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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

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  • La  conférence  de 2009  était l’aboutissement de celle de Doha en 2008. La Déclaration de Doha avait  mandaté  les Nations Unies  pour organiser, sous l’égide du Président de l’Assemblée générale, une conférence consacrée à la crise financière et économique mondiale et à son incidence sur le développement.
  • Pendant la conférence, les groupes de femmes, par le biais du WWG ont souligné l’impact de la crise financière mondiale sur les groupes les plus vulnérables. Dans sa déclaration aux membres (en anglais), le WWG a  proposé une liste d’actions nécessaires que les États membres devraient mettre en œuvre pour pallier  aux conséquences de la crise sur les femmes. Le groupe de travail a également déclaré que la prise en compte des autres groupes sociaux touchés par la crise était essentielle pour apporter une réponse qui soit en accord avec les normes et les engagements internationaux relatifs à l’égalité des genres, aux droits des femmes, aux droits humains et à l’autonomisation. 

Snippet FEA Carmen Silva (ES)

Ocupação 9 de Julho

Cuando lleguen al centro de São Paulo, verán el edificio de la Ocupação 9 de Julho, un sitio prominente en la lucha por la vivienda social y un importante espacio cultural. Este es el trabajo del Movimiento de Trabajadores Sin Hogar (Movimento dos Sem-Teto do Centro, MSTC), un movimiento de más de 2000 personas que actúa en el centro de la ciudad y convierte espacios abandonados en viviendas para trabajadorxs de bajos ingresos, niñxs, mujeres, adultos, ancianxs, migrantes y refugiadxs. En este edificio en particular, brindan comida y albergue a 122 familias.

Snippet - CSW68 - Responding to Anti-rights - ES

Respondiendo a los desarrollos antiderechos

en espacios multilaterales y regionales

✉️ Sólo invitades
📅Martes 12 de marzo
🕒2:00 p. m. - 3:30 p. m. EST

Organiza: Consorcio Observatorio de la Universalidad de los Derechos (OURs)
🏢Blue Gallery, 222 E 46th St, Nueva York

March 2015: The Zero-Draft Outcome Document is released

Release of the Zero-Draft Outcome Document, March 2015

  • The zero-draft outcome document (dated 16 March), prepared by the Co-facilitators, was released for discussion at the 2nd drafting session from 13-17 April 2015
  • During the opening session, the WWG on FfD called for dedicated resources for gender equality and women’s empowerment as stated in both the Monterrey Consensus and Doha Declaration,to be added into the Zero draft. 

Snippet FEA NORTH CAUCA Left (FR)

CAUCA DU NORD, COLOMBIE

Asociación de Mujeres Afrodescendientes del Norte del Cauca (ASOM)

 

NOUS MÉRITONS

PLUS!

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¿Qué es el Proceso de la Financiación para el Desarrollo de Naciones Unidas?

El proceso de la Financiación para el Desarrollo (FpD) de Naciones Unidas (ONU) se propone abordar distintas formas de financiación y cooperación para el desarrollo. Según lo acordado en el Consenso de Monterrey, se centra en seis áreas prioritarias:

  • Movilización de recursos financieros nacionales para el desarrollo;
  • Movilización de recursos internacionales para el desarrollo: la inversión extranjera directa y otras corrientes de capitales privados;
  • El comercio internacional como promotor del desarrollo;
  • Aumento de la cooperación financiera y técnica internacional para el desarrollo;
  • La deuda externa;
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Snippet FEA Mano Cambiada (EN)

Two hands shaking - lighter skinned hand with a yellow shirt and darker skinned hand with a burgundy shirt. The words "Mano cambiada" are written over in cursive.

MANO CAMBIADA

("exchange hand") 

Term of the black communities of the Northern Cauca for the minga, the collective work based on solidarity and mutual support.

Snippet - WITM why - FR

Pourquoi devrais-je participer à cette enquête?

Mechthild "Mel Hired" Möhring

Read also:

We all can dance
by Mechthild Möhring (aka serialmel)

How I punt myself at the narrow hard knitting I once retrieved. I'm dancing in the kitchen when I'm alone. Gracile and powerful. When I'm in company I'm clumsy. My body scandalizes, scandalizes the laws of look I feel, scandalizes the words which banished me. "Of course she can dance, it's in her blood as a Black person." "If she is able to dance nicely she is good in bed" they whisper, they murmur, no - they say it openly into my face. They smirk and rub themselves against me and let me move back. I stumble and fall. My feet reject their duty. Bearish I get out of breath. Smiling I place myself out of events and notice how my face freezes into a mask.

Translated into English by Tsepo Bollwinkel
 


Original in German

Tanzen können wir alle
Von Mechthild Möhring (aka serialmel)

Wie ich mich stosse an den engen, harten Maschen, in die ich mich einst zurückgezogen habe. Ich tanze in der Küche, wenn ich allein bin. Grazil und kraftvoll. Wenn ich in Gesellschaft bin, bin ich unbeholfen. Mein Körper eckt an, an die Gesetze des Blicks, den ich spüre, an die Worte, die mich bannten. „Natürlich kann sie tanzen, als Schwarze hat sie das im Blut.“ „Wenn sie gut tanzen kann, dann ist sie auch gut im Bett“ flüstern sie, raunen sie, nein, sie sagen es mir laut ins Gesicht. Sie grinsen und reiben sich an mir und lassen mich zurückweichen. Ich stolpere und falle. Meine Füsse verweigern ihren Dienst. Tollpatschig gerate ich ausser Atem. Lächelnd setze ich mich an den Rand des Geschehens und bemerke, wie mein Gesicht zur Maske erstarrt.

¿Puedo presentar una propuesta de sesión?

La convocatoria para la propuesta de sesión ahora está cerrada.

Lanzamos el Llamado a Proponer Actividades el 19 de noviembre de 2019 y la última fecha para recibir propuestas fue el 14 de febrero de 2020.

Encuentre otras formas de participar en el Foro

Snippet FEA Environments Of Shelter (ES)

Metzineres proporciona los siguientes tipos de apoyo, conocidos como

Entornos de Cobijo:

Snippet - WITM Start the survey 1 - ES

 

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La encuesta está disponible en árabe, español, francés, inglés, portugués y ruso.