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.
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Dans le cadre de notre engagement à nouer des liens plus profonds avec des artistes via nos pratiques de co-création de Réalités Féministes, AWID a collaboré avec un Groupe de Travail Artistique visant à faire progresser et à renforcer les programmes et réalités féministes, dans les communautés et mouvements via l’expression créative. Notre intention ici est de rassembler des féministes créatifs·ves dans un espace puissant et audacieux pour grandir et vivre librement, et briser les récits toxiques en les remplaçant par des alternatives transformatrices.
Cette exposition rassemblera le travail d’artistes et de collectifs du monde entier, de celle.ux qui créent activement la différence que nous voulons voir dans ce monde. Ces féministes créatifs·ves comprennent Upasana Agarwal, Nicole Barakat, Siphumeze Khundayi, Katia Herrera, Ali Chavez Leeds, Colectivo Morivivi, Ika Vantian, ainsi que les organisateurs·rices de l’exposition #MeToo en Chine. Leurs voix résonnent avec force dans leur refus d'accepter les limites imposées par le patriarcat, et amplifient leurs engagements envers les communautés dans lesquelles, et avec lesquelles, i.elles travaillent. Chaque œuvre représente, à sa façon, des actes de résistance quotidienne, des histoires et des identités inédites, des liens avec la terre et nos ancêtres et, plus important encore, la solidarité qui existe au sein et entre les mouvements et luttes féministes. Ces artistes inspirent et sont inspiré·e·s par des stratégies créatives de résistance et d'initiatives féministes qui nous montrent comment nous pouvons vivre ensemble dans un monde plus juste - un monde qui place au centre le soin et la guérison.
J’ai déjà proposé une activité à un Forum précédent, dois-je renvoyer une proposition ?
Oui, s’il vous plaît. Le monde a changé depuis 2021, et nous vous invitons à proposer une activité qui reflète vos réalités et priorités d’aujourd’hui.
Nana Abuelsoud
Nana is a feminist organizer and a reproductive rights and population policy researcher based in Egypt. She is a member of Realizing Sexual and Reproductive Justice (RESURJ), a member of the Advisory Board of the A Project in Lebanon, and a member of the Community Committee of Mama Cash. Nana holds an MSc in Public Health from KIT Institute and Vrije University in Amsterdam. In her work, she follows and contextualizes national population policies while building evidence that addresses modern eugenics, regressive international aid, and authoritarianism. Previously, she was part of the Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, and Ikhtyar Feminist Collective in Cairo.
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40 Years of AWID: The Scrapbook
In collaboration with artist Naadira Patel, we created a scrapbook that highlights a handful of snapshots from AWID’s last four decades of feminist movement support.
Forum 2024 - FAQ - General Information - AR
معلومات عامة
How did AWID get started?
AWID began in 1982 and has grown and transformed since then into a truly global organization.
Find out more:
Read From WID to GAD to Women's Rights: The First 20 Years of AWID
Dorothy Musakanya Mapulanga
Yaneth Alejandra Calvache Riveros
Snippet Propuestas feministas para una economía justa ES
AWID, el Center for Women’s Global Leadership [CWGL, Centro por el Liderazgo Global de las Mujeres], y la African Women's Development and Communication Network [FEMNET, Red de Desarrollo y Comunicación de las Mujeres Africanas], presentan esta plataforma como aporte para cuestionar las nociones dominantes acerca del desarrollo y poner sobre la mesa propuestas iniciales para una agenda feminista para el desarrollo y la justicia económica y de género.
¿Cómo se originó este proyecto?
Las propuestas
Estas propuestas son exactamente eso: se ideas y experiencias a ser conversadas, debatidas, para que les sumemos elementos, las desmenucemos, las adaptemos, las adoptemos e incluso para que inspiren otras propuestas.
متى يمكنني التسجيل في المنتدى؟ كم هي تكلفة التسجيل؟ ماذا يشمل التسجيل؟
سيبدأ التسجيل أوائل العام 2024. وسنعلن عن تاريخ التسجيل المحدد ورسوم التسجيل قريبًا. سيتضمن التسجيل المشاركة في المنتدى، بالإضافة إلى الغداء والوجبات الخفيفة (يتم تقديم وجبة الإفطار في الفنادق)، وعشاء واحد في الموقع.
¿En qué temas trabaja AWID?
AWID trabaja para lograr la justicia de género y la realización de los derechos de las mujeres de todo el mundo.
Trabajamos para fortalecer las voces y el impacto de lxs activistas, organizaciones y movimientos por los derechos de las mujeres.
Las áreas prioritarias de AWID se relacionan con temas estrechamente vinculados con tendencias globales dominantes. Estos temas reflejan los crecientes desafíos que afectan negativamente a los derechos de las mujeres en todo el mundo.
- Justicia Económica
- Recursos para los Derechos de las Mujeres
- Desafiando los Fundamentalismos Religiosos
- Defensoras de los Derechos Humanos
- Activismo Joven Feminista
Mary Rivera
Maria das Dores dos Santos Salvador
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هل سيفتح الباب لتقديم المقترحات؟
"نعم! يرجى قراءة الدعوة للمشاركة والتقدم هنا . الموعد النهائي هو 15 يناير 2024" .

