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.
The menstrual cycle usually lasts between 27 and 30 days. During this time, the period itself would only go on for five to seven days. During the period, fatigue, mood swings, and cramps are the result of inflammation.
In traditional Javanese culture, this is the moment for women to rest and take care of themselves. During this moment, a woman would take Kunyit Asam, a jamu or herbal drink to soothe the inflammation. This elixir consists of turmeric and tamarind boiled together in a pot.
I still remember my first period - it was one day before graduation day in elementary school. I remember pedaling my bike feeling something warm running between my thighs. When I arrived home I did all I could to clean myself and then put on a menstrual pad. My mother came home from work about four hours later. I told her what had happened. She looked me in the eye and asked how I felt. I told her that it was painful, that my body was swollen in every place. Then she asked me to go with her to the backyard. I followed her to our little jungle, my mother sat down on the soil and smiled.
“See this slender leaf? This is the leaf of Kunyit, *empon-empon that leaves the yellow stain on your fingers. What’s most important is not the leaf, but the roots. You dig the soil and slowly grab the roots.”, my mother showed me how to pick Kunyit or Turmeric roots. Then we went to the kitchen where she boiled water along with some tamarind. While waiting for it to boil, she showed me how to wash and grate the orangey-yellow root. Then, we put the grated turmeric into the boiling tamarind water. “Tomorrow, you can make it for yourself. This will help you to feel better!”.
I remember the first time I tasted it - a slightly bitter taste but also sour. My mother always served it warm. She would also put some in a big bottle which I would place on my stomach or lower back for further relief. For days after, my mother’s hands and mine were yellow. My friends could always tell every time I got period because my hands would be yellow.
A year after my first period, I found out that you could get the bottled version in convenience stores. Still, I made my own Kunyit Asam every time I had my period because the one in the convenience stores was cold. It did not smell of wet soil and warm kitchen.
Fast forward, I am a 26 year old woman who casually makes this drink for friends when they have their periods. I’ve made some for my housemates and I’ve delivered some for friends who live in different towns. I do not grow turmeric roots in my garden, but I have grown and shared the love from my mom. What was once from garden to cup is now from *pasar to cup.
A couple of days ago, I asked my mother who taught her how to make the jamu.
“Who else? Yang Ti*! Your grandmother was not just a teacher”, said my mom. I was never close to my grandmother. She passed away when I was eight. All I knew from my mom was that she was a math teacher who had to teach courses after work. I had this image of my grandmother as a hard worker who was kind of distant with her children. My mom did not disagree with that but explained it came from her survival instinct as a mother. “She tried to make time. She tried. She taught me how to make jamu so I could take care of myself and my sisters”.
My mother is the second child out of seven, six of whom are girls. The reason my grandmother taught her is so that all of her children could take care of each other. While my mother was taught how to make the drink, my mother’s older sister was taught how to plant turmeric. Yang Ti knew which one loved the smell of soil more and which one loved the smell of the kitchen. My mother was the latter. She learned how to plant from my aunt, her older sister.
My grandfather worked in a bank but he got laid off when he was in his 40s. So, my grandmother had to do a side-hustle to support their children. My mother was in high school at that time when Yang Ti woke her and her older sister up at dawn. “Would you help me to pick some roots?”. Of course nobody said no. Especially if it was your mother, especially if you were born in Javanese culture where saying “no” sounded like a bad word. Together, the three of them went to the backyard, and they harvested empon - empon, rhizome, that was buried inside the soil. She grew many kinds of rhizome; temu lawak, temu putih, ginger, galangal, kunci, kencur, and kunyit. That was the day where my mother realized that her mother was never far away from her.
That was the day where she could spend more time with her mother. There, in the garden. There, in the kitchen.
“We’re sending these for Ibu Darti, the lady who lives across the river. Kunyit Asam for her and her daughters.”, said my grandmother to my mother and my aunt that day. They poured the Turmeric-Tamarind warm drink into a tall thermos and later my grandmother would deliver it on the way to school.
Over time, my grandmother got more orders for jamu. Everybody in the family helped her to make and deliver her jamu. The small business lasted only a few years, but that was what paid for my mother and her siblings’ education.
Today, my mother, who got laid off just a few days before I wrote this piece, harvested Turmeric and other roots. She’s making her Turmeric Tamarind drink from her kitchen.
My phone rang in the middle of this afternoon, a couple minutes after I boiled the rest of my grated turmeric. Today is one day after my period.
“Ingka, have you washed your pot after boiling those turmeric? It would forever be yellow if you don’t wash it right away!”
*empon-empon = roots like ginger, turmeric, etc. coming from the Javanese word “Empu” which means, something or someone that has deep knowledge.
*jamu = Indonesia’s traditional elixir made of roots, barks, flowers, seeds, leaves, and fruits.
*Yang Ti = Javanese term for grandmother, taken from the term “Eyang Putri” the female you look up to.
*pasar = the word for traditional market in Indonesian.
The more women support other women, the quicker we’ll see progress. Together we are stronger and make even more impact.
