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

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

Type

Sites associés à l´AWID

Plateforme de jeunes féministes

Une communauté en ligne pour et par les jeunes féministes qui militent pour les droits humains des femmes, l'égalité de genre et la justice sociale dans le monde entier

Visitez le site

Le Fonds des jeunes féministes - FRIDA

Finance des projets initiés par de jeunes féministes. Vise à renforcer la capacité des organisations de jeunes féministes à mobiliser des ressources pour leurs actions et à encourager des bailleur-euse-s de fonds et d’autres allié-e-s à financer l’activisme des jeunes féministes.

Visitez le site

L'Observatoire sur l'universalité des droits (OURs)

Cette plateforme sera l’espace de référence pour accéder à des informations et à des ressources concernant la sauvegarde de l'universalité des droits humains dans les espaces internationaux et régionaux.

Visitez le site (en anglais)

Annuaire en ligne de `Réponses urgentes´pour les défenseuses des droits humains

Un site pour en savoir plus sur les mesures d’urgence entreprises pour protéger les défenseuses des droits humains et pour trouver des outils et des ressources au soutien de leur travail et de leur bien-être.

Visitez le site

IM-Defensoras (Initiative mésoaméricaine pour les femmes défenseuses des droits humains)

Une initiative régionale créée pour prévenir, répondre, documenter et rendre publics tous les cas de violence contre les défenseuses des droits humains dans la région mésoaméricaine.

Visitez le site (en anglais et en espagnol)

La Coalition internationale des femmes défenseuses des droits humains

Un réseau qui réalise un travail de plaidoyer et propose des ressources pour protéger et soutenir les défenseuses des droits humains dans le monde entier.

Visitez le site (en anglais)

La Coalition des femmes post-2015

Une coalition d’organisations féministes, de droits des femmes, de développement, de justice sociale et d’organisations de terrain qui conteste le programme mondial de développement et plaide pour qu’il soit recadré.

Visitez le site (en anglais)

Women´s Major Group on Development (Le Groupe Majeur Femmes)

Le rôle du groupe consiste à assurer la pleine participation des groupes de femmes non gouvernementaux aux processus politiques de l'ONU sur le développement durable, le programme de l’après-2015 et les questions environnementales.

Visitez le site (en anglais)

Le Groupe de femmes sur le financement du développement 

Une alliance d’organisations et de réseaux de femmes qui font un travail de plaidoyer en faveur de l'égalité de genre, de l'autonomisation des femmes et des droits humains dans le cadre des processus des Nations unies relatifs à la composante Financement du développement (FdD).

Visitez le site (en anglais)

Snippet FEA Aura Roig (FR)

Venez rencontrer Aura Roig, militante féministe visionaire, anthropologue, directrice et fondatrice de la coopérative Metzineres.

Elle a consacré les deux dernières décennies à la recherche, à la conception et à la mise en place de politiques de soutien aux personnes qui se droguent, basées sur la réduction des méfaits, les droits humains et le féminisme intersectionnel.

Après avoir expérimenté et appris des communautés qui consomment des drogues dans le monde entier, elle est retournée à Barcelone pour créer la Xarxa de Dones que Usen Drogues (le Réseau des Femmes qui Consomment des Drogues, XADUD). XADUD était un espace d'entraide et de solidarité avec la lutte pour les droits des groupes marginalisés, qui plus tard deviendra la coopérative Metzineres.

Aujourd'hui, Aura travaille à étendre le modèle Metzineres pour prendre en charge des groupes plus grands, tout en documentant de manière approfondie son parcours et son apprentissage prolifiques.

