo de arresto-cárcel-deportación.
Lorena falleció en marzo de 2020 por complicaciones derivadas del COVID-19.
Su enorme y hermoso legado será llevado adelante a través de las calles de Queens por la red y la comunidad que ella ayudó a crear.
« Continuaremos su trabajo desde donde ella lo dejó, un trabajo que es esencial para el bienestar de “mis pájaras”, como llamaba Lorena a las chicas trans de Queens que protegía bajo su ala.» - Cecilia Gentili
Tributos:
«Lorena nos trajo luz, cuando atravesábamos tiempos muy oscuros aquí en Nueva York. Nos trajo luz cuando tuvimos que enfrentar la epidemia del crack, cuando tuvimos que enfrentar la crisis del SIDA, cuando tuvimos que enfrentar los cambios en las políticas de inmigración.» - Cristina Herrera, fundadora y CEO de Translatina Network y amiga de Lorena
«Lorena ha hecho más que nadie que yo conozca para arrojar luz sobre la epidemia del tráfico en las comunidades transgénero y para ayudar a otras mujeres trans a escapar de la explotación.» - Lynly Egyes, representante de Borjas en nombre del Transgender Law Center
In order to achieve our mission, AWID works through multi-year interconnected programs which encompass a variety of strategies including knowledge production and dissemination, action-research, advocacy, alliance building, and convening strategic dialogues.
Our 2011 Annual Report provides key highlights of our work during the year to contribute to the advancement of women’s rights and gender equality worldwide.
« Si nous nous taisons, ils nous tuent, et si nous parlons [ils nous tuent] aussi. Alors parlons. » - Cristina Bautista, 2019
Cristina Bautista était membre de la communauté autochtone du peuple Nasa, qui vit dans la région nord du Cauca en Colombie. Elle participait à la résistance en tant que leader, défenseuse des droits fonciers, travailleuse sociale et gouverneure de la réserve autochtone Nasa de Tacueyó.
Défenseuse infatigable des droits du peuple Nasa, Cristina s’est exprimée haut et fort contre la violence à l’égard de sa communauté. Dans un discours devant les Nations Unies, elle appelait à protéger les vies des femmes autochtones et à les impliquer dans différents domaines de la vie. En 2017, Cristina était membre du Bureau des Nations Unies pour les droits humains des personnes autochtones. Le Fonds de contributions volontaires des Nations Unies pour les populations autochtones lui a octroyé une subvention en 2019.
« J’aimerais mettre en lumière la situation actuelle du peuple autochtone en Colombie, le meurtre de leaders autochtones, la répression de la contestation sociale. Au lieu d’aider, l’accord de paix a renforcé la guerre et l’exploitation de territoires sacrés en Colombie… Actuellement, nous travaillons en tant que femmes, dans presque toutes les nations autochtones, à un avenir meilleur pour nos familles. Je ne veux pas voir plus de femmes vivre dans ces conditions en milieu rural. Il nous faut des opportunités qui permettent aux femmes autochtones de participer à la vie politique, à l’économie, à la société et à la culture. J’acquiers une réelle force aujourd’hui, en voyant toutes ces femmes ici, et en voyant que je ne suis pas seule. » - Cristina Bautista, 2019
Cristina a été assassinée le 29 octobre 2019, ainsi que quatre autres membres de la garde autochtone désarmée, dans une attaque potentiellement menée par des membres de « Dagoberto Ramos », un groupe dissident FARC.
D’après Global Witness, « le nombre d’assassinats de leaders communautaires et sociaux·les a terriblement augmenté en Colombie au cours de ces dernières années ».
« La communauté nasa a prévenu à maintes reprises les autorités au sujet des menaces qui pèsent sur leur sécurité. Malgré les efforts déployés par les gouvernements colombiens successifs, les peuples autochtones continuent de faire face à d'importants risques, surtout les dirigeants communautaires ou religieux comme Cristina Bautista.» - Point presse des Nations Unies, 1er novembre 2019
A Joy to the World: Six Questions with Naike Ledan
Interviewed by Chinelo Onwualu
Naike Ledan is a social justice defendant, a committed feminist that brings forward 20 years of experience in human rights and health justice advocacy, women’s empowerment, the fight for universal access to basic services and social inclusion, as well as civil society capacity building. She has built extensive work in Canada, West and southern Africa, as well as in Haiti, in civil rights advocacy, capacity building for CSOs, while emphasising the social determinants of structural exclusion. She values the principles of shared leadership, anticolonial, anti-oppressive, and anti-patriarchal spaces.