Karina Tungari, Hamburg, Germany (@_katung_)
Snippet - Homepage CSW69_ES
AWID en la CSW69 Beijing+30 | #CongelarFascismos
Nuestra presencia colectiva trastorna las prácticas institucionales de exclusión en dichos espacios y, a la vez, apoya los procesos de organización de los movimientos en torno a las alternativas feministas a los sistemas de opresión.
Súmate a las conversaciones desde el 10 al 21 de marzo de 2025, mientras transformamos de forma colectiva la CSW69 en espacios para y sobre la resistencia y la solidaridad.
Hevrin Khalaf fue una destacada líder política siria-kurda de la región autónoma de Rojava, donde las mujeres kurdas están arriesgando sus vidas para resistir la ofensiva turca y construir un sistema feminista.
Hevrin fue Secretaria General del Future Syria Party [Partido de la Futura Siria] (FSP, por sus siglas en inglés), un grupo que tenía como objetivo la construcción de puentes, la reconciliación entre diferentes grupos étnicos y el trabajo hacia una "Siria democrática, pluralista y descentralizada".
Hevrin fue un símbolo de este esfuerzo de reconciliación. También trabajó para promover la igualdad entre mujeres y hombres y fue una representante para periodistas, trabajadorxs de ayuda humanitaria y diplomáticxs que visitaban la región.
Hevrin era también una ingeniera civil de Derik, y fue una de las fundadoras de Foundation for Science and Free Though [(Fundación para la Ciencia y el Libre Pensamiento] en 2012.
El 12 de octubre de 2019 fue torturada y asesinada por la milicia Ahrar al-Sharqiya, sustentada por Turquía, durante una operación militar contra las Fuerzas Democráticas Sirias en Rojava.
"El asesinato de Khalaf es un punto de inflexión en la historia moderna de Siria. Demuestra una vez más el viejo proverbio kurdo "no hay amigxs sino montañas". Siempre seré amigo[NC1] de Khalaf y su visión de un mundo mejor." - Ahed Al Hendi
Join the Feminist Realities journey (Forum page)
Rejoignez l'aventure des réalités féministes
Le Forum de l’AWID n’est qu’une étape dans l’aventure des Réalités féministes. Parcourons ce chemin ensemble et explorons notre pouvoir en action !
The artwork is a photography and illustration collaboration between Siphumeze and Katia during lockdown. The work looks at black queer sex and plesure narratives, bondage, safe sex, toys, mental health and sex and many more. It was created to accompany the Anthology Touch.
Mental HealthSex and SpirtualityOrgasm
About the Artists:
Siphumeze Khundayi is an art-maker, photographer and facilitator interested in creative ways of bringing together dialogue and artistic practice in relation to African Queer identity.
She is creative director of HOLAAfrica! a pan-Africanist womanist online collective.
Her solo and collaborative performance work has been featured in a number of festivals and theatre spaces such as Ricca Ricca Festival in Japan
She directed two Naledi nominated productions in 2017 and 2018. She directed a show that won a Standard Bank Ovation award in 2020.
As a photographer she was part of a group exhibition titled Flowers of my Soul in Italy organised by the Misfit Project. Produced three publications for HOLAAfrica and was published in and provided the cover for volume two: As You Like of the Gerald Kraak Anthologies.
Katia Herrera is a 21-year-old Digital visual artist from the noisy city of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Despite Herrera being a self-proclaimed introvert, her artwork is remarkably loud in a world trying to quiet black voices. With titles like Black Woman, You Own the Moon, Earth Goddess, Forever, and Universe Protector, Herrera’s legacy will be marked by her passion for highlighting the endurance and perseverance of black folks of old and present to contrast the narrative that black skin should only be associated with slavery.
One of her most lovely and vivaciously titled works, Universe Protector, portrays the black soul as a divine entity full of strength, power, and greatness. In her youth, her love of graphic design was stimulated by her parents’ artistry and the Photoshop they had downloaded on their computer for their professional photography.
Snippet - WCFM Database blurb - En
AWID’s Who Can Fund Me? Database
Regularly updated and searchable directory of 200+ funders across different sectors and regions that support vital gender justice work.
Diana Isabel Hernández Juárez était une enseignante, défenseure des droits humains et activiste pour l’environnement et les communautés guatémaltèque. Elle coordonnait le programme environnemental de la paroisse de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, sur la côte sud du Guatemala.
Diana a dévoué sa vie à co-créer des actions de sensibilisation à l’environnement, en étroite collaboration avec les communautés locales, dans le but de résoudre les problèmes environnementaux et protéger les ressources naturelles. Elle a été à l’initiative de projets de pépinières forestières, de fermes municipales, de jardins familiaux et de campagnes de nettoyage. Active dans les programmes de reboisement, elle s’est efforçée de récupérer des espèces locales et de remédier aux pénuries d’eau dans plus de 32 communautés rurales.
Le 7 septembre 2019, Diana a été assassinée par balle par deux hommes armés inconnus alors qu’elle participait à une procession dans sa localité. Diana n’avait que 35 ans au moment de son décès.
