Posts Tagged ‘International Women Human Rights Defenders Day’
Solomon Islands hold exhibition on human rights of women
December 1, 2014This is how Zimbabwe celebrated Women Human Rights Defenders Day:
November 30, 2013Scores of peaceful marchers from Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) were beaten and some arrested by police in anti-riot gear on Friday. The women were on their way to the Mhlahlandlela Government Complex, where they submitted a petition outlining the needs and expectations of Zimbabwean women in the context of the on-going campaign against gender-based violence. WOZA leader Jenni Williams said baton-wielding officers, who were accompanied by dogs, pounced on the group of women, chasing and beating them up.
She added: “We have long argued that police in Bulawayo have seemingly a tribal and regional agenda. Why is it that when we demonstrate in Bulawayo our demos are either stopped before they even start or our members are beaten up? Yet I can go to parliament (in Harare) and nobody will arrest me?”Some women were arrested and then released without charge three hours later, at the intervention of the officer in charge at Drill Hall in Bulawayo, who simply said the women were free to go, without offering any explanation why the women had been violently and brutally arrested in the first place. Williams explained: “He just came in and said we could go, there was no problem. We said to him ‘Just like that? When people have been beaten up and dogs almost set on them and you say there is no problem?’.” The WOZA leader, who has been arrested more than 50 times, expressed concern at the heavy-handedness of Bulawayo police.
WOZA activists brutalised on Women Human Rights Defenders Day | SW Radio Africa.
Today Women Human Rights Defenders Day: there is a lot of work to be done
November 29, 2013The Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition (WHRD IC) celebrates International Women Human Rights Defenders Day (29 November 2013) by focusing on 4 areas:
1. Tools for Defence
The Online Directory of Urgent Responses for WHRDs is a mapping of “Urgent Responses for Women Human Rights Defenders at Risk”. The Online Directory outlines the diverse responses that exist and, where available, are specific to WHRDs. It is a tool for WHRDs to locate the best resources available for their protection, support, and wellness. Two new areas have been added: Digital Security and Training opportunities. http://urgent-responses.awid.org/
2. Training
Given the risk specialized training on various aspects of safety and protection are intended to strengthen the capacity of WHRDs to respond or prevent attacks. These training programs address the gender dimension that highlight subtle risks that WHRDs miss when they are exposed to gender based violence and gender specific risks. It is important that they multiply this knowledge with other WHRDs and members of the communities they work with.
3. Digital Security
Women defenders face many unique threats and obstacles both offline and online. Technology is transforming activism, and the promotion and defence of human rights but awareness there are also digital dangers to WHRD’s freedom of expression and association online and knowing how to communicate securely is important in ensuring a holistic approach to security for WHRD’s. WHRD IC hosted a train-the-trainer workshop for a global group WHRDs in digital security and is currently supporting their in-country activities. In 2014 it will assist WHRDs to access further training in digital security. Examples of attacks:
– On 21 September the Latin American and Caribbean Women’s Health Network’s (LACWHN) website was hacked and disabled. The attack occurred immediately following the launch of several campaign activities on September 19th and 20th including the #28SAbortoLegal social media campaign as well as the posting of a photo album and posters. This was a deliberate attempt to silence legitimate feminist voices, suppress dissent and stifle women’s political participation in the public sphere on these issues by stigmatisation and sabotage.
http://www.defendingwomen-defendingrights.org/statement_whrdic_LACWHN.php <http://www.defendingwomen-defendingrights.org/statement_whrdic_LACWHN.php>
– In 2012 the offices of Women’s Organization Network for Human Rights Advocacy (WONETHA) were raided, staff arrested and authorities confiscated documents, computers and other material from the centre. They demanded passwords and read emails and correspondence, which seriously compromise the privacy and security of staff and members of WONETHA.
4. Celebrate, honour, remember
This tribute takes the form of an online photo exhibition <https://plus.google.com/photos/110714837166729000165/albums/5947969816908571489> launched on November 25th 2013, Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women with a special slide show featuring 16 WHRDs from around the world and will end on December 10, International Human Rights Day. The tribute features photographs and biographies of women’s rights leaders from around the world. Each day of the campaign AWID will share the story of a WHRD(s) on its website as well as through Facebook and Twitter using hashtags #16days and #AWIDMembers and link back to the full online exhibit which will commemorate and celebrate the work and lives of WHRDs who have passed away since January 2011. http://www.awid.org/eng/Our-Initiatives/Women-Human-Rights-Defenders/WHRD-Tribute.
The new THF Digest of Human Rights Awards features several awards for women human rights defenders: http://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/
Related articles
- Systematic Digital Harassment of the Latin America and Caribbean Women’s Health Network denounced (thoolen.wordpress.com)
- Special Issue on Human Rights Defenders of the OUP Journal of Human Rights Practice (thoolen.wordpress.com)
- UN resolution on women’s rights defenders passed General Assembly Committee but.. (thoolen.wordpress.com)
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 