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
Welcome to the Rights at Risk Resource Library
Rights at Risk Resource Library
A living collection of resources to support feminist movements, policy-makers, and allies to resist fascisms, fundamentalisms, and anti-rights trends.

Love letter to Feminist Movements #6
On love to a movement

How does a movement start?
we get expelled by ghosts from a house, a family, and a nation
we arrive fatigued to a space (sometimes an actual address) but mainly to a state of being
preceded by a fallen star
perhaps our arrival isn’t accompanied by fatigue,
maybe accompanied by fear
perhaps our arrival isn’t accompanied by fear
maybe accompanied by anger
from issues that keep on repeating themselves:
a stab in the heart (read heartache)
a bullet in the back (read betrayal)
forced disappearances
bodies sentenced by marriage, disfiguration, and chronic fatigue
yet when we arrive, we gather, whisper, speak and weep.
This is how our movements begin when we arrive at each other
We become seeds,
This is how our movements start when we plant each other
Becoming flowers, sometimes just thorns, sometimes fruits,
we are each other’s oasis
to sing for the battles
to make remedies
to place the faces of our lovers, the shape of their smiles, the sound of their laughter
the secret of turning silences into language
the detailed instructions of witches
our movement is: for all of us
when we arrive as seeds with the purpose of flowering.
Sara AbuGhazal
www.badiya.blog
Snippet - WCFM With smart filtering - EN
With smart filtering for Who Can Fund Me? Database, you can search for funders based on:
Que se passe-t-il si je ne peux pas participer en personne ? S'agira-t-il d'un format hybride ?
Oui ! Nous explorons actuellement des technologies innovantes qui permettront une connexion et une participation considérables.
Metodología de talleres
Próximamente
Metodología de talleres
¿Quieren juntar a distintas personas para fortalecer la resistencia? Esta metodología de talleres ofrece ejercicios grupales para incrementar el conocimiento y el poder colectivos, con opciones para adaptarlos a las distintas necesidades.
Annonce: Forum AWID 2024

Il est temps pour le prochain forum de l’AWID en 2024.
Lorsque des milliers de féministes se réunissent, nous créons une grande force de solidarité qui a le pouvoir de changer le monde. Le Forum de l’AWID sera pour nous un moment de repos et de guérison ensemble, de connexion au-delà des frontières et de découverte de nouvelles orientations stratégiques courageuses.
La date et le lieu seront annoncés l'année prochaine, dès que possible. Nous sommes ravi.es et nous savons que vous le serez aussi. Restez à l'écoute!
Assurez-vous de nous suivre sur les médias sociaux et de vous inscrire à notre liste de diffusion pour rester informé!
Zarana Papic
Snippet WITM survey result - EN
DATA SNAPSHOTS
Where is the money for feminist organizing?
1,174 feminist, women's rights & LGBTQI+ organizations
from 129 countries participated in AWID's 2024 survey.
The data reveals the state of resourcing for feminist movements between 2021-2023, amid current major defunding trends in aid and philanthropy.
Our collective power knows no boundaries, but our bank accounts do.
Will there be a young feminist space? A disability justice space? A digital/tech hub? Funder coffee hours? Wellbeing and healing spaces?
We will share information about the program, the spaces, and the way for everyone to participate in shaping them, as soon as we can, and ways for you to participate in shaping them - on the road to the Forum, and during the Forum. Please stay tuned!
Crear | Résister | Transform: un recorrido por el Festival
Mientras el capitalismo heteropatriarcal continúa forzándonos al consumismo y el acatamiento, observamos que nuestras luchas están siendo compartimentadas y separadas por fronteras tanto físicas como virtuales.
Y con los desafíos adicionales presentados por una pandemia global que todavía deben ser superados, esta estrategia de «divide y vencerás» ha sido favorable para la proliferación de la explotación en muchas áreas.
No obstante esto, desde el 1° hasta el 30 de septiembre de 2021, un festival para movimientos feministas! de AWID nos llevó a un viaje sobre lo que significa encarnar nuestras realidades en espacios virtuales. En el Festival se reunieron activistas feministas de todo el mundo, no solo para compartir experiencias de libertades duramente conquistadas, de resistencias y de solidaridades más allá de las fronteras, sino para articular lo que podría ser una forma transnacional de compañerismo.
Esta solidaridad tiene el potencial de desafiar las fronteras, tejiendo una visión del futuro que es transformadora, porque es abolicionista [del complejo industrial carcelario] y anticapitalista. A lo largo de un mes, a través de las infraestructuras digitales que ocupamos con nuestra cuiridad / queeridad, nuestra resistencia y nuestros imaginarios, el Festival nos mostró una forma de desviarnos de los sistemas que nos hacen cómplices de la opresión de otras personas y de nosotrxs mismxs.
Si bien Audre Lorde nos enseñó que las herramientas del amo nunca desarmarán la casa del amo, Sara Ahmed nos demostró que podemos utilizarlas en forma indebida. Dado que teníamos que dar espacio a la asamblea, y a pesar de todas las otras demandas sobre nuestro tiempo, fue posible imaginar una disrupción de la realidad del capitalismo heteropatriarcal.
Ahora bien, si entendemos la asamblea como una forma de placer, entonces, se hace posible establecer el vínculo entre el placer transgresor y la resistencia transnacional/transdigital: entre las clases de placer que desafían las fronteras por un lado, y la cuiridad / queeridad, lo camp, las luchas por la tierra y los movimientos indigenistas, el anticapitalismo y la organización política anticolonial por el otro.
Esta edición intentó captar un sentido de cómo el ejercicio de la asamblea en el Festival adoptó múltiples formas e imaginaciones. Además de contar con las colaboraciones directas de algunxs de sus conferencistas y soñadorxs, trajimos a una plétora de otras voces del Sur global para que conversaran sobre muchos de sus temas y sujetxs. Lo que sigue es una muestra de algunos de los paneles del Festival que más nos inspiraron.
AWID at CSW67: a Portal to Feminist Power
Imagine opening a door which takes you into a conversation with feminist activists in other continents. This portal will transcend the barriers of UN CSW by pushing beyond language barriers, unaffordable travel, unequal protection from COVID19, and racist visa regimes.
This week, we’re putting a virtual spin on CSW by connecting and amplifying feminist activists' voices, to challenge the discriminatory barriers that limit participation and influence. By setting up connecting “portals” in New York City, Nairobi & Bangalore, we'll host a physical-virtual hybrid space for feminists to connect their struggles and build collective power.
Follow us to join the livestreams:

