Elenoa Lavetiviti
Women Human Rights Defenders
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.
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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.
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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;
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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:
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Mobilizing urgent responses of international solidarity for WHRDs at risk through our international and regional networks, and our active membership.
Related Content
Rachel Mabaudi
Biography
Rachel es una profesional financiera con más de dos décadas de experiencia. Ha supervisado negocios y proyectos financieros para entidades privadas y públicas, organizaciones sin fines de lucro y organizaciones internacionales no gubernamentales. Es una contadora pública con una maestría global en administración de empresas, e integra el instituto sudafricano de contadores públicos. En su tiempo libre, Rachel diseña arte tipográfico, y disfruta de viajar y de pasar tiempo con familia y amigues con una botella de vino.
Position
Finance Manager
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Snippet Opening Dance Performance EN
Snippet - CSW69 - Where will the money be - EN
Where will the money be for feminist organizing?
Activists reflection & solidarity circle
✉️ By registration only. Register here
📅 Friday, March 14, 2025
🕒 12.00-2.00pm EST
🏢 Blue Gallery, The Blue Building, 222 East 46th Street
🎙️Facilitated by: Gopika Bashi, AWID Director of Programs
Organizer: Count Me In! Consortium
Sara Hegazy
Sara Hegazy, a bold Egyptian LGBTQI+ rights activist, lived in a society where the members of her community, their bodies and lives often face lethal prejudice. The roots of Sara’s resistance were in the deconstruction of a dominant, oppressive and patriarchal system, and its anti-rights actors.
"[In Egypt], every person who is not male, Muslim, Sunni, straight, and a supporter of the system, is rejected, repressed, stigmatized, arrested, exiled, or killed. This matter is related to the patriarchal system as a whole, since the state cannot practice its repression against citizens without a pre-existing oppression since childhood." - Sara Hegazy wrote on March 6, 2020
The suppression of Sara’s voice by the Egyptian government reached its violent peak in 2017, when she was arrested for raising a rainbow flag at the Mashrou’ Leila (Lebanese band whose lead vocalist is openly gay) concert in Cairo. What followed were charges of joining an illegal group along with “promoting sexual deviancy and debauchery”.
"It was an act of support and solidarity — not only with the [Mashrou' Leila] vocalist but for everyone who is oppressed...We were proud to hold the flag. We wouldn't have imagined the reaction of society and the Egyptian state. For them, I was a criminal — someone who was seeking to destroy the moral structure of society." - Sara Hegazy
Sara was jailed for three months, where she was tortured and sexually assaulted. In January 2018, after being released on bail, she sought asylum in Canada where she was safe but imprisoned by the memories of the abuse and violence her body and soul had gone through.
"I left this experience after three months with a very intense, serious case of PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder]. Prison killed me. It destroyed me." - Sara Hegazy told NPR
Sara took her own life on 14 June 2020, leaving a handwritten note in Arabic:
“To my siblings – I tried to find redemption and failed, forgive me.”
“To my friends – the experience [journey] was harsh and I am too weak to resist it, forgive me.
“To the world – you were cruel to a great extent, but I forgive.”
Her legacy and courage will be carried forward by those who love her and believe in what she fought for.
Tributes:
“To Sarah: Rest, just rest, spared from this relentless violence, this state-powered lethal patriarchy. In rage, in grief, in exhaustion, we resist.” - Rasha Younes, an LGBT rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. Read the complete text
Mashrou’ Leila’s lead vocalist sings tribute to Sara Hegazy
Que fait l’AWID ?
Snippet She is on her way_Fest (FR)
Session plénière:
"Elle est en chemin":
alternatives, féminismes et monde alternatif
Felogene Anumo, AWID
Dr. Vandana Shiva, India
Dr. Dilar Dirik, Kurdistan
Nana Akosua Hanson, Ghana
Ana Lucia Herrera Aguirre
Snippet - WCFM Regional focus: - EN
Regional focus:
Filter for funders that support initiatives in your geographical area.
Are you a Northern or a Southern organization?
AWID is a global organization.
The main focus of our work is global. We also work closely with members and other women’s rights organizations and allies at the local, national and regional levels so that their realities inform our work.
- We have offices in Mexico and Canada
- Our staff are located in 15 countries around the world
- Ten of our 13 Board members are from the global South.
Snippet "un"Inclusive Feminism_Fest (EN)
"un"Inclusive Feminism:
The voiceless girls in the Haitian feminist movement
Naike Ledan
Semi Kaefra Alisha Fermond, Trans Rights Activist ACIFVH
Natalie Desrosiers
Fédorah Pierre-Louis
Flor Alba Nunez Vargas
Snippet2 - WCFM Explore and share - EN
Explore and share the databases with your network now!
