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times for both their children and aging parents. Another situation that
unfortunately come into play well too often is the one of violence
against women. This can take the form of physical violence and sexual
assault and can happen inside the family itself as well as from work
colleagues or other external pressure groups for politically motivated
reasons linked to their activism.
A new reported trend of intimidations and threats against
women is the one of judicial attacks. If today the number of killings
and enforced disappearances of human rights defenders has reduced,
another strategy to silence women human rights defender is through
legal action. This dimension complicates the fight of women, as they
have to seek funding for their bail, hire lawyers, travel to court, invest
time and financial resources for their legal defense. This strategy
has the double goal of affecting women’s earnings, much needed to
support their families, and impacting their capacity to continue working.
My past experience as a human rights defender has made me realize
that there are more and more women taking action on human rights,
sometimes we see more women than men active and mobilized.
Women are always seen on the frontline of every claim for justice to
protect human rights and the environment. More and more women
are learning about law and international human rights principles. While
opposing injustice, women’s actions are always peaceful and through
nonviolent means.
Younger generations of educated women have returned to their
communities to join the human rights movement. They are fearless
and full of hope to defend human rights. Even though they have been
threatened or sued, they never abandon their desire to build a more
just society.
As a leader of a small human rights organization for the past
10 years, I have had the opportunity to write and publish an article
entitled “Unarmed Heroes.” It tells the story of ordinary people
who tried to protect human rights and justice, but they never called
themselves “human rights defender.” Their sole purpose was to
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