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Special Focus

AWID is an international, feminist, membership organisation committed to achieving gender equality, sustainable development and women’s human rights

Women Human Rights Defenders

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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.

Related Content

Type

María Digna Montero

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Category
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Region
Latin America
Date of death / disappearance
Cause of death / disappearance

Killed

María Digna Montero was a Garifuna (Afro-descendent and indigenous) land defender and a member of the National Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH), a grassroots organization working to protect the Garifuna communities, their ancestral rights, culture, resources and territory.

María also taught in the local school and was a member of the OFRANEH Intercultural Bilingual Education working group.

On the Day of Indigenous Resistance, October 12, 2019, unknown assailants shot María multiple times in the backyard of her house.  

She was one of six Garifuna women defenders murdered between September and October 2019 and according to OFRANEH, there was no investigation by the authorities into these crimes. In an official statement, the organization also highlighted the connection between the violence against Garifuna leaders and the increase in extractive industries which exploit natural resources in their communities calling this violence part of a “strategy of intimidation and systematic expulsion” by the Honduran State. 

“The heightened tension and growing risks to the security and human rights of the leaders in the communities and ancestral territories is a product of the dispossession, displacement and criminalization of the communities and of the extractive mega projects promoted by the State together with the national and international corporations.” - OFRANEH communique, October 12, 2019

Jessica Whitbread

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Biography

Jessica est une artiste-activiste queer de Toronto, au Canada, mais qui vit actuellement en Bulgarie. Elle a plus de 15 ans d'expérience dans la riposte au VIH, travaillant aux intersections du genre et du VIH auprès de populations clés (travailleurs·ses du sexe, femmes consommatrices de drogues, communautés LGBTQI, personnes incarcérées et, bien sûr, personnes vivant avec le VIH). Jessica aime créer du mouvement et réfléchir/entreprendre/élaborer des stratégies sur des interventions basées sur les arts. L'un des projets amusants qu'elle a lancé en 2013 était LOVE POSITIVE WOMEN (Femmes positives à l’amour), qui implique plus de 125 groupes et organisations communautaires du monde entier, du 1er au 14 février, pour célébrer les femmes vivant avec le VIH dans leurs communautés.

Position
Responsable de l’Adhésion et de l’Engagement des Membres
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#9 - Sexting like a feminist Tweets Snippet AR

لا ضير في وضع قواعد اللعبة

Leave your biases, preconception, and your clothes at the door!

ممنوع الدخول قبل التخلّص من أي شكل من أشكال التحيّز و/أو الأحكام المُسبقة و/أو الاحتشام!

Nilcéa Freire

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Category
Derechos económicos, sociales y culturales
Region
América Latina
Date of birth
Date of death / disappearance
Cause of death / disappearance

Enfermedad

Nilcéa Freire fue una activista feminista, política y académica brasileña. Como perseverante defensora de los derechos de las mujeres y de las minorías subrepresentadas de su país, su vida y su trabajo acumularon una larga historia de luchas y victorias.

«Mientras se resiste, tenemos que empujar para avanzar y los avances que vamos a poder lograr en este momento, a mi juicio, serán a través de la organización estupenda que las jóvenes mujeres blancas, pero sobre todo, las mujeres negras, están haciendo en todas las capitales, y las grandes ciudades de Brasil.» - Nilcéa Freire

En 1999, se convirtió en la primera mujer Rectora de la Universidad del Estado de Río de Janeiro (UERJ). Desde ese puesto, impulsó la implementación de la primera política de acción afirmativa para estudiantes que se graduaban de escuelas públicas, que exigía un cupo específico para estudiantes negrxs de sectores de bajos ingresos, sistema adoptado por decenas de otras universidades públicas.

