Women Human Rights Defenders Take Fight to the UN in Geneva

Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) from around the world are gathering in Geneva from 21 to 25 September for a week-long training program known as the Women Human Rights Advocacy Week, designed to help them navigate the UN Human Rights Council, amplify their stories, and advocate for their rights.

Institutional Training and Coalition Support

The week-long initiative is co-organized by nine human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, the Asia Pacific Forum on Women (APWLD), Front Line Defenders Rights, the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), Peace Brigade International (PBI), The Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), the Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition (WHRDIC), the WHRD Middle East and North Africa Coalition (WHRD MENA Coalition), and the Urgent Action Fund for Feminist Activism (UAF). The program provides participants with practical tools to understand the Human Rights Council, offering guidance on how to engage with it strategically to advocate for change in their home communities.

According to Lisa Maracani, Amnesty International’s researcher on human rights defenders, the attendees face severe hazards in their daily work. “The women attending are risking their lives every day to protect their communities from climate change, greedy corporations and land theft,” Maracani stated. She added that their expertise is essential for keeping bodies like the Human Rights Council effective, noting that the advocacy week is engineered to supply these participants with the tools needed to advance their causes on a global stage.

Scope of Participation and Double Discrimination

The participants are WHRDs operating at the intersection of gender, climate, and conflict. They include activists defending the environment, the rights of women migrant workers, Indigenous land rights, and the interests of communities impacted by businesses activities. The training is specifically structured to facilitate participation for activists facing multiple barriers to accessing the UN, fostering networks among the defenders themselves as well as with human rights experts to amplify their calls for international accountability.

According to the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, WHRDs are “more at risk of suffering certain forms of violence and other violations, prejudice, exclusion, and repudiation than their male counterparts.” Their work encompasses women’s rights, challenging gender inequality and stereotypes, advancing sexual and reproductive rights, and promoting empowerment. Reflecting on these challenges, Lara Aharonian, director of the Women’s Resource Center in Armenia, noted that WHRDs “fight on two levels: first as human rights defenders, and second as women. There is double discrimination and double-violence.”

UN Engagement and Public Events

During the Geneva meetings, participants will have the opportunity to speak before the Human Rights Council, as well as meet with, lobby, and inform UN officials, diplomats, and Council-mandated independent experts. Additionally, several participating defenders are scheduled to speak at a public event at the UN headquarters on Thursday, 24 September, alongside the UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.

Photo: humanrightshouse.org

“The UN human rights system must be open to and informed by those who have most to contribute to it: human rights defenders,” said Fabiana Leibl, programme manager for the International Service for Human Rights. “With this training, we seek to make sure the perspectives of women human rights defenders are effectively represented at the Human Rights Council’s and across its key mechanisms.”