¿Qué es el Foro Internacional de AWID?
El Foro Internacional de AWID es una reunión de 2.000 líderes de derechos de las mujeres y activistas de todo el mundo. El Foro AWID es el evento recurrente más grande de su tipo, y cada Foro tiene lugar en un país diferente en el Sur global.
El Foro Internacional de AWID es un evento de la comunidad global y, al mismo tiempo, un espacio para una transformación personal radical. Es un encuentro único: el Foro reúne a los movimientos feministas, por los derechos de las mujeres, por la justicia de género, LBTQI+ y aliados, en toda nuestra diversidad y humanidad, para conectarnos, sanar y florecer.
Únete a nosotrxs en Bangkok, Tailandia, y de manera virtual, en diciembre de 2024.
Snippet Festival In Review - Presentation (ES)
Crear | Résister | Transform: ¡un festival de movimientos feministas!
¿Quieres inspirarte con las estrategias de resistencia creativas de feministas de todo el mundo? ¿Quieres descubrir iniciativas feministas que nos muestran las maneras en que todxs podemos vivir en un mundo más justo? ¿Quieres aprender sobre modelos de cuidado y sanación feministas para aplicarlos en tu propia comunidad?¿Eso que escuchamos es un estruendoso sí? ¡SÍ!
Entonces explora Crear | Résister | Transform: un festival de movimientos feministas. Este festival se llevó a cabo en línea durante todo el mes de septiembre de 2021 en todas las plataformas de AWID, y ahora puedes experimentarlo en tu propio tiempo.
Las sesiones a continuación son para ti y todas lxs increíbles activistas feministas y por la justicia social que conoces. Unámonos para compartir nuestras estrategias de resistencia, co-crear magia feminista y transformar este mundo juntxs.
El Festival fue una experiencia multicultural y multilingüe.
Lxs expositorxs participaron en su idioma de preferencia y en AWID incluimos subtítulos en los videos para tu accesibilidad.
Maria Elena Moyano Delgado
Clone of Snippet - Intro WITM - FR
Where is the Money for Feminist Organizing? Survey Results
Thanks to our global feminist community! From May to August 2024, nearly 1,200 organizations working for Women's rights, gender justice, and LBTQI+ equality shared their experiences in the WITM survey. The results offer a unique picture of how feminist movements are resourced and where gaps remain.
Stay tuned for the upcoming report for more analysis!
2002: les discussions sur les questions relatives au financement du développement commencent
La Conférence de Monterrey sur le financement du développement a marqué le début des discussions sur les questions relatives au financement du développement.
- Le Consensus de Monterrey a été adopté lors de cette première conférence internationale sur le financement du développement. Il s’agissait de la première réunion au sommet organisée sous l’égide des Nations Unies à traiter des questions financières fondamentales et des problématiques connexes relatives au développement mondial.
- La conférence et ses phases préparatoires furent le théâtre d’une coopération sans précédent entre les Nations Unies, la Banque mondiale (BM), le Fonds monétaire international (FMI) et l'Organisation mondiale du commerce (OMC), montrant une partie des efforts entrepris pour promouvoir une cohérence et une homogénéité plus importantes au sein des systèmes et institutions monétaires, commerciaux et financiers internationaux.
- Lors de cette conférence, les débats sur le financement du développement ont, pour la première fois, impliqué les gouvernements, des représentant-e-s de la société civile et le secteur privé. Ces acteurs ont porté les discussions au-delà des aspects « techniques » pour traiter des modalités de mobilisation et de canalisation des ressources financières nécessaires à la mise en œuvre des objectifs de développement internationalement convenus auparavant lors des sommets et conférences des Nations Unies des années 1990. Parmi ces objectifs figurent notamment les objectifs du Millénaire pour le développement (OMD).
- Le Caucus des femmes a non seulement noté le caractère historique de cette conférence et déclaré que celle-ci pouvait permettre de relever les défis structurels qui continuaient à ralentir le développement, mais il a aussi souligné les inquiétudes engendrées par les conséquences de la militarisation croissante et de la montée des fondamentalismes à l’encontre des femmes, et ceci malgré le fait que le Consensus de Monterrey considérait que le système économique et financier mondial fonctionnait au profit de toutes et tous.
Pour en savoir plus sur les six axes de Monterrey et sur les mécanismes de suivi de la conférence : Gender Issues and Concerns in Financing for Development (en anglais), par Maria Floro, Nilufer Çagatay, John Willoughby et Korkut Ertürk (INSTRAW, 2004).
Snippet Relive the Festival_Fest (ES)
Revive el Festival
Angy Ferreira
