Isabel and Reyna Ayala Nava
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.
Related Content
Avril 2015: tienen lugar las audiencias interactivas con empresarios y sociedad civil
- El 8 y 9 de abril de 2015, en la sede de la ONU en Nueva York se realizaron audiencias interactivas oficiosas con el sector empresarial y la sociedad civil, respectivamente.
- Las organizaciones por los derechos de las mujeres y otras organizaciones de la sociedad civil (OSC) plantearon sus preocupaciones acerca de la participación limitada de los Estados Miembros durante las audiencias con las OSC, por lo cual el CSO Coordinating Group [Grupo Coordinador de las OSC, ACG en inglés] envió una carta a los facilitadores sobre este asunto.
- La segunda sesión redactora del Documento Final de la Conferencia de Adís Abeba tuvo lugar del 13 al 17 de abril de 2015 en la sede de la ONU. Sus discusiones tuvieron como base el Borrador Cero.
- En las diferentes sesiones oficiales y eventos paralelos, el WWG presentó recomendaciones sobre las áreas temáticas de la FpD a los Estados Miembros. Algunas de las principales preocupaciones de las mujeres giraban en torno al hecho de que el Borrador Cero no ponía suficiente énfasis en los impactos enormes y negativos de la crisis financiera producto de la inestabilidad en los sistemas financieros internacionales sobre el desarrollo, la igualdad y los derechos humanos, particularmente los derechos de las mujeres.
Love letter to Feminist Movements #4
To my beloved feminists living with HIV,
We’ve been together for over 20 years and how deeply I’ve treasured your love and support. It is interesting to think that you too are a similar age to AWID - both trying to figure out how to engage and support the community on a similar timeline. To the mothers in the movement, your leadership and guidance has been unmatched. I think of Prudence Mabele, Kate Thompson, Darien Taylor, Patricia Perez, Martha Tholanah, Deloris Dockery, Iris De La Cruise, Doris Peltier, Cecilia Chung and so many more. While not perfect (as none of us are), you always put your community first and champion the inclusion of ALL women living with HIV in feminist spaces.
I love the way you have held me when no one else has been able to, but more importantly how we hold each other. While you understand stigma, discrimination, violence and pain, you also understand joy, love and forgiveness. As feminists living with HIV, we are glorious and powerful in our intersectionality. We understand that feminism includes and is led by communities - our Black, Brown and Indigenous sisters, communities who are trans and gender diverse, sex workers, queer/lesbian, those who have been incarcerated, and those who use drugs - as set out in the GIPA (Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV) principles. Your feminism is all encompassing. We talk about the hard issues and about criminalized communities, because as people living with HIV, we ourselves are criminalized.
I would be remiss if I didn’t send special love to the young women living with HIV, the heartbeat of the movement. I see you Kia Lebejia, Keren Dunaway, Liz Onyango, Faith Ona, Sara Thapa Maga, Doreen Moraa, Yana Panfilova and millions of others incredible activists living with HIV. You are the power that will continue to propel us forward and allow us to be seen as important in mainstream feminst movements. Thank you for taking our movement further to ALWAYS include trans and gender diverse folks, to talk about the links between climate change and sexual and reproductive health and rights.
I love, love, love, love you so much. For better or for worse, let’s move forward together because this is our community - this is my community.
With love,
Jessica Whitbread
Does AWID provide scholarships to attend the Forum?
Our Access Fund will offer a limited number of scholarships to fund the participation of activists who cannot otherwise make it, and don’t have relationships with funders who could cover their participation. So if you have other possibilities, please explore them. We will do our best to offer as many scholarships as we can, and will share more information about this process and how to apply in early 2024.
Résumé : Identifiez les principaux groupes et réfutez leurs arguments
Résumé :
Identifiez les principaux groupes et réfutez leurs arguments
Décideur·se politique à l’ONU, vous souhaitez apprendre à repérer les principaux groupes et discours antidroits au sein de l’institution ? Vous êtes un·e féministe, à la recherche de contre-arguments éclairs ? Ce résumé vous propose les informations essentielles en 8 pages seulement.
WITM - Refreshed INFOGRAPHIC 2 ES
¿De qué manera el financiamiento no satisface las necesidades de los movimientos feministas?