Unos años más tarde, Nilcéa encabezó la Secretaría Especial de Políticas para las Mujeres del gobierno del ex-presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Desde esta función, lideró la Primera Conferencia Nacional de Mujeres Brasileñas, en la que participaron más de doce mil mujeres de todo el país. El resultado de este trabajo colectivo fue incorporado en el Plan Nacional de Políticas para las Mujeres.

Su compromiso con las mujeres y las personas afrobrasileñas e indígenas se reflejó también en su trabajo de promoción de sus derechos, a través de iniciativas de la Fundación Ford en Brasil, de la cual fue Directora Regional.

La activista feminista Manoela Miklos describió a Nilcéa como «una mujer sin igual».

Nilcéa falleció en Río de Janeiro el 29 de diciembre de 2019 a los 66 años, víctima de un cáncer.

 «No tengo palabras ante la noticia de la muerte de la querida Nilcéa Freire. Es demasiado triste saber que partió tan pronto. Siempre formó parte de las filas de quienes no aceptan las injusticias del mundo. Fue Ministra de las Mujeres, una activista, siempre activa en la causa feminista. ¡La extrañaremos mucho!» - Jandira Feghali, Diputada Federal

La feminista brasileña Nilcéa Freire nos dice por qué es importante solidarizarse con Brasil

Leila Hessini

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Biography

Leila is a transnational feminist leader, strategist, and advisor with over 25 years of organizing, advocacy and philanthropic experience advancing human rights, gender equality, and sexual and reproductive rights and justice.  She was born in Algeria and educated in the U.S., France, and Morocco; over her professional career, she has lived and worked in forty countries across Africa, Europe, Latin America and Asia.  Leila currently serves as a Senior International Fellow at the Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon and as Senior Strategist for various feminist movements and organizations as well as the the Urgent Action Fund-Africa and Trust Africa on an initiative on Reimagining Feminist and Pan-African Philanthropies.
 
From 2017-2023, Leila held the position as Vice-President of Programs at Global Fund for Women where she oversaw its strategic grantmaking, movement-strengthening, global advocacy and philanthropic collaborations. At GFW, she doubled its grantmaking to over $17 million, launched its feminist and gender-based movements and crises work, created an adolescent girls program led by a girls’ advisory council and led its philanthropic advocacy work.  Prior to that she served on the senior leadership team of Ipas from 2002 to 2016 where she published extensively on abortion rights and justice, lead global advocacy efforts and partnered with feminist groups working on self-management, community strategies and stigma reduction around bodily integrity and sexual and reproductive rights.
 
Leila is currently researching shifts in the philanthropic sector including recognizing non-institutional practices of giving resources in the Global South and efforts to decolonize practices in the Global North.  She has written extensively on the political nature of veiling across North Africa and the Middle East, abortion practices in majority Muslim contexts and feminist approaches to sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice.
 
Leila holds an MPH in public health and a MA in Middle Eastern and North African Studies, studied Islamic law in Morocco and pursued doctoral studies in sociology in France. She studied Arabic and speaks French and English fluently.  She is a mother of two feminist young women, an avid scuba diver, mountain bike rider, skier, and outdoor enthusiast.

Position
Co-Treasurer
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Curatorial Note by Rula Khoury

Feminist Art Walk

Curatorial Note by Rula Khoury

As part of our commitment to engage more deeply with artists and the practice of co-creating Feminist Realities, AWID collaborated with an Artist Working Group to advance and strengthen feminist agendas and realities in their communities and movements through their creative expression. Our intention here is to bring feminist creatives together in a powerful and brave space where they grow and live freely, and where they shatter toxic narratives to replace them with transformative alternatives.

This exhibition gathers the work of artists and collectives from across the globe, those who are actively creating the difference that we want to see in the world. These feminist creatives include Upasana Agarwal, Nicole Barakat, Siphumeze Khundayi, Katia Herrera, Ali Chavez Leeds, Colectivo Morivivi, Ika Vantiani, and the curators behind the #MeToo in China exhibition. Their voices stand strong in their refusal to accept the limitations imposed by patriarchy, and amplify their commitments to the communities they are working in and with. In their own way, each artwork represents daily acts of resistance, untold stories and identities, connections to land and ancestry, and most importantly, the solidarity that exists within and amongst feminist movements and struggles. These artists are both inspired by and inspire creative strategies of feminist resistance and initiatives that show us how we can all live in a more just world - a world that centers care and healing.

