Joana Foster
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.
-
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
Amelia Rokotuivuna
Forum 2024 - FAQ - General Information ES
Información general
AWID IN 2015: Building Collective Impact
In 2015 AWID grew and diversified.
We ramped up preparations for the 13th AWID international Forum, focused a lot of energy on the Post 2015 Development Agenda and Financing for Development processes, and continued the core work of our priority areas:
- Challenging Religious Fundamentalisms
- Women Human Rights Defenders
- Economic Justice
- Resourcing Women’s Rights
- Young Feminist Activism
A sneak peak inside the report
The context
- We continue witnessing the rapid breakdown in democracy and democratic institutions, with spaces for dissent shrinking.
- Multiple and concurrent systemic crises (energy, food, finance and climate) continue to deepen inequalities and pose major challenges.
- Corporations are a leading power in determining the development agenda.
- Violence against WHRDs remains an urgent problem.
- Religious fundamentalisms are pervasive and increasingly powerful.
- New forms of online gender-based violence have emerged.
In response, we are moving out of our silos.
Increasingly, women’s rights and other movements worldwide are articulating the systemic and intersectional nature of these and other problems. We are making better connections with the agendas of other social and environmental movements for solidarity, alliance building and collective responses. We are also seeing greater visibility of these movements fighting for justice on the ground.
Our Impact
- For effective strategizing and advocacy, we need facts
- To exchange knowledge and join hands in solidarity, we need a strong online community
- To build our collective power, we need to work together
- To influence international processes, we need to increase our access and voice
- To reposition power we need to give visibility and emphasize the important role that feminist and women’s rights movements are already playing
Our Members
As at 31st December, 2015 we had:
Read the full report
La comunicación del deseo | Small Snippet ES
La comunicación del deseo
y otras praxis políticas del cuerpo
Tendemos a pensar en la comunicación del deseo como algo circunscrito a la intimidad de la alcoba y nuestras relaciones personales. Sin embargo, ¿podemos también pensar este tipo de comunicación como una estructura, una práctica que nutre nuestro trabajo, y cómo somos, y cómo actuamos en el mundo?
Brenda Marleni Estrada Tambito
Anne Marie Coriolan
Forum 2024 - FAQ - Call for Activities ES
Convocatoria para Actividades
Annual Report 2010
Our 2010 Annual Report highlights the major accomplishments of each of our strategic initiatives during the year.
Along with activity highlights, we include a brief analysis of the impact of our initiatives as well as reflections from our members and partners that further illustrate the relevance of AWID’s work and its connection to broader women’s rights movements.
This interactive document is complete with links to our websites and recent publications with in-depth information on the issues we address in the report.
Illumination by the Light of the Full Moon | Snippet Small ES
Luz de Plenilunio: Una experiencia BDSM africana
Más que una divertida excentricidad para explorar las sensaciones, el BDSM puede ser una forma de abordar el dolor y el trauma emocionales. Ha sido un medio de sanación sexual para mí, pues me ha permitido una forma radical de liberación.
Rebecca Masika Katsuva
Rose Marie Muraro
Y a-t-il des sujets à ne pas aborder, à éviter dans nos propositions ?
Les Forums de l’AWID ont toujours été des espaces où les difficiles mais nécessaires conversations ont lieu. Nous accueillons ces propositions dès lors que la personne ou organisation qui la suggère garantit un espace à la fois respectueux et sûr pour celles et ceux qui y prennent part.
Lucy O.
Biography
With over ten years of finance experience, Lucy has devoted her career to for profit and furthering nonprofit missions. She also worked and volunteered at non-for-profit organizations. From the fast-paced world of Finance, Lucy has passion for staying tuned with tech skills in the finance field. Lucy joined AWID in 2014. During her spare time she enjoys music, traveling, and variety sports.
Position
Accounting Coordinator
Add to stories
Off
Disintegration | Content Snippet
On Wednesday a note arrives
with an address on the back.
5 pm, tonight.
The handwriting on the invitation—
coily and brusque—
I’ve seen it five times in five years.
My body rouses,
feverish.
I need to fuck myself first.
The tide is high tonight and
I get
off.
I want to slow everything down,
taste time and space, etch them
into memory.
*
I’ve never been to this part of town before.
Unknown places excite me,
the way limbs and veins and bones
resist decay,
their fate uncertain.
At the door, I think twice.
The hallway is pitch black
and it makes me pause.
On the other side,
a portal of smell and color
opens like a curse,
into a sunny afternoon.
The breeze
makes my hair dance,
piques its curiosity,
compels it to move.
I hear the wheelchair whirring,
shaping the shadows.
Then I see them:
a lynx face
and a body like mine
and I find myself desiring both
again.
The creature motions me closer.
Their gestures write a sentence;
as I move toward them,
I notice its details:
wither, flesh, bliss
On their command, the vine that covers the hallway
hugging warm stones,
snakes up the wall.
It becomes a verb,
“to climb,”
and I’m reorientated when their claws point
to the vine-bed in the center.
I hear the wheels behind me,
then that sound.
It reverberates
like no other.
Their long black wings
elevate toward the ceiling
then they lunge forward.
The feline vision scans every detail,
every change,
every longing.
Can desire liquefy your muscles?
Can it act sweeter than the strongest
of tranquilizers?
A lynx sews the world
across our differences,
weaving lace around my knees.
Can desire crush the distance of the world,
compressing the seconds?
They come closer still,
lynx eye meeting human eye,
sniffing the air,
turning body into
urgency.
They beat down their wings.
Stirred,
the vines tangle around my waist/waste.
Their tongue thins time,
shifting grounds,
soothes, with their magic,
what stirs beneath.
I see the world in you, and the
world is exhausted.
Then they plead:
Let me feast on you.
Miroslava Breach Velducea
Related content
BBC: Miroslava Breach third Mexican journalist to be killed this month
Committee to Protect Journalists: Miroslava Breach Velducea
Amnesty International: Mexico: "Open season" on journalists as third reporter killed in a month
TeleSUR: New Award to Honor Murdered Journalists in Latin America
Lieutenant Nigar
Will there be accessibility measures at the Forum?
In short, yes! AWID is currently working with an Accessibility Committee to ensure that the Forum is as accessible as possible. We are also conducting an accessibility audit of the Forum venue, surrounding hotels and transportation. Detailed information about accessibility at the AWID Forum will be available in this section before the registration opens. Meanwhile, for any questions please contact us.
Kasia Staszewska
Biography
Kasia viene apoyando la labor de los movimientos feministas y por la justicia social desde hace 15 años. Antes de sumarse a AWID, se lideró las acciones de política e incidencia ActionAid y Amnistía Internacional, a la vez que participaba en procesos de organización feministas y de distintas agrupaciones por la justicia social en Polonia, en pro del acceso al aborto y contra la violencia en las fronteras europeas. Es una apasionada del financiamiento para la movilizaciónfeminista en toda su audacia, riqueza y diversidad. Reparte su tiempo entre Varsovia y su aldea comunitaria de trabajo artesanal en el bosque. Le encanta tomar saunas y adora con locura a su perro Wooly.
Position
Gerente, Financiamiento de los Movimientos Feministas
Add to stories
Off
A Joy to the World: Six Questions with Naike Ledan | Small Snippet FR
La joie dans le monde : six questions à Naïké Ledan
Ce qui m’a aidée, c’est que j’adorais le travail qui consiste à aller dans les terres et à documenter les connaissances des gens. Donc j’ai quitté le confort...