Chinelo You’re billed as a trans rights activist; I’m curious about how you made that journey.
Naike So, I grew up in Haiti until I was 18, then I lived in Montreal for 19 years. Coming back to Haiti in 2016, I thought I would be coming back home, but the place had changed and I had to readjust. I did not necessarily reconnect in the way that I’d expected to with childhood family and friends. I came back as an expat with a comfortable work situation, and I felt very much like a foreigner for a very long time. And at the same time, I felt very much at home because of the language, the understood silence, the not having to explain when we start singing a commercial – you know, that thing we share, that energy, that space, that spirit.
My return to self-love – I would call “rebirth” – coinciding with giving birth to my first child, giving birth to myself, and falling in love with my queerness or same-gender lovingness. (Photo credit: Naike Ledan)
What helped me was, I loved the work of going into the country and documenting people’s knowledge. So I left the comfort. I became a country director of a regional organisation that was queer as fuck! Most of my work was to find resources and build the capacity of civil society. My strategy was to go into the countryside, look for all these little organizations, help build their capacity, and fund them. I was not interested in politicians and shaking hands and taking pictures . I had a very good ally, Charlot Jeudy – the [queer] activist that got killed three years ago in his house. We got very close after an Afro-queer film festival we were planning got banned in Haiti. But it made a lot of noise and sparked conversations about queerness everywhere, so Charlot introduced me to every little CSO in every little corner of the country. And I would just be there to help organisation[s] with registering legally or building their strategic plan. So it’s been a lot of these kinds of work that made me a queer activist and by extension, a trans activist. Although I don’t call myself that – an activist. It’s such a loaded word, you know? And it’s something people call you. I think I’m just a lover and a fighter .
Chinelo Tell me about the workshop you conducted with AWID for the festival. What was it about and what was the context?
My deep self awareness during my childhood years and my engagement in questioning inequalities and injustice at a very very young age (+/- 4 years old). (Photo credit: Naike Ledan)
Naike International media doesn’t really talk about Haiti, but with a political environment that is as bad as ours, the economic environment is even more catastrophic. Being a more middle class Haitian, speaking different languages, having different passports, I was initially hesitant to take the space. But I often see myself as a bridge more than someone that would talk about themself. That is how I came to invite Semi, who is a brilliant young trans woman from outside Port-au-Prince, to take the space to talk for herself and walk us through the ecosystem of the realities for trans women in Haiti. We ended up building a session about uninclusive feminism – or, I would say, formal feminist spaces – and how trans girls in Haiti do not have spaces where they can contribute to women’s knowledge and sharing of women’s realities. So the AWID festival was the opportunity for me to give the space to the women who should have it. We had a wonderful time; we had wine online while hosting the conversation. My co-facilitator, Semi, shared what it is like to be a trans child/girl/woman at different stages of her life. She also shared the dangers of the street, of poverty, of exclusion, of “not passing,” and her victories as well.
Chinelo What is the relationship of trans women to feminist organizations in Haiti? What has been your experience with that?
Naike It’s been really hard – heartbreaking, actually – the experience of trans women in Haiti. From not existing at all to just being extremely sexualized. The other thing that’s been happening is how they’re being killed, and how those killings have gone unreported in the media. This is how non-existent, how erased trans women are. They’re everywhere but not in job settings, not in feminist settings, not in organizational settings. Not even in LGBT organizations. It’s only recently, and because of a lot of advocacy push, that some of these organization are kind of readjusting, but in feminist spaces, this is still out of the question. We are still having to deal with the old exclusionary discourse of “They’re not women. Of course, if they can pass…” The culture of passing, it’s a risk management conversation – how much you pass and how much you don’t pass and what it means for your body and the violence it inflicts. In the trans-exclusionary realities we live in, which are reproduced in a lot of feminist spaces, those that pass completely may be considered girls, but only to a certain extent. But how about falling in love, how about having a conversation, how about being in the closet, how about wanting a certain aesthetic, or a career? So really, the conversation about hormone therapy becomes about risk reduction, as Semi herself shared at the workshop. But we don’t have the option of hormone therapy, we don’t have the medical framework nor the system to support those who would like to pursue that option.
