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United Nations Advocacy

Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition (WHRD IC)
*For more information about the WHRD IC please visit the official campaign's website
16
Women Human Rights Defenders
Days of Activism Against Violence

Introduction

Ingrid El-Issa Bohara Vasquez Ribiero
Khader Mabele Berkins Murungi
Nyamdorj Fernandez Bahgat Nabulivou
Carrillo INCRESE Nowicka WWHR
Produced by Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD), Center for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL) and Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development
(FORUM-ASIA) for the 2008 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign in honor of International Women Human Rights Defenders Day, November 29th.
  • July 17, 2009: Iran - Women Human Rights Defender Shadi Sadr Arrested
  • June 27-30, 2009: Addressing Gaps in the Defense of Women Human Rights Defenders

    SYNOPSIS
    CWGL in collaboration with the Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition (WHRD IC) organized a strategic conversation on Addressing Gaps in the Defense of Women Human Rights Defenders from June 27-30, 2009. About 30 women human rights leaders representing 25 organizations and 19 countries convened at the CWGL to discuss three thematic strands pertaining to gaps in the defense of women human rights defenders. Depending on their personal expertise or interest, participants were divided into three working groups: Families, Communities and Culture; Sexuality Baiting, the use of sexuality to attack women’s organizing; and Direct Accountability of Religious Fundamentalist Political Forces.

    The working group on Families, Communities and Culture paid particular attention to the complicated roles of families and communities as both sources of support for women human rights defenders as well as common locations of abuse and violation. Participants in this group noted the pressure that women human rights defenders face within their communities to uphold traditional roles which often run counter to their work as women human rights activists. Nevertheless, the group affirmed that women are not products of the community, but part of the community themselves and therefore have a powerful and integral role in reclaiming and shaping the cultures that influence their communities and families.

    Participants in the working group on Sexuality Baiting discussed the ways antagonism towards activism around women’s and sexual rights work subject women human rights defenders to attacks. Oftentimes, anti-sexist and anti-homophobic activism is looked upon as “coalition-breaking” or disuniting even by well-established international rights organizations. Members of the working group noted that progress on sexuality baiting would not be made until the women human rights defenders community and its supporters became well-versed in language to resist baiting, especially those couched in religious or cultural terms. The group particularly stressed the need for women human rights activists to recognize that sexuality baiting is not only the manipulation of prejudices in regards to sexual orientation, but is deeply connected to gender and therefore affects not only LGBT activists but even male and other human rights defenders.

    Members of the working group on the Direct Accountability of Religious Fundamentalist Political Forces discussed the ways in which violations against women human rights defenders at the hands of religious fundamentalist forces have been “disappeared” in the international human rights arena. They noted that these fundamentalist entities are often deemed ‘untouchable’ at the hands of international human rights mechanisms due to their characteristics as both non-state actors and as religious or cultural entities. The working group suggested the creation of mechanisms to expose and delegitimize the gendered nature of the violations committed by these groups through the documentation of threats as well as to consistently raise these issues to hold fundamentalist-terrorists and their supporters accountable for heinous violations against women and women human rights defenders.

    Participants agreed that new and creative strategies must be developed to address these particularly challenging issues. They highlighted the need to develop conceptual and documentation tools and analyses and to actively promote the legitimacy of these concerns as human rights issues. They asserted the right of women human rights defenders to define, create and interpret their own values and cultures and evolve new forms of accountability particularly for non-state perpetrators within families and communities, which are not addressed under existing UN and regional human rights mechanisms.

    The participants affirmed that a coalition such as the WHRD IC is an important platform to foster sustained advocacy on women’s human rights across movements. They made specific recommendations to the Coalition in terms of furthering the analyses and improving the documentation of these violations through the production of a documentation manual and a comprehensive report on the state of women human rights defenders, which is planned to be undertaken in collaboration with the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders. The participants also endorsed the suggestion for the Coalition to develop a mechanism to monitor and improve the responses to urgent appeals for women human rights defenders at risk.

    In the coming months a formal report will be available showcasing the collective analysis that developed from the meeting.  Below are resources and background materials from each of the thematic strands that were discussed in depth during the strategic conversation.

RESOURCES
Team #1: Families, Communities, and Culture: Challenges Facing WHRDs

Team #2: Sexuality-baiting: the Use of Sexuality to Attack Women’s Organizing

Team #3: Direct Accountability of Religious Fundamentalist Political Forces

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