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
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Paseo de las Artes Feministas
Como parte de nuestro compromiso de lograr una interacción más profunda con artistas y la práctica de la creación conjunta de las Realidades Feministas, AWID colaboró con un grupo de trabajo de artisvistas para promover y fortalecer las agendas y realidades feministas en sus comunidades y movimientos a través de sus expresiones creativas. Nuestra intención en este punto es reunir a creativxs feministas en un espacio pujante y valiente donde puedan desarrollarse y vivir en libertad, y donde puedan romper las narrativas tóxicas para sustituirlas por alternativas transformadoras.
Rapport Annuel 2011

Chaque programme comporte plusieurs volets, y compris le développement et la diffusion de connaissances, la recherche-action, les plaidoyers, l’établissement d’alliances et l’organisation de dialogues stratégiques.
Notre Rapport Annuel 2011 vous proposent un sommaire des principales réalisations pendant l'année, dans le cadre de chacune des programmes de l’AWID.
هل سيكون هناك أي دعم للمواد أو التكاليف التحضيرية الأخرى لورش العمل؟
يمكنك أن تتوقع جميع المواد الأساسية لورش العمل والعروض التقديمية: اللوحات الورقية، والأقلام والملاحظات اللاصقة، بالإضافة إلى أجهزة العرض والمعدات السمعية والبصرية. أي مواد إضافية تقع على عاتق منظمي/ات النشاط. سيكون الفريق اللوجستي التابع لجمعية حقوق المرأة في التنمية متاحًا للإجابة على الأسئلة وتقديم المشورة.
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Arte Feminista
AWID in 2016: Co-Creating Feminist Futures
AWID is pleased to share our 2016 Annual Report.

2016 was an incredible year for AWID, we convened the 13th International AWID Forum in Bahia, Brazil, a space for strategizing and alliance building with feminists and other justice movements, which was attended by over 1800 participants from 120 countries and territories across the globe.
We know that women’s rights and feminist movements are key actors in creating sustainable transformative change. Within our movements, organizing, resisting and responding to the challenging context is sharpening, and in our increasingly connected world, the potential for collective action across diverse movements has dramatically grown.
This is the crucial work that AWID seeks to amplify and support every day.
What we achieved in 2016
We expanded solidarity and joint action across diverse movements
A highlight of 2016 was our ground-breaking 13th International Forum with the theme: “Feminist Futures: Building Collective Power for Rights and Justice”, where we harnessed the thinking and energy of nearly 500 partners, presenters, panelists, moderators, artivists, writers, facilitators, IT innovators, and performers, many of them leaders in their movements. We also supported the convening of the first and historical Black Feminisms Forum (BFF) organised by a working group of Black Feminists from across the world.
We strengthened knowledge of issues and strategies
- On challenging corporate power - we produced ‘Challenging corporate power: Struggles for women’s rights, economic and gender justice’ with the Solidarity Center, revealing the scale and scope of corporate power and outlining how corporations in collusion with elites and other powerful actors, are impacting the lives of women and oppressed peoples.
- On feminist economies - we released ‘Feminist Propositions for a Just Economy’ with the Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL) and the African Women’s Development and Communication Network FEMNET.
- On Young Feminist Activism - we published ‘Brave, Creative, Resilient: The Global State of Young Feminist Organizing’, a young feminist mapping project.
We contributed to collective advocacy
AWID, in partnership with other feminist and women’s rights organisations, engaged in advocacy and dialogue to explore better solutions for women’s rights agendas including our work with the Count Me In! consortium .
We increased the visibility of movements
The experiences of women with disabilities, Black and Afro-descendant women, sex workers, Indigenous women, trans and intersex people, domestic workers and how their lives are impacted by multiple oppressions and violence were placed front and center of the Forum process.
We also launched the 2016 WHRD Tribute to commemorate defenders who are no longer with us, during the 16 Days of activism, and thanks to the contributions from our members,
We drove attention to groups and issues that do not usually receive adequate mainstream media coverage through our partnership with The Guardian and Mama Cash.
Our members

Maria Enriqueta Matute
CFA FAQ - Accessibility and Health - AR
إمكانية الوصول والصحة
Shifa Gardi
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Les discours sur l’ « Idéologie du Genre » :
Pendant des décennies, les universitaires et défenseur·euse·s féministes ont développé d’importantes notions liées au genre afin de comprendre et combattre l’oppression et la discrimination. Ces notions sont maintenant devenues la cible d’acteur·ice·s antidroits qui prétendent que les rôles de genre patriarcaux oppressifs relèvent du « bon sens », peignant stratégiquement toutes les autres idées, normes culturelles et formes de vie sociale comme une idéologie dangereuse et conspirationniste.
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2021: Feminist Power in Action
In 2021, AWID, along with many other organizations, was coming to grips with the implications of the on-going global pandemic for how we work and our role in this particular time. The year taught us three critical lessons about navigating this moment as a global feminist movement-support organization.
Download the full 2021 Annual review

Through dialogue and exchanges critical to their work, AWID connected thousands to feminists from around the world.
Our experience in 2021 reaffirmed the importance of building and sustaining a global feminist community, and AWID’s core mission to support feminist movements as a whole. We believe that at this moment, a strong community bound by a shared vision and collective care is the foundation of all social change and transformation.
Manuela Martha Solís Contreras
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Appel à activités: Date limite prolongée jusqu'au 1er février 2024 !

Rejoignez la co-création du 15e Forum international de l’AWID à Bangkok, en Thaïlande.
Ofelia Maria Mosquera Usuga
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A CARING
ECONOMY
Feminists Centering Care in the Economy:
A Cross-Movement Dialogue
What if we reimagined ways of caring for our communities?
What if the economy was not about someone else’s profit but about care for our individual and collective wellbeing? These stories are about building communities of care with and for people who are historically and presently excluded, disenfranchised and dehumanized by both state and society. These are the stories of feminists centering care in the economy.
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Día 2
12 de Marzo
Idaly Castillo Narváez
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![]() Mujeres y colaboradorxs en la cocina de Ocupação 9 de Julho |
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