Philippe Leroyer | Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

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

Mirna Teresa Suazo Martínez

Read in: English French Spanish
Category
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Region
Latin America
Date of death / disappearance
Cause of death / disappearance

Killed

Mirna Teresa Suazo Martínez was part of the Garifuna (Afro-descendent and Indigenous) Masca community, living on the North Caribbean coast of Honduras. She was a community leader and a fervent defender of the Indigenous territory, a land that was violated when the National Agrarian Institute of Honduras gave territorial licenses to people outside of the community. 

This deplorable deed resulted in repeated harassment, abuse and violence against the Masca, where economic interests of different groups met those of Honduran armed forces and authorities. According to the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH), the strategy of these groups is to evict and exterminate the Indigenous population.

“Masca, the Garifuna community located next to the Cuyamel Valley, is part of the area of influence of one of the supposed model cities, a situation that has triggered territorial pressures along the Garifuna coast.” - OFRANEH, 8 September 2019

Mirna Teresa, president of the Board of Trustees of the Masca Community in Omoa, was also firmly rejecting the construction of two hydroelectric plants on the river that carries the same name as her community, Masca.

“The Garífuna community attributes the worsening of the situation in their region to their opposition to tourist exploitation, the monoculture of African palm and drug trafficking, at the same time that it seeks to build an alternative life through the cultivation of coconut and other products for self-consumption.” - Voces Feministas, 10 September 2019 

Mirna Teresa was murdered on 8 September 2019 in her Restaurant “Champa los Gemelos”. 

She was one of six Garifuna women defenders murdered between September and October 2019 alone. According to OFRANEH, there was no investigation by the authorities into these crimes.

“In the case of the Garífuna communities, a large part of the homicides are related to land tenure and land management. However, squabbles between organized crime have resulted in murders, such as the recent ones in Santa Rosa de Aguán.” - OFRANEH, 8 September 2019

Trans* rights require stronger protection

These transgender women were murdered because of their activism and their gender identity. There are insufficient laws recognizing trans* rights, and even where these laws exist, very little is being done to safeguard the rights of trans* people. Please join AWID in honoring these defenders, their activism and legacy by sharing the memes below with your colleagues, networks and friends and by using the hashtags #WHRDTribute and #16Days.

Please click on each image below to see a larger version and download as a file 

 

¿Necesito visa para asistir al Foro de Taipéi?

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Si tienes pasaporte de alguno de los siguientes países (el tiempo de estadía permitido varía según el país), NO necesitas visa para asistir al Foro de Taipéi:

Alemania, Andorra, Australia, Austria, Bélgica, Belice, Bulgaria, Brunei, Canadá, Chile, Ciudad del Vaticano, Croacia, Chipre, Dinamarca, Eslovaquia, Eslovenia, Estados Unidos de América, Estonia, España, Esuatini, Filipinas, Finlandia, Francia, Grecia, Guatemala, Haití, Honduras, Hungría, Irlanda, Islandia, Israel, Italia, Japón*, Letonia, Liechtenstein, Lituania, Luxemburgo, Malasia, Malta, Islas Marshall, Mónaco, Nauru, Nueva Zelanda, Nicaragua, Noruega, Países Bajos, Palaos, Paraguay, Polonia, Portugal, Reino Unido, República Checa, República de Corea, República Dominicana, Rumania, Rusia, San Cristóbal y Nieves, San Marino, Santa Lucía, San Vicente y las Granadinas, Singapur, Suecia, Suiza y Tuvalu.

Las personas con cualquier otro pasaporte NECESITARÁN VISA para ir a Taipéi.

 

Por favor ten en cuenta:

Es probable que, una vez que te hayas inscripto para asistir al Foro, te llegue un código relacionado con el evento que te permitirá tramitar tu visa en forma electrónica, cualquiera sea tu ciudadanía.

Brindaremos más información sobre este tema cuando se abra el proceso de inscripción.

Snippet Day 14_Fest (FR)

L’histoire derrière Crear, Résister, Transform

Coumba Toure

regardez la vidéo

Discours de clôture: Et maintenant, où allons-nous?

Cindy Clark, AWID

regardez la vidéo

Fem Joy: Fête de clôture!