July 2015

Women's Forum on Financing for Gender Equality

  • The Forum took place on 10 July 2015 in Addis Ababa and convened feminists, grassroots women, gender advocates, academics and representatives of women’s rights organizations/networks with specific inputs by UN representatives and other policy makers.
  • The objectives of the Women's Forum were to: share information on the state of play in the latest FfD negotiations; jointly analyze the FfD panorama and follow-up; build a common women’s rights positioning; and strategize on how to meaningfully and substantively engage from a feminist perspective at the Addis FfD Conference.
  • The Women's Forum was organized by the Women's Working Group on FfD, in collaboration with FEMNET, African Women's Development Fund (AWDF) and the Post 2015 Women's Coalition with support from UN Women.
  • Read the Women's Working Group reaction to the Addis Ababa Action Agenda

CSO FfD Forum

  • The CSO FfD Forum took place in Addis Ababa on 11-12 July 2015 and aimed to: inform participating CSOs on the state of play of the official process and coordinate civil society participation in the 3rd FfD Conference; develop a collective CSO Forum Declaration as well as the CSO messages for the FfD Conference Roundtables, the CSO FfD Group-led side events and any other opportunities that might emerge; and plan and organize future areas of CSO engagement on Financing for Development, beyond the 3rd FfD Conference.
  • Read the Declaration from the Addis Ababa Civil Society Forum on Financing for Development
  • For more information, please visit the CSO FfD Group's website or contact the Addis Ababa CSO Coordinating Group (addiscoordinatinggroup@gmail.com).

The Third UN International Conference on Financing for Development

  • The third Conference on Financing For Development took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 13-16 July 2015 and focused on: assessing the progress made in the implementation of the 2002 Monterrey Consensus and the 2008 Doha Declaration; addressing new and emerging issues, including in the context of the recent multilateral efforts to promote international development cooperation. Taking into account: the current evolving development cooperation landscape; the interrelationship of all sources of development finance; the synergies between financing objectives across the three dimensions of sustainable development (economic, social and environmental); and the need to support the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015; and reinvigorating and strengthening the financing for development follow-up process.
  • The Addis Ababa Action Agenda was adopted on 15 July 2015 by Heads of State, Governments and High Representatives at the UN.
  • The feeling however from developing countries, CSOs and more specifically women's organisations was that the Addis Ababa Action Agenda failed to meet the target. The Women's Working Group expressed its strong disappointment and demanded structural changes in the global economic governance and development architecture. Read their reaction to the outcome document. Hundreds of civil society organizations and networks from around the world also expressed deep concerns and reservations. Read their response to the outcome document.

Why should I consider responding to the survey?

There are many reasons why your response to the WITM survey matters. The survey offers the opportunity to share your lived experience of mobilizing funding to support your organizing; claim your power as an expert on how money moves and who it reaches; and contribute to collective and consistent advocacy to funders moving more and better funding. Over the last two decades, AWID’s WITM research has proven to be a key resource for activists and funders. We wholeheartedly invite you to join us in its third iteration to highlight the actual state of resourcing, challenge false solutions, and point out how funding must change for movements to thrive and meet the complex challenges of our times.

Defensoras que demostraron su valentía en los medios

Estas 20 Defensoras de derechos humanos (WHRDs, por las siglas en inglés) trabajaron como periodistas, y de manera más amplia, en los medios comunicación de México, Colombia, Fiji, Libia, Nepal, Estados Unidos de Norteamérica, Nicaragua, Filipinas, Rusia, Alemania, Francia, Afganistán, y el Reino Unido. De ellas, 16 han sido asesinadas, y la causa de muerte en uno de los casos sigue sin ser esclarecida. Por esto, en este Día Mundial de la Libertad de Prensa, por favor únete a nosotrxs para conmemorar la vida y el trabajo de estas mujeres, compartiendo las memes aquí incluidas con tus colegas, amistades y redes, utilizando los hashtags #LibertadDePrensa y #WHRDs.

Los aportes del trabajo realizado por estas mujeres fueron celebrados y honrados en nuestro Tributo virtual para defensoras que ya no están con nosotrxs.

Por favor, haz click en cada imagen de abajo para ver una versión más grande y para descargar como un archivo. 

 

 

Snippet FEA Occupation’s kitchen Instagram 2 (EN)

Occupation’s kitchen campaign:

Women sustain Care | Care Sustains Life | Life Sustains Economy | Who takes care of women?  | Not one less1 | Together | Sunday lunch

1Nenhuna a menos literally translates as “not one woman less” or “ni una menos” in Spanish - a famous feminist slogan in Latin America that emerged in Argentina as a response to increasing gender-based violence.

¿Cuál es el tema del 14° Foro Internacional de AWID?