Publications - Homepage - eng
Publications
Kindle for your feminist fire! Browse AWID’s research on funding, WHRDs, movement building, fundamentalisms, economic justice, feminist monitoring & evaluation and more
El Colectivo Moriviví es una colectiva de solo mujeres. Nuestra producción artística consiste en muralismo, muralismo comunitario y acciones/performances de protesta. Nuestro trabajo tiene como objetivo democratizar el arte y llevar a la esfera pública las narrativas de las comunidades de Puerto Rico, para generar espacios en donde sean validadas. Creemos que, a través del artivismo, podemos promover conciencia sobre temas sociales y fortalecer nuestra memoria colectiva.
“Cacibajagua” 2017, proyecto de mural, Jiangxi, China“Cacibajagua” 2017, proyecto de mural, Jiangxi, China“Paz para la Mujer” 2015, colaboración con la organización Coordinadora Paz para la Mujer, Santurce, Puerto Rico
“Paz para la Mujer” 2015, colaboración con la organización Coordinadora Paz para la Mujer, Santurce, Puerto Rico
En el marco de su participación en el Grupo de Trabajo Artístico de AWID, el Colectivo Moriviví convocó a un grupo diverso de afiliadxs, asociadxs y personal de AWID y facilitó un proceso colaborativo de imaginación, configuración y decisión sobre el contenido para la creación de un mural comunitario, a través de un proceso de creación conjunta en múltiples etapas. El proyecto comenzó con una conceptualización remota con feministas de diferentes zonas del planeta reunidxs por AWID, y luego evolucionó hacia su recontextualización y realización en Puerto Rico. Nos honra haber contado con la contribución de las artistas locales Las Nietas de Nonó (@lasnietasdenono), la participación de mujeres locales en la Sesión de Pintura Comunitaria, el apoyo logístico de la Municipalidad de Caguas, y el apoyo adicional al colectivo, brindado por FRIDA Young Feminist Fund.
El mural explora la trascendencia de las fronteras, al presentar cuerpos como un mapa en un abrazo que realza la intersección de las distintas manifestaciones, prácticas y realidades feministas.
Agradecemos también a Kelvin Rodríguez, quien documentó y captó las diferentes etapas de este proyecto en Puerto Rico:
Sobre el Colectivo Moriviví
Moriviví es un colectivo de jóvenes artistas mujeres que trabajan en arte público desde abril de 2013. Con sede en Puerto Rico, hemos obtenido reconocimiento por la creación de murales y de arte comunitario.
El grupo se inició en festivales locales de arte urbano. A medida que nuestro trabajo se fue haciendo más conocido, algunas organizaciones y líderes comunitarias comenzaron a contactarnos. Al principio éramos solo ocho estudiantes de secundaria que querían pintar juntas un mural. Y en estos ocho años de duro trabajo hemos enfrentado muchos desafíos. Ahora estamos en un período de transición. Queremos reestructurar internamente el colectivo durante el próximo año. Nuestro objetivo es abrir nuevas oportunidades de colaboración y respaldar nuestro proceso de toma de decisiones con un nuevo sistema de evaluación. Aspiramos, en el largo plazo, a convertirnos en una escuela alternativa para la práctica artística, destinada a aquellas personas interesadas en sumergirse en la producción de arte comunitario.
Snippet2 - WCFM Movement and Struggle - EN
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Fadila M. was a Soulaliyate tribal activist from Azrou, the Ifrane region of Morocco. She fought against a specific form of land discrimination directed against tribal women.
As part of the Soulaliyate Women’s Land-Use Rights Movement, she worked towards overhauling the framework legislation relating to the management of community property through the 2019 adoption of three projects of laws guaranteeing the equality of women and men.
According to the customary laws in force, women had no right to benefit from the land, especially those who were single, widowed or divorced. The rights to collective land in Morocco were transmitted traditionally between male members of a family of over 16 years of age. Since 2007, Fadila M. had been part of the women’s movement, the first grassroots nationwide mobilization for land rights. Some of the achievements included that in 2012 for the first time Soulaliyate women were able to register on the lists of beneficiaries and to benefit from compensation relating to land cession. The movement also managed to get the 1919 dahir (Moroccan King's decree) amended to guarantee women the right to equality.
Fadila M. died on 27 September 2018. The circumstances of her death are unclear. She was part of a protest march connected to the issue of collective land and while authorities reported her death as being accidental, and her having a cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital, the local section of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH) pointed out that Fadila was suffocated by a member of the police force using a Moroccan flag. Her family requested investigation but the results of the autopsy were not known.
Please note: As there was no photograph/image of Fadila M. available to us, the artwork (instead of a portrait) aims to represent what she fought and worked for; land and rights to live and have access to that land and what grows on it.
FRMag - Anatomy of a survivor's story
Anatomía de la historia de una sobreviviente
por Maryum Saifee
Cuando se hace una búsqueda en Internet sobre «mutilación genital femenina» o «MGF», junto a la entrada de Wikipedia, aparece una imagen de cuatro dibujos lineales de la anatomía femenina, que ilustran cuatro tipos de violencia. (...)