Leah Tumbalang

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Category
Droits économiques, sociaux et culturels
Region
Asie
Asie du Sud-Est et du Sud
Date of death / disappearance
Cause of death / disappearance

Assassinat

Leah Tumbalang était une femme lumad de Mindanao, aux Philippines. L’histoire du peuple autochtone Lumad recouvre des générations de résistance à l'exploitation minière à grande échelle par les entreprises, la protection des domaines ancestraux, des ressources et de la culture, et la lutte pour le droit à l'autodétermination. 

Leah était une leader lumad, ainsi qu’une dirigeante du Kaugalingong Sistema Igpasasindog tu Lumadnong Ogpaan (Kasilo), une organisation paysanne lumad plaidant contre l'arrivée des sociétés minières à Bukidnon, dans la province de Mindanao. Elle s’est montrée inébranlable dans son activisme antimines, militant avec ferveur contre les effets dévastateurs de l'extraction minière sur l'environnement et les terres des peuples autochtones. Leah était également une organisatrice de la liste du parti Bayan Muna, membre du parti politique de gauche Makabayan.

Depuis près d’une décennie, Leah (ainsi que d’autres membres de Kasilo) recevait des menaces du fait qu'elle codirigeait l'opposition contre le déploiement de groupes paramilitaires soupçonnés d’être soutenus par des intérêts miniers. 

« En tant que leader des Lumad au sein de leur communauté, elle est au premier plan pour lutter en faveur de leurs droits à la terre ancestrale et à l'autodétermination ». - Organisation régionale lumad de Kalumbay

Être en première ligne de la résistance implique également souvent d’être la cible de violences et victime de l’impunité. Leah a non seulement reçu de nombreuses menaces de mort, mais elle a été assassinée le 23 août 2019 à Valencia, dans la province de Bukidnon.  

Selon un rapport de Global Witness, « les Philippines sont le pays à avoir été le plus touché en chiffre absolu » pour ce qui est des meurtres d’activistes écologistes en 2018. 

Lisez le rapport du Global Witness, publié en juillet 2019

En savoir plus sur les femmes lumad aux Philippines et leur lutte intergénérationnelle pour l'autodétermination
 

Fatima Qureshi

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Biography

Culturellement nomade, née à Hong Kong et enracinée dans un héritage turco-pakistanais, l'amour de Fatima pour les récits - tant pour les lire que pour les cocréer - a alimenté sa passion pour l'activisme à travers la communication. Forte de sa formation en journalisme, Fatima a travaillé pendant 7 ans dans les domaines de la communication numérique et médiatique avec des ONG qui offrent des opportunités d'éducation et de l’aide juridique aux réfugié·e·s et demandeur·se·s d'asile, ainsi qu'avec le mouvement féministe musulman qui applique une perspective féministe et fondée sur les droits dans la compréhension et la quête d’égalité et de justice au sein de la tradition juridique musulmane. Elle rédige régulièrement des tribunes sur les questions féministes dans les pays du Sud.

Grâce à la narration dans cette ère ultra digitale des réseaux sociaux, Fatima continue de collaborer avec des animateur·rice·s communautaires et des activistes de terrain pour créer du contenu audiovisuel dans le but de cultiver des ponts de compréhension vers la libération collective et la décolonisation. Les jours où elle ne travaille pas, elle regarde attentivement des films féministes indépendants venant d’Iran, du Maroc et du Pakistan, et les autres jours elle interprète de la poésie orale avec ses camarades à Kuala Lumpur.