El tema del 14° Foro Internacional de AWID es «Realidades feministas: nuestro poder en acción».

Entendemos las realidades feministas como los diferentes modos de existir y ser que nos muestran lo que es posible, a pesar de los sistemas de poder dominantes, y en desafío y resistencia contra ellos. Entendemos estas realidades feministas como recuperaciones y corporizaciones de esperanza y poder, multidimensionales, dinámicas, y arraigadas en contextos y momentos históricos específicos.

Leer más sobre las realidades feministas

En nuestro caso, reorientamos dinero a nuestros socios beneficiarios y nos identificamos como fondo de mujeres/feminista, ¿deberíamos responder la encuesta?

No. Valoramos muchísimo su trabajo, pero no estamos buscando respuestas de fondos de mujeres/feministas por el momento. Alentamos a compartir la encuesta con sus socios beneficiarios y con sus redes feministas.

Les défenseuses mexicaines

Les données que nous avons recueillies pour élaborer notre hommage montrent à quel point le Mexique est un pays dangereux pour les défenseuses. Sur les 12 femmes mexicaines défenseuses des droits humains que nous commémorons cette année, 11 ont été assassinées. Elles étaient des journalistes ou des activistes, des défenseuses des droits des femmes ou de ceux des personnes trans*. Nous vous invitons à vous joindre à nous pour rendre hommage à ces défenseuses, à leur travail et à l’héritage qu’elles nous ont laissé. Faites circuler ces mèmes auprès de vos collègues et amis ainsi que dans vos réseaux et twittez en utilisant les hashtags #WHRDTribute et #16Jours.

 

S'il vous plaît cliquez sur chaque image ci-dessous pour voir une version plus grande et pour télécharger comme un fichier 

[scald=2371:sdl_editor_representation]
[scald=2370:sdl_editor_representation]
[scald=2378:sdl_editor_representation]
[scald=2372:sdl_editor_representation]
[scald=2375:sdl_editor_representation]

 

Snippet FEA EoS The Howl (EN)

Three arms with fist raised: one black, pink, and the last one in purple

The Howl
Participation and activism

¿En qué será diferente este Foro?

Siempre hemos trabajado para garantizar que nuestros Foros sean desarrollados conjuntamente con nuestrxs afiliadxs, los movimientos, y nuestros colectivos prioritarios.

Para el Foro 2020 queremos profundizar y fortalecer este espíritu y esta práctica de creación conjunta y colaboración. También reconocemos la necesidad de mejorar el equilibrio entre la inclusión de muchas voces y experiencias y el espacio para que lxs participantes y el equipo respiren, se tomen una pausa, y disfruten de un poco de tiempo de inactividad.

Este Foro será diferente en cuanto a que:

  • Tendremos muchas menos actividades organizadas, porque queremos que la gente tenga tiempo para relacionarse y hablar entre sí, experimentar, procesar, etc. Es fundamental que sepas que puedes venir al Foro, participar y ser muy activx, y no facilitar ninguna actividad organizada (o «sesión»).
  • Tendremos Espacios Abiertos (al menos una tarde entera sin ninguna actividad organizada), y también espacios físicos disponibles durante todo el Foro para que la gente organice sus propias reuniones.
  • Tendremos un Comité de Contenido y Metodología compuesto por feministas de distintas regiones con experiencia en metodologías participativas, para apoyar al equipo de AWID y a quienes lideren actividades en el Foro en el uso de formatos creativos e interesantes para las actividades del Foro.

Puis-je accéder à l’enquête et répondre aux questions depuis mon téléphone?

Oui, l’enquête est accessible depuis les téléphones intelligents.

AWID Forum Social Media Kit

Help spread word about the 2016 AWID Forum!

This kit includes sample messages fit for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram, plus images that can be used to accompany these messages.

Using this kit is simple. Just follow these steps:

  1. Choose your favourite messages:
    Twitter
    Facebook 
    LinkedIn

  2. Download your favourite images:
    Twitter
    Facebook
    Instagram

  3. Match up your favourite messages and images any way you like.

  4. Share them on your personal and/or professional social media accounts.

And that’s it – now you can get started! 

