STATEMENT BY WOMEN HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS PARTICIPATING IN THE

SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON THE SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS

REGIONAL CONSULTATION ON THE SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
DEFENDERS IN THE AMERICAS
Guatemala, January 27, 2015
We, women human rights defenders participating in the Regional Consultation of the Americas
launched by the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, have
denounced the attacks and violations of our right to defend human rights and have proposed
recommendations regarding the situation we face across 15 countries in the continent.
We appreciate the openness and sensitivity shown by Rapporteur Michel Forst in creating a
space for women human rights defenders to share the specific risks and needs we face in order to
improve the conditions in which we work to defend human rights.
Some of the major concerns we shared with the Rapporteur during the consultation include:
The ongoing gender discrimination by our societies and governments that limits the
work of women human rights defenders and creates specific risks that are often not
covered by government or civil society protection mechanisms.

The increase in violence against women in most countries of the region that has created
a climate of risk for women who defend human rights.

Women human rights defenders often defend rights with little to no social or legal
recognition and receive secondary or limited attention from governments. This is the case
for sexual and reproductive rights, the right to equality between women and men, the
right to land and natural resources or the right to a life free of violence.

Many

women either do not recognize themselves as human rights defenders or are not
recognized as such by the State and, sometimes, not even by the human rights movement.
Such is the case for many indigenous and community advocates, migrant rights
advocates, advocates for victims of trafficking or relatives of victims of violence or
forced disappearance, trans-women, among others. The lack of recognition of these
women as human rights defenders puts them at risk and limits their work.
Women defending land rights and natural resources are among the groups suffering the
most attacks and assaults by both the State and companies with the complicity of
authorities.

Women human rights defenders often do not have the support networks to face attacks
and assaults committed by virtue of our work. This is because our work is not always
recognized by our families, communities and organizations. We even face abuse and
discrimination in these spaces.

In conflict situations, under authoritarian governments or in areas controlled by

criminal groups with the complicity of the authorities or zones where extractive projects
are imposed, violence against women increases, spaces for dialogue disappear as do the
minimum guarantees for women's political participation and social empowerment. These
situations not only hamper the work of women human rights defenders, but they restrict
the participation of all women, who then abandon efforts to promote human rights.

Attacks against women human rights defenders often have gender components. Some
examples include smear campaigns that question our sexual morals, sexual violence or
threats of violence, threats or attacks against our daughters and sons.

Many of us women human rights defenders do our work in conditions that are
precarious and in which we face discrimination. Some do not have sufficient financial
resources or shoulder all family care and housework alone. This situation not only limits
our work but has a negative impact on our physical and mental health.

In light of this situation we've made the following proposals to the Special Rapporteur on the
Situation of Human Rights Defenders and call on our national governments to:
Strengthen the framework for the protection of women's rights at national levels,
embedding within constitutions or ensuring compliance with treaties, conventions and
human rights instruments of which these countries have signed onto. In particular that
they adopt, if they have not yet done so, the Optional Protocol to CEDAW and to
respect international standards on sexual and reproductive rights.

Recognize the role of human rights defenders as one that creates a social environment
respectful of the work of WHRDs and reduces possible aggression. Specific concrete
measures to support that recognition include:

That State officials refrain from issuing any statement that questions or
delegitimizes human rights work and any statement that promotes stigma,
defamation, discrimination and sexism against a WHRD.
Publicly acknowledge State obligation to protect women human rights
defenders.

Recognize publicly WHRDs and women's organizations as valid

interlocutors and as essential for governments in meeting their human rights
obligations, as well as the legitimacy of their work, particularly when
denouncing human rights violations.

Ensure the legal implications of the adoption of the Resolution on the "Protection of
human rights defenders," adopted in November 2013 by the UN General Assembly.

Develop (in countries where there are none) and strengthen (in cases where there are)
legal and institutional mechanisms for the comprehensive protection of human rights
defenders that integrate a gender perspective both in the law's conception and in its
implementation mechanisms. To do this, it is essential that women human rights
defenders and feminist organizations participate actively in the formulation,
implementation and evaluation of these legal/institutional frameworks.

Under these institutional protection mechanisms, ensure the design of a protocolspecific integrated protection for women human rights defenders that includes full
reparation measures that, among other things, combats the stigmatization of women
human rights defenders.

Refrain from criminalizing or threatening the criminalization of women human rights

defenders who are championing rights that are enshrined in international instruments but
not recognized in the national framework, such as abortion and sexual diversity.

Adopt and apply international frameworks against sexual torture.

Acknowledge the essential role and contribution of women human rights defenders
networks in strengthening, tracking, monitoring and generating recommendations both in
regards to specific cases and in the overall implementation of protection policies.

The work of women human rights defenders strengthens democracy and the rule of law and
ensures the full and equal participation of all women in society. It is a State obligation and the
responsibility of society as a whole to protect and recognize the work and contribution of women
human rights defenders.
Sincerely,
Haydee Castillo, Instituto de Liderazgo de las Segovias (Nicaragua); Mayte Ochoa, IPAS
Centroamrica; Azahalea Solis, Movimiento Autnomo de Mujeres (Nicaragua); Natividad
Obeso, Asociacin Civil de Derechos Humanos: Mujeres Unidas Migrantes y Refugiadas en
Argentina; Marlin Sierra, Centro Nicaragense de Derechos Humanos; Regina Fonseca, Centro
de Derechos de Mujeres (Honduras); Dalia Figueredo, Asociacin Brasilea de Defensa de la

Mujer de la Crianza y la Juventud; Beatriz Bataszew, Colectivo Mujeres Sobrevivientes de Chile;

Tarcila Rivera, Enlace Continental de Mujeres Indgenas de las Amricas; Susana Chavez,
PROMSEX Per y Consorcio Latinoamericano contra el Aborto Inseguro (CLACAI); Gabriela
Redondo, Colectivo Unidad Color Rosa de Honduras; Emma Bolshia Bravo Cladera, Instituto de
Terapia e Investigacion sobre las Secuelas de la Tortura y la Violencia de Estado (Bolivia);
Miriam Miranda, Organizacin Fraternal Negra Hondurea (OFRANEH); Consuelo Castillo,
Observatorio Permanente de Derechos Humanos del Agun (OPDHA- Honduras) y Red
Nacional de Defensoras de Derechos Humanos en Honduras; Maria Luisa Aguilar Rodriguez,
Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaa Tlachinollan (Mxico); Leyla Das, CLADEM
Honduras; Elizabeth Cunya Novillo, Asociacin de mujeres Protectoras de cuencas de agua,
bosques, pramos y biodiversidad (Per), miembra de la Unin Latinoamericana de mujeres
(ULAM); Bettina Cruz Velzquez, Asamblea de los Pueblos Indgenas del Istmo de Tehuantepec
en Defensa de la Tierra y el Territorio and Red Nacional de Defensoras de Derechos Humanos en
Mxico; ngela Fuentes, Red Nacional de Defensoras de Guatemala; Claudia Samayoa,
UDEFEGUA (Guatemala) and IM-Defensoras; Marusia Lpez, JASS and IM-Defensoras;
Daniela Fonkatz AWID and IM-Defensoras; Ysica Snchez, Consorcio Oaxaca, Red Nacional
de Defensoras de Derechos Humanos en Mxico and IM-Defensoras; Alejandra Burgos
Agrupacin Ciudadana por la Despenalizacin del Aborto (El Salvador) and IM-Defensoras.