DJ Miss Ray
DJ Luana Flores
Phoenix Inana

CFA 2023 - Intro FAQ - ar

المنتدى الدولي الخامس عشر لجمعية حقوق المرأة في التنمية (AWID)

يعتبر المنتدى الدولي الخامس عشر لجمعية حقوق المرأة في التنمية حدثًا مجتمعيًا عالميًا ومساحة للتحول الشخصي الجذري. يجمع المنتدى، وهو اجتماع فريد من نوعه، الحركات النسوية وحقوق المرأة والعدالة الجندرية ومجتمع الميم عين والحركات الحليفة، بكل تنوعنا وإنسانيتنا، للتواصل والشفاء والازدهار. المنتدى هو المكان الذي تحتل فيه نسويات ونسويو الجنوب العالمي والمجتمعات المهمشة تاريخياً مركز الصدارة، حيث يضعون الاستراتيجيات مع بعضهم/ن البعض، مع الحركات الحليفة الأخرى، ومع المموّلين وصانعي السياسات بهدف تحويل السلطة، إقامة تحالفات استراتيجية، والدخول في عالم أفضل ومختلف.
 
عندما يجتمع الناس على نطاق عالمي، كأفراد وحركات، فإننا نولد قوة جارفة. انضموا إلينا في بانكوك، تايلاند في عام 2024. تعالوا وارقصوا وغنوا واحلموا وانهضوا معنا.

متى:      2-5 ديسمبر 2024
أين:       بانكوك، تايلاند؛ وعلى الانترنت
من:        ما يقرب الـ 2500 ناشط/ة نسوية من جميع أنحاء العالم يشاركون شخصيًا، و3000 يشاركون افتراضيًا

Barbara Allimadi

Read in: English French Spanish
Category
Derechos civiles y políticos
Region
África
África Subsahariana
Date of death / disappearance
Cause of death / disappearance

Natural (lo más probable)

Barbara Allimadi fue una activista política y defensora de los derechos humanos de Uganda. En 2012, co-organizó una protesta contra la agresión policial a Ingrid Turinawe, una figura política de la oposición, que fue televisada y muestra cómo un policía le aprieta el pecho. Durante la protesta, Barbara, junto con otras compañeras activistas, se quitaron la ropa hasta quedarse en sujetador frente a la Estación Central de Policía de Kampala. Este hecho pasó a conocerse en Uganda como la infame "protesta de los sujetadores".

"Nos decidimos por la protesta de los sujetadores. Pensamos que sería lo más apropiado para lo que había sucedido. Con esta acción, no es que estuviésemos diciendo que no nos respetásemos a nosotras mismas. Estábamos indignadas con lo que había sucedido." - Barbara Allimadi, 2013 (Daily Monitor, en inglés)

Barbara se licenció en Ingeniería Electrónica y de Comunicaciones en la Universidad Metropolitana de Londres, y ejerció como ingeniera de redes en el Reino Unido. Era,además, una fan entusiasta de la música reggae. Regresó a Uganda en 2007, cuando su madre falleció.

En 2019, fue nombrada Coordinadora de Asuntos Internacionales y de la Diáspora de la Alianza para la Transformación Nacional (ANT, por sus siglas en inglés), un partido político lanzado ese año por un líder de la oposición.

"Queremos garantizar la seguridad de la vida y la propiedad,  no el dolor, las lesiones o incluso la muerte a manos de unas fuerzas de seguridad que se supone deberían protegernos. Y lo más importante, queremos un entorno estable y propicio donde podamos realizar nuestros sueños y aspiraciones". - Barbara Allimadi, video de ANT (en inglés)  

Barbara falleció el 27 de abril de 2020.