What are we covering?
Day 1: March 6 - Accessibility
Day 2: March 7- Challenging Anti-Rights Actors And Corporations
Day 3: March 8 - Challenging Anti-Rights Actors And Corporations
Day 4: March 9- Reclaiming Multilateralism
Find the program for this week's activities here:
Download full program here (PDF)
Bangalore Schedule (PNG) Nairobi Schedule (PNG) New York City Schedule (PNG)
Nadia Vera
WITM - Refreshed INFOGRAPHIC 2 EN
How funding falls short for feminist movements
Feminist movements need core and long-term funding - including savings and reserves - to stay focused on systemic change. Reserves aren’t extras; they're essential for sustainability.
CFA 2023 - breadcrumbs Menu _ awid-forum-thai
Snippet Kohl - Plénière | S’organiser pour gagner!

avec Nazik Abylgaziva, Amaranta Gomez Regalado, Cindy Weisner et Lucineia Freitas.
Una estrategia, un mercado y nuevas voces: Las mujeres indígenas y los Foros AWID

Esta historia es sobre la manera en que un grupo cada vez más diverso de feministas del Pacífico se organizaron a lo largo de los años para asistir a los Foros de AWID, y el modo en que ese proceso lxs transformó en forma personal, como organizaciones y como movimiento a través de lo que aprendieron, descubrieron y experimentaron. Ilustra la importancia de los Foros como espacio que permitió que una región que tiende a ser marginada o ignorada a nivel global pueda construir una presencia sólida en el movimiento feminista, que luego es replicada en otros espacios internacionales de derechos de las mujeres.
En sus propias voces: mira la entrevista con María Manuela Sequeira & Mónica Alemán
Ana Lilia Gatica Romulo
Snippet - COP30 - Resisting Ecofascisms - EN
Resisting Ecofascisms: A cross-movement dialogue at COP30
How movements are resisting fascist agendas in relation to climate change.
📅 Tuesday, November 11, 2025
📍 Beira Rio Hotel, Belém, Pará
CFA 2023 - Who, where, when - FR
Où : Bangkok, Thaïlande; et en ligne
Qui : Environ 2 500 féministes du monde entier participant en personne, et 3 000 participant virtuellement