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The United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders
reaffirms rights that are essential for WHRDs, including, freedom of

opinion and expression, freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of
association, the right to access funding and the right to develop and
discuss new ideas in the area of human rights. Defenders also have

the right to make complaints about policies relating to human rights,
to have such complaints reviewed and to benefit from an effective

remedy. The Declaration “does not create new rights but instead
articulates existing rights in a way that makes it easier to apply them
to the practical role and situation of human rights defenders.”

Women Human Rights Defenders face similar risks as their male
counterparts. However, being women, they are more vulnerable to

being the target of intimidation and structural violence based on gender
and other sexual dimensions.
Often the work of women human rights defenders is perceived

as challenging and threatening to the conventional system of beliefs
and of the woman’s traditional role in the family and society. This
can lead to conflicting relationships between government officials and

the general public and induce negative attitude, discrimination, unjust
asymmetric relationship between women and men under existing
socio-economic and political structures, beliefs’ system, tradition and

culture which are prevailingly unjust to women.
Women can endure condemnation and rejection from the

community, religious and family leaders or the society who view their
work as detrimental to religion, honor, culture and structural society
models that honor men as leaders.

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