Tributos:

"Estaba muy orgullosa de mi hermana por muchas razones, pero, en particular, por su intrépida búsqueda de la paz, la democracia, la justicia y la igualdad en Uganda. En los momentos más álgidos de su activismo, Barbara lideró muchas marchas por las calles de Kampala, hacia las comisarías de policía y el Parlamento". - Doris Allimadi, hermana de Barbara

"Nos enteramos con profunda tristeza del prematuro fallecimiento de Barbara Allimadi. Ella ha sido una fuerza valiente, implacable y valerosa para el movimiento de liberación de Uganda. Queremos dar nuestro más sentido pésame a su familia. La echaremos mucho de menos". - Akina Mama wa Afrika (tweet, 28 April 2020)

"El fallecimiento de Barbara es una noticia muy triste para nosotrxs y para toda su familia. Barbara dedicó su vida a luchar por la justicia, la libertad y los derechos de las personas desde la sociedad civil, hasta que se unió, recientemente, al partido." Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu, coordinador nacional de la ANT (por sus siglas en inglés)

"Una hermana hermosa, encantadora, divertida, carismática e inspiradora. Mis hijxs han perdido a su tía. Uganda ha perdido a una audaz y valiente defensora de la libertad. Barbara dijo una vez: "Mientras siga habiendo aliento en ti, sigue trabajando por conseguir tus sueños". - Doris Allimadi, hermana de Barbara. 
 

1. Gather your resources

This section highlights key resources recommended by AWID so you can conduct your own WITM research.

In this section

People needed

  • 1 or more person(s) to lead overall implementation of research methodology and ensure all key pieces are on track (Sections 2-11)
  • 1 or more person(s) to conceptualize the key research objectives and guiding questions
  • 1 or more person(s) to refine and conduct the research methodology, including collecting data
  • 1 or more person(s) to conduct relevant qualitative and quantitative analysis of collected data
  • 1 or more person(s) to document and package research findings for desired audience(s)
  • 1 or more person(s) to serve as an editor to your final products
  • 1 or more person(s) to conduct outreach to spread the word about your survey and advocacy using your research results

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Potential expenses

  1. Staff and/or consultant salaries
  2. Data analysis software if conducting analysis of large dataset in-house. Options:
    - SPSS
    - Stata
    - R (this is free)
  3. Cost of producing publications and research products
  4. If desired, incentive prize that survey participants can win if they complete the survey
  5. If desired, incentives to offer your advisors

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Estimated time

  • For research process: 6 to 18 months, depending on size of dataset(s) and staff capacity
  • For advocacy: 1-2 years, as determined by your organizational goals

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Resources needed

  • List of advisor organizations, donors and activists
  • List of online spaces and events/networks to distribute your survey and present your survey results
  • List of donors, activists, and women’s rights organizations to interview
  • Prepared interview questions
  • List of publication sources to use for desk research

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Resources available

Online tools

Once you gather these resources, you can estimate the costs for your research using our “Ready to Go? Worksheet”

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Previous step

Before you begin

Next step

2. Frame your research

Previous step

Before you begin

Next step

2. Frame your research

The Ready to Go? Worksheet helps you estimate resources, staff and budget needed for your research

Download the toolkit in PDF

Calls for Participation

Virtual participation at the 2016 AWID Forum

Snippet Festival In Review - Presentation (EN)

A Festival For Feminist Movements

Do you want to be inspired by the creative resistance strategies of feminists from all over the world? Do you want to discover feminist initiatives that show us how we can all live in a more just world? Do you want to learn about models of feminist care and healing to bring to your own community? Is that a resounding yes that we hear? YES!

Then check out Crear | Résister | Transform: a festival for feminist movements. This festival took place virtually throughout the month of September 2021 across all of AWID’s platforms, and now you can experience it on your own time.

The Festival was a multicultural and multilingual experience.

The panelists participated in their preferred language and at AWID we included subtitles on the videos for your accessibility.

CFA FAQ - Registration - AR

تسجيل

5. Conduct interviews

Interviews produce in-depth information that you cannot easily obtain from surveys. While surveys focuses mainly on quantifiable data and closed questions, interviews allow for expert opinions from activists and donors, and open-ended questions which can provide context to survey data results.

In this section

General tips

1. Before conducting your interviews

Send the interviewees a concept note with your objectives for the interview and for your overall research, as well as a list of questions.

This allows them to prepare answers for more complicated questions and look up information that they may not have immediately on hand.

2. During the interviews

  • You can conduct interviews while your survey is running, in order to save time.
  • Try to keep your interviews as consistent as possible in order to facilitate systematic analysis of results. This means asking the same questions. Coding identical responses to each question will allow you to uncover hidden trends.
  • The interviews can also be used to flesh out some of the survey findings

Do not base your questions on assumptions about your interviewees’ knowledge.
Instead, first clarify what they know – this will reveal information as well.