Position
Responsable des communications numériques et des partenariats de l'ICM
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Corporalidades Transnacionales | Small Snippet ES HOME

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Corporalidades Transnacionales

Esta edición en alianza con Kohl: una publicación para Body and Gender Research analizará soluciones, propuestas y realidades feministas para transformar nuestro mundo actual, nuestros cuerpos y nuestras sexualidades.

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Paulina Cruz Ruiz

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Category
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Region
Latin America
Date of death / disappearance
Cause of death / disappearance

Killed

Paulina Cruz Ruiz, from the Rabinal, Baja Verapaz region of Guatemala, was an ancestral Maya Achí (Indigenous) authority and a human rights defender.

She was actively involved in community organizing and resistance, including legal measures against mining projects on Indigenous territory, projects that would severely affect and damage the socio-environmental fabric.  

“The extractive industry model promoted by the Guatemalan government and the construction of large-scale development projects on indigenous lands without community consent has been a source of ongoing disputes with resistance movements.” - Minority Rights Group International

Paulina was also part of the March for Dignity, Life and Justice, in which on 1 May 2019 thousands of Guatemalans started a march of eight days against corruption and impunity in the prosecution and assassinations of human rights, peasant and Indigenous leaders and land defenders.

Paulina was murdered on 14 September 2019 near her home in the village of Xococ. 

According to the Minority Rights Group International, “one of the major ongoing issues affecting Mayan communities is the increasing activity of the mining industry.”

Read more about the Mayans of Guatemala

Read more about the March for Dignity, Life and Justice
 

 

Faten Nabhan

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Merci de bien vouloir parcourir les propositions existantes avant de soumettre vos idées. Quelqu'un pourrait déjà avoir pensé à une proposition similaire! Envoyez votre proposition à contribute@awid.org.

Nous examinerons et inclurons les nouvelles propositions qui nous parviendront au fur et à mesure sur cette page Web.

Who are AWID's members?

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A dynamic network of people around the world, AWID members are researchers, academics, students, educators, activists, business people, policy-makers, development practitioners, funders, and more. Our members - of every age - are those who make AWID a unique global feminist association.

Membership with AWID is open to anyone who shares our values

We offer different types of memberships geared to income level and whether you are an individual or an organization. Currently we have over 5000 members, individual and institutional, from 164 countries.

Our members are an important part of our work

We collaborate for advocacy on specific issues, members vote in elections for our Board, and can also participate in and contribute to our Priority Areas through webinars, surveys, or urgent actions, for example.

Our institutional membership draws from a broad range of organizations interested in advancing gender justice and women’s human rights, including women’s rights organizations, from the local to the global levels, grassroots networks, major international institutions, government departments, university programs and more. 63% of our members are from the global South and 38% are under the age of 30.

Learn more about our membership

ทำไมจึงเป็นกรุงเทพ

ฟอรัมแต่ละครั้งถูกจัดขึ้นในภูมิภาคต่างๆทั่วโลก และครั้งนี้ AWID ฟอรัมกลับมาจัดที่เอีเชียอีกครั้ง! เราได้ผ่านการไปเยี่ยมเยือนประเทศต่างๆในเอเชียเพื่อหารือกับขบวนการเฟมินิสต์เพื่อประเมินรายละเอียดด้านโลจิสติกส์ การเข้าถึงง่าย ความปลอดภัย วีซ่า และความพร้อมด้านอื่นๆ โดยคณะกรรมการ AWID ของเรา อนุมัติให้จัดที่กรุงเทพอย่างกระตือรือร้นในฐานะทางเลือกที่ดีที่สุด เราตื่นเต้นที่ได้กลับมากรุงเทพที่ที่เราเคยได้จัด AWID ฟอรัมในปีพ.ศ. 2548

Snippet From the Heart of the Commune_Fest (EN)

Storytelling: From the Heart of the Commune

by María Bonita 

mariabonita

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