Chinelo When you talk about the way that trans people and queer people are thought of in society, it sounds like it might be similar to Nigeria, which can be a deeply homophobic environment.
Naike Haiti is a very complex country in a very beautiful way. Nothing is simple, you know, nothing is ever one way. Haitians are very tolerant – and they’re also very homophobic. You’re going to find regions in the countryside where people aren’t that homophobic at all because all the Vodou temples there, and this is a religion that respects life. One basic principle of the Vodou religion is that all children are children. So, there is no right or wrong in the religion. For the longest time, people thought of Haiti as a haven, a place where people are tolerant – we’re talking 70s, 80s, pre-HIV, 90s even. Then you had the earthquake [in 2010] where around 300,000 people died. And then all this money came from the south of the US through the Evangelicals to rebuild the country and find Jesus. So, the homophobia in Haiti is very recent. In the depth, in the heart of the soul of the culture, I cannot really say that it is homophobic. But in the everyday life, it surely lands on the skin of queer people, that violence. And that of women, of poor women, of dark women as well, because colorism runs deep in the Caribbean.
Chinelo How have you managed this? What’s been your strategy for survival?
My return to Haiti as part of my decolonizing process, and choosing to physically position my senses and my family’s senses to magic and blackness uncompromisingly. (Photo credit: Naike Ledan)
Naike I’m really in love with my work. I love working. When I first arrived, I was working with this horrible NGO but I was doing amazing work. I was always in the countryside, conversing and learning from people, from women. And that filled my heart for so long because I’m very much in love with my culture, with black people, with black women – old black women, black babies. It just fills me up in a spiritual way. When we were in Canada my kids were in these all-white schools and tokenized. They did not speak Creole nor French. And now, they’re running free in the yard and starting to fight in Creole. I also found hubs of survival with the people I met. I created bonds with the queers and others who were weirdos like me and it’s been really wonderful. But now I’m struggling because I don’t feel safe in Haiti anymore. We have about 40 kidnappings per week in Port-Au-Prince – and it’s been like that since 2018. I’ve developed anxiety and panic attacks. So It’s time to go, and I’ve been asking myself, “where is home?” I spent 19 years in Montreal but I never felt at home there. When I left, I never missed it so I don’t want to go back. I’ve been crying a lot lately because it feels like entering a second exile.
Chinelo What’s your relationship to pleasure, leisure, and rest?
Naike My relationship with pleasure, leisure, and rest are for me one and the same. It is the lived moment when I indulge in the heat of the sun on my face for example. It is pleasure, leisure, and rest at the same time.
Pleasure: My go-to space, most solely a haven of celebration of myself. I reserve myself the power and the right to be loud or quiet in the enjoyment of the pleasure I experience. All the pleasure I viciously and abundantly indulge in, including and not limited to the pleasure of solitude and silence.
Leisure: biking, music festivals, eating, wine discoveries, dancing in Haitian traditional Vodou dances are amongst many that occur at the moment.
Rest: is what I live for. As an overachiever and a person that is literally in love with work, it is a paradox how lazy I am. No one knows that because all of what the world sees is this: an accomplished overworker. They do not know how I can just, uncompromisingly and profoundly indulge in idleness.
ExploreTransnational Embodiments
This journal edition in partnership with Kohl: a Journal for Body and Gender Research, will explore feminist solutions, proposals and realities for transforming our current world, our bodies and our sexualities.
نصدر النسخة هذه من المجلة بالشراكة مع «كحل: مجلة لأبحاث الجسد والجندر»، وسنستكشف عبرها الحلول والاقتراحات وأنواع الواقع النسوية لتغيير عالمنا الحالي وكذلك أجسادنا وجنسانياتنا.