  • DON’T: “Given the current funding trends in Switzerland, do you know of any opportunities for collaboration? This question assumes that the interviewee knows current funding trends and that their understanding of funding trends matches yours.
  • DO: First ask “What is your understanding of current funding trends in Switzerland?”, followed by “Do you know of any opportunities for collaboration?” This will reveal what their understanding is, giving you even more information than the first question.

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Specialized interviews

1. Donor interviews

Interviews with donors will allow you to build deeper relationships with them, which will be useful when you conduct post-research advocacy. They will also provide you with deeper insight into funders’ decision-making processes.

Suggested topics of focus for donor interviews:

  • What are their funding priorities? Why and how did they select those priorities? For example, why do they choose project-funding over core support or vice versa?
  • What are annual amounts allocated to the advancement of women’s human rights? This will strengthen overall reliability of data collected.
  • Have they noticed any funding trends, and what do they believe are the origins and politics behind these trends?
  • What is their theory of social change and how does that impact their relationships with women’s rights organizations?
View samples of donor interviews

2. Women’s rights organizations and activists interviews

Interviews with women’s rights organizations and activists will provide you with insight into their on-the-ground realities. Again, these interviews will allow you to build deeper relationships that can be incorporated into your advocacy, particularly to encourage collaboration between donors and activists.

Suggested topics of focus for women’s rights organizations and activist interviews:

  • Long-term funding priority trends noted by women’s organizations and their impact.
  • Successful examples of feminist and collaborative resource mobilization strategies that build strong and complementary movements.
  • “Making the case” for why it is important to support women’s organizations and organizing.
  • How different actors understand the social change process and their role in advancing/achieving gender equality and women’s rights.
View samples of women’s organizations and activists interviews

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Preliminary findings

Through the course of your WITM research, we recommend analyzing your preliminary findings. Presenting your preliminary findings opens up opportunities to conduct more interviews and get feedback on your research process and initial results. This feedback can be incorporated into your final research.

AWID conducts “WITM convenings” to share preliminary results of survey data and interviews. These gatherings allow participants (activists, women’s rights organizations, and donors) to debate and discuss the results, clarifying the context, creating more ownership amongst members of the movement, and providing more input for final research.

For example, the Resource Mobilization Hub for Indigenous Women’s Rights at the World Summit on Indigenous Philanthropy was used as a space to debut preliminary results.

See the presentation given at the RMH

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Previous step

4. Collect and analyze your data

Next step

6. Conduct desk research

Estimated time:

• 1.5 - 3 months

People needed:

• 1 or more research person(s)

Resources needed:

• List of donors and women’s rights organizations and activists to interview
• Prepared interview questions
• Concept Note (You can use the research framing you created in the “Frame your research” section)

Resources available:

• AWID Sample Interview Questions: Donors
• AWID Sample Interview Questions: Activists & Women’s Rights Organizations

Previous step

4. Collect and analyze your data

Next step

6. Conduct desk research

Ready to Go? Worksheet

Download the toolkit in PDF

Eventos

Beijing Sin Ataduras: el poder de los movimientos feministas jóvenes

Snippet Relive the Festival_Fest (EN)

Relive the Festival

CFA FAQ - Call for activities - Thai

เปิดรับสมัครกิจกรรมภายในงาน

Gracias por participar en la creación de nuestros Futuros Feministas

¡Gracias por haber sido parte del Foro AWID 2016!

AWID agradece enormemente a todxs ustedes que han compartido con nosotrxs estos últimos cuatro días de aprendizaje, celebraciones, ideaciones, sueños y la construcción conjunta de nuestros futuros feministas en el Foro AWID 2016.

Nos sentimos muy inspiradxs, maravilladxs y llenxs de energía con todo el trabajo colectivo que hemos hecho para crear nuestros diversos futuros feministas.

Para más imagen, blogues y recursos:

Visite el sitio del Foro

Conéctate con #AWIDForum

Calls for Participation

AWID is launching a call for participation in a Feminist Journalist Program.