Twitter

Match up your favourite tweets below with these images for Twitter

Tweets for your personal handle

I'm going to the #AWIDForum. It's THE place to connect with women's rights & social justice movements. Join me!: http://forum.awid.org/forum16/

Can't wait to re-imagine #FeministFutures connect with other women's rights & social justice activists @ the #AWIDForum Join me!: http://forum.awid.org/forum16/

I’m so excited to attend the #AWIDForum next September, and now we can register! Join me! http://forum.awid.org/forum16/

Tweets for your institutional handle

Registration is now open for the #AWIDForum! Costa do Sauípe, Brazil, 8-11 Sept. 2016: http://forum.awid.org/forum16/

Join #AWIDForum, a historic global gathering of women's rights & social justice activists: http://forum.awid.org/forum16/

Join #AWIDForum to celebrate the gains of our movements & analyze lessons to move forward: http://forum.awid.org/forum16/

#AWIDForum – not just an event, a chance to disrupt oppression & advance justice: http://forum.awid.org/forum16/

Join the #AWIDForum to celebrate, strategize and renew ourselves and our movements: http://forum.awid.org/forum16/

Feminist Futures

Let's build #FeministFutures together. Register for 2016 #AWIDForum. Costa do Sauípe, Brazil http://forum.awid.org/forum16/

Join us to re-imagine & co-create #FeministFutures at the 2016 #AWIDForum. Register: http://forum.awid.org/forum16/

#FeministFutures: seize the moment @ #AWIDForum to advance shared visions for a just world: http://forum.awid.org/forum16/

We’ll be 2,000 social movement activists @ the #AWIDForum, strategizing our #FeministFutures http://forum.awid.org/forum16/

Cross-movement building

We’re more than a one-issue struggle. Join us at the #AWIDForum: http://forum.awid.org/forum16/

Join #AWIDForum, a space to strategize across movements & leverage our collective power: http://forum.awid.org/forum16/

Mobilize solidarity & collective power across social movements at the #AWIDForum: http://forum.awid.org/forum16/

Break the silos b/w our movements. Re-imagine & co-create our futures. All at the #AWIDForum: http://forum.awid.org/forum16/

Solidarity is a verb. Let’s put it into action at the #AWIDForum: http://forum.awid.org/forum16/

Special messages

Donors engaging with women’s rights and social movements at the #AWIDForum: http://forum.awid.org/forum16/

Media and movements: amplifying #FeministFutures at the #AWIDForum: http://forum.awid.org/forum16/

Back to top

Facebook 

Match up your favourite messages below with these images for Facebook.
These messages may also be used on Twitter via private Direct Messages, which don’t have character limits. 

Facebook messages for your personal profile

The wait is over! We can all register for the 2016 AWID Forum. So excited to reconnect with fellow activists and re-imagine our feminist futures. See you there, in Brazil! http://forum.awid.org/forum16/

I’m so excited to attend the AWID Forum next September, and now we can register! Join me! http://forum.awid.org/forum16/

Loving the thought of re-imagining feminist futures with 2,000 people from lots of amazing women's rights and social justice movements at the AWID Forum. Register and meet me in Brazil! http://forum.awid.org/forum16/

Facebook messages for your organization’s page

Registration is now open for the 2016 AWID Forum in Costa do Sauípe, Brazil! This is not just any event - it’s a key space for women’s rights and social justice activists to come together and re-imagine our feminist futures. You won’t want to miss it! http://forum.awid.org/forum16/

Join us at the 2016 AWID Forum in Brazil! Activists and movements from all over the world will come together to celebrate, strategize, inspire and renew ourselves and our collective struggles. Register now! http://forum.awid.org/forum16/

The 2016 AWID Forum will be a historic global gathering of women’s rights and social justice activists and movements. Join us there to break the silos, strengthen solidarity and leverage our collective power. Register now! http://forum.awid.org/forum16/

Back to top 

LinkedIn

The 2016 AWID Forum will be a historic global gathering of women’s rights and social justice activists and movements. Join us to celebrate, strategize, inspire and renew ourselves and leverage our collective power. Registration is now open! http://forum.awid.org/forum16/

Back to top