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Shifa Gardi
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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When can I register for the Forum?
We will announce this soon. Stay tuned!
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“Now might be a good time to rethink what a revolution can look like. Perhaps it doesn’t look like a march of angry, abled bodies in the streets. Perhaps it looks something more like the world standing still because all the bodies in it are exhausted—because care has to be prioritized before it’s too late.”
- Johanna Hedva (https://getwellsoon.labr.io/)
Hospitals are institutions, living sites of capitalism, and what gets played out when somebody is supposed to be resting is a microcosm of the larger system itself.
Institutions are set out to separate us from our care systems – we find ourselves isolated in structures that are rigidly hierarchical, and it often feels as if care is something done to us rather than given/taken as part of a conversation. Institutional care, because of its integration into capitalist demand, is silo-ed: one person is treating your leg and only your leg, another is treating your blood pressure, etc.
Photographer Mariam Mekiwi had to have surgery last month and documented the process. Her portraits of sanitized environments – neon white lights, rows after rows of repetitive structures – in a washed-out color palette reflect a place that was drained of life and movement. This was one of the ways Mariam kept her own spirit alive. It was a form of protest from within the confines of an institution she had to engage with.
The photos form a portrait of something incredibly vulnerable, because watching someone live through their own body’s breakdown is always a sacred reminder of our own fragility. It is also a reminder of the fragility of these care systems, which can be denied to us for a variety of reasons – from not having money to not being in a body that’s considered valuable enough, one that’s maybe too feminine, too queer or too brown.
Care experienced as disembodied and solitary, that is subject to revocation at any moment, doesn’t help us thrive. And it is very different from how human beings actually behave when they take care of each other. How different would our world look like if we committed to dismantling the current capitalist structures around our health? What would it look like if we radically reimagined it?
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¿Cómo puedo financiar mi participación en el Foro de AWID? Muchxs activistas no podrán costearse el Foro: ¿AWID está haciendo algo para brindar asistencia?
Por favor consulta la página «Financiamiento» para obtener algunas ideas sobre cómo puedes financiar tu participación en el próximo Foro. Esto incluye el limitado apoyo que AWID podrá brindar.
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¿Habrá esta vez reuniones pre-Foro?
Nuestrxs asociadxs globales y regionales nos han contactado con algunas ideas para reuniones pre-Foro, y pronto compartiremos más información sobre estas ideas.
Si planeas organizar una reunión antes del Foro, ¡por favor avísanos!
Muchas cosas hermosas surgieron del Foro de Feminismos Negros (BFF) de 2016, organizado por un Grupo Asesor y financiado por AWID. Parte del activismo independiente que surgió del BFF incluye al activismo feminista negro de Brasil. Si bien este año no tendremos otro BFF, seguimos comprometidxs a compartir algunas de las enseñanzas fundamentales con cualquier persona interesada en continuar el trabajo sobre el activismo feminista negro.
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مع استمرار الرأسمالية الأبوية الغيريّة في دَفعِنا نحو الاستهلاكية والرضوخ، نجد نضالاتنا تُعزَل وتُفصَل عن بعضها الآخر من خلال الحدود المادّية والحدود الافتراضية على حدٍّ سواء.
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Rahma Abdulkadir
¿Dónde y cuándo tendrá lugar el próximo Foro de AWID?
El 14o Foro internacional de AWID tendrá lugar del 20 al 23 de septiembre de 2021 en Taipéi, Taiwán.
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أبقي رغبتك في خوض تجارب جديدة على جمر ملتهب!
أنا: هل سبق أن ثبتّ شيئاً بقضيب؟
هو: لا، لم أفعل
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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.