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Need for Protection Networks for Women Human Rights Defenders
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By Marusia López Cruz and Cristina Hardaga
Fernández, JASS – Just Associates - Mesoamerican Initiative of Women Human
Rights Defenders
29-05-2015 - The Resolution on the
Protection of Women Human Rights Defenders,[1]
the first of its kind and adopted on 18 December 2013 by the United Nations
General Assembly, calls upon States (and society as a whole) to recognize the
contribution of women human rights defenders (WHRDs) in building peace, justice
and equality. It also states that many women engaged in promoting and defending
human rights face threats and harassment as a result of those activities. These
are determined by a context of systematic violence and structural discrimination
against women, which is expressed - among other things - in a lack of access to
justice, through persistent impunity for violations against WHRDs and the lack
of recognition – in different places and situations – of the legitimate role
and contribution of women in the protection of human rights.[2]
In Mesoamerica, the obstacles WHRDs face are
volatile and vary depending upon the situation. Nevertheless exclusion,
discrimination and gender inequality are constant. High levels of violence
against women, unproportioned domestic and care workloads, plus a cultural
environment that ‘punishes’ those who challenge gender standards and
stereotypes, are just some of the factors that generate adverse conditions for
WHRDs, inhibiting women’s political and social participation, as well as
creating additional risks.
In this framework, it is common that women
defending human rights are questioned by their families and poorly appreciated
or respected by their governments, authorities, communities, and even by their
own organizations. As a consequence, when they face an unsafe situation, they
usually don’t have a solid network for their support and protection. As a
response to this condition, the Mesoamerican Women Human Rights Defenders
Initiative (IMD)[3] has centered its work since 2010 on
building and promoting protective networks for WHRDs. IMD understands that a
woman human rights defender is any woman who, individually or in association
with others, seeks to transform any situation of inequality, injustice and
violence, actively exercising her right to participation and freedom of
expression.
For us, building and promoting WHRDs
networks is important for their potential to create safe spaces for women to
discuss and analyse situations of violence (both because of their work and
gender), to generate the conditions to express fears, guilt, needs and
uncertainties without fear of being identified or questioned, as well as to
recognise and strengthen their empowerment. Because of the focus on the
situation and needs of women human rights defenders, these networks can be
adapted to build specific protection and support measures for women defenders
to cope with risk and prevent it. Network protection schemes generally allow
faster reactions to emergencies and optimise existing resources; furthermore,
they offer women defenders at risk a wide range of experience, capacities and
protection strategies developed by the various members of the network. Finally,
through these networks defenders can amplify their colleagues complaints of
reported aggressions and generate information on the situation to guide
policies for the State’s protection from a gender perspective.
IMD is now made up of national networks
focused on the protection of women human rights defenders in Mexico, El
Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua. Together, they are linked to more
than 690 women working for human rights in many different areas and themes.
These networks pull together the experiences, knowledge and resources of a wide
range of organisations and women, regardless of their self-definition,
workplace or hierarchy within their organizations and movements. These networks
also denounce and document attacks faced by WHRDs, regardless of the origin or
the actors involved in such violence; they support specific cases of women defenders
at risk in coordination with a wide range of organisations specialised in
protection issues both nationally and internationally; and they develop
protection skills from a gender perspective.
Support networks do not replace the
obligation upon governmental authorities to ensure a safe environment for
people to exercise their right to defend human rights. However, they can
contribute to State action: following up and ensuring legislative and
administrative provisions to facilitate, rather than criminalise, the work of
women human rights defenders; developing measures to modify social and cultural
patterns that underlie violence against women; promoting the establishment of
institutional mechanisms and protective measures to integrate a gender perspective,
and ensuring due diligence to bring to justice and prevent violations and
abuses against defenders’ rights, among other things.[4] They also allow WHRDs to amplify their
voices and provide greater visibility and recognition to their work, whilst
networks contribute in a logic of active citizen participation, to put on the
public agenda needs, risks and situations faced by women defenders and create a
space for solidarity, support and guidance to protect their life and integrity.
Networks save and strengthen the
collective power of women who work for a better world.
[1] UN Resolution 68/181 ´Promotion
of the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and
Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights
and Fundamental Freedoms: Protecting Women Human Rights Defenders´.
[2] UN Resolution 68/181 ´Promotion
of the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and
Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights
and Fundamental Freedoms: Protecting Women Human Rights Defenders´. Pages 2
and 3.
[3] IM-Defensoras was founded by a
political alliance between JASS Mesoamerica, Consorcio para el
Diálogo Parlamentario y la Equidad, Oaxaca (México), Unit for the
Protection of Human Rights Defenders in Guatemala, (UDEFEGUA), La Colectiva
Feminista para el Desarrollo Local (El Salvador), AWID-Association
for Women’s Rights in Development, and the Central American Women’s
Fund(FCAM). For further information, please contact imdefensoras@gmail.com. Our most recent
publications include (in Spanish): IM-Defensoras Report for the IACHR,
Diagnosis on the Situation of the Protection of WHRDs 2014 and Viole nce Against
Women 2012. http://es.scribd.com/doc/214940590/Informe-de-la-IM-Defensoras-ante-CIDH-27-03-2014
Diagnóstico 2012; http://es.scribd.com/doc/166580906/DIAGNOSTICO-2012-VIOLENCIA-CONTRA-DEFENSORAS-DE-DERECHOS-HUMANOS-EN-MESOAMERICA-IM-DEFENSORAS; http://es.scribd.com/doc/223570458/TRAVESIAS-PARA-PENSAR-Y-ACTUAR-EXPERIENCIAS-DE-AUTOCUIDADO-DE-DEFENSORAS-DE-DERECHOS-HUMANOS-EN-MESOAMERICA
[4] UN Resolution 68/181 ´Promotion
of the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and
Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights
and Fundamental Freedoms: Protecting Women Human Rights Defenders´. Pages
3, 4, 6.
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