On International Women’s Day, we honor the many brave women human rights leaders defending their communities across Latin America. The reality is that these defenders suffer violence, attacks, and threats to their lives just for being women and standing up for human rights. And we know that this can be even more perilous for women who are Indigenous and/or part of the LGBTQ+ community.
Day after day, governments across the region continue to disregard the urgency to protect their rights to a life free of violence. Attacks, threats, and violence against women are rarely investigated and prosecuted.
We can’t just sit by while these defenders risk everything to demand basic dignity. We can make sure that our own government supports actions to protect women human rights defenders and efforts to address gender-based violence in Latin America. Asking for funding isn