Los movimientos feministas necesitan financiamiento básico y de largo plazo (incluidos ahorros y reservas) para poder mantenerse focalizados en el cambio sistémico. Las reservas no son algo extra: son esenciales para la sostenibilidad.
Stacey Park Milbern
“I do not know a lot about spirituality or what happens when we die, but my crip queer Korean life makes me believe that our earthly bodyminds is but a fraction, and not considering our ancestors is electing only to see a glimpse of who we are.” - Stacey Park Milbern
Stacey Park Milbern was a self-identifying queer disabled woman of colour and a trailblazer. A long-standing and respected organizer and leader in the disability rights and justice movement, she also advocated for the rights of many different communities, not just her own. Stacey’s activism had mighty roots in her experience at the intersections of gender, disability, sexuality and race.
Stacey, along with some friends, co-created the Disability Justice Culture Club, a group working to support various and especially vulnerable communities, including helping homeless people gain access to resources during the COVID-19 pandemic.
She was also a co-producer of an impact campaign for Netflix’s documentary “Crip Camp”, a board member of the WITH Foundation, and led organizations at local, state and national levels. Stacey wrote beautifully and powerfully:
“My ancestors are people torn apart from loves by war and displacement. It’s because of them I know the power of building home with whatever you have, wherever you are, whoever you are with. My ancestors are queers who lived in the American South. It’s because of them I understand the importance of relationships, place and living life big, even if it is dangerous. All of my ancestors know longing. Longing is often our connecting place...” - Stacey Park Milbern
She was born in Seoul, Korea and grew up in North Carolina, later continuing her journey in the San Francisco Bay Area. Stacey passed away of complications from surgery on her 33rd birthday on 19 May 2020.
Read an essay by Stacey Park Milbern
Listen to an interview with Stacey Park Milbern
#StaceyTaughtUs: Record your story for the Disability Visibility Project
Tributes:
“She was, a lot of people would say, a leader. She kind of encompassed all of it. You know, sometimes there's like a lead from the front, lead from the middle, lead from the back. And she was just somehow able to do all of that.” - Andraéa LaVant, disability rights activist
“What a blow to lose Stacey when our communities need her leadership more than ever, and at a time when her strength, insight, and grit were receiving increased recognition outside of disability circles, giving her a greater platform to advance her life’s work...We will not have the gift of learning where her charismatic leadership would have taken us. But let there be no doubt: What Stacey gave us, in a relatively short time, will continue benefiting others for years to come.” - Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF)
Quels sont les enjeux de ce processus pour les droits des femmes ?
Le financement du développement est, pour les droits des femmes et les droits humains de toutes et tous, un champ qui comporte des menaces et des possibilités spécifiques. Le financement du développement et des politiques à visées transformatrices peut être un facteur déterminant dans la mise en œuvre des changements systémiques nécessaires pour garantir le respect, la protection et la réalisation des droits humains des femmes.
L’année 2015 est une année importante pour le processus sur le FdD. La troisième Conférence internationale sur le FdD (site en anglais) a eu lieu du 13 au 16 juillet à Addis Abeba, en Éthiopie. En outre, les gouvernements mettent actuellement la dernière main au programme de développement pour l'après-2015 et notamment aux accords qui détermineront les modalités de financement des nouveaux objectifs pour le développement durable.
L’étape actuelle du processus sur le FdD est une occasion importante pour définir un cadre de financement susceptible de garantir le financement efficace de la mise en œuvre du programme de développement de l’après-2015 et des Objectifs pour le développement durable (ODD). Elle pourrait également permettre d’aborder les conditions structurelles et les changements systémiques nécessaires à la pleine réalisation d’autres priorités et engagements, tels que les conventions sur les droits humains et le Programme d'action de Beijing.
Au cours de ces treize dernières années, les organisations féministes et de défense des droits des femmes se sont résolument engagées dans le processus sur le FdD.
Carta de amor a los movimientos feministas #6
Sobre el amor por un movimiento
¿Cómo comienza un movimiento?
los fantasmas nos expulsan de una casa, una familia, y una nación
llegamos fatigadas a un espacio (a veces un domicilio real) pero fundamentalmente a un estado de ser
precedidas por una estrella fugaz
quizás nuestra llegada no está acompañada por la fatiga,
quizás está acompañada por el miedo
quizás nuestra llegada no está acompañada por el miedo
quizás está acompañada por la rabia
ante cuestiones que siguen repitiéndose:
una puñalada en el corazón (léase pena)
una bala en la espalda (léase traición)
desapariciones forzadas
cuerpos sentenciados por el matrimonio, la desfiguración y la fatiga crónica,
sin embargo, llegamos, nos reunimos, susurramos, hablamos y lloramos.
Así es como nuestros movimientos comienzan cuando llegamos unas a otras
Nos convertimos en semillas,
Así es como nuestros movimientos comienzan cuando nos plantamos unas a otras
Convirtiéndonos en flores, a veces solo espinas, a veces frutas,
somos el oasis de las otras
para cantar por las batallas
para preparar remedios
para ubicar los rostros de nuestras amantes, la forma de sus sonrisas, el sonido de su risa
el secreto de convertir los silencios en lenguaje
las detalladas instrucciones de las brujas
nuestro movimiento es para todas nosotras,
cuando llegamos como semillas con el propósito de florecer.
Sara AbuGhazal
www.badiya.blog
¿Habrá encuentros regionales, temáticos o de otro tipo previos al Foro?
¡Creemos que sí! Todavía estamos en las etapas iniciales del proceso de planificación, así que mantente atentx mientras les vamos dando a estos planes.
Priyadarshini Thangarajah
Animation: Calling all Feminist Superheroes!
Animation:
Calling all Feminist Superheroes!
Follow our Superhero as she embarks on a quest to reclaim the narrative from anti-rights actors across the globe.
Snippet - COP30 - Resisting Ecofascisms - ES
Resistencia a los ecofascismos: Un diálogo entre movimientos en la COP30
Cómo los movimientos resisten las agendas fascistas en relación con el cambio climático.
📅 Martes 11 de noviembre de 2025
📍 Hotel Beira Rio, Belém, Pará
Estoy tratando de presentar una propuesta, pero el formulario en línea no funciona
En caso de tener preguntas relacionadas con el Llamado a Proponer Actividades, por favor escríbenos utilizando nuestro formulario de contacto. Seleccione «llamado de actividad» como asunto de mensaje.
We Are the Ones We Have been Waiting For!
We’re beginning a new year--2023. COVID-19 continues to infect and re-infect many, many people around the world. We are witnessing the resurgence of right-wing and fascist governments, even in places we may not have expected like Sweden. War, armed conflict, and dramatic increase in militarization, militarism, and military spending are enabling the unbridled capital accumulation by the few, with participation of seemingly “strange” alliances locking arms, both visibly and invisibly, where economic and political elites of the Global North and Global South are benefitting beyond our wildest imagination. In the meanwhile, our people and the natural environment pay enormous costs and suffer all the expected and unexpected consequences.
As all of you and all of us at AWID know, feminists in multiple movements around the world are resisting and organizing against multiple faces of tyranny, creating alternative structures, implementing grassroots strategies, and building transnational alliances. We are generating joy, inspiring one another, singing, and dancing within and against the prevailing culture of killing and cynicism that seems to have engulfed so much of the world.
We--Staff and Board--of AWID are prepared and inspired more than ever before to face challenges by strengthening our relationships with our members and organizational partners, meeting and getting to know those who we are yet to meet and do what we do best: support the global feminist movements. Although we were sad facing the departures of our beloved former Co-Eds Cindy and Hakima, our wonderful new Co-EDS Faye and Inna along with committed and creative staff have embraced the moment that encapsulates both opportunities and threats.
For sure, all of us at AWID and all our movement folks know: As the Caribbean US poet and activist June Jordan wrote to the South African women activists during the height of the apartheid regime, “We are the ones we have been waiting for”!
Je suis un bailleur de fonds ou un donateur individuel. Comment puis-je soutenir le Forum de l'AWID ?
Nous vous invitons à prendre contact avec nous pour trouver des moyens d’apporter un soutien significatif au Forum.
Olena Tsukerman
Snippet Kohl - Panel: Pleasure Across Borders
with Lindiwe Rasekoala, Lizzie Kiama, Jovana Drodevic, and Malaka Grant.
Snippet - COP30 - Global Day of Action - FR
Journée mondiale de l’action
Manifestations mondiales des mouvements pour la justice climatique.
📅 Samedi 15 novembre 2025
📍 Lieux multiples
Site web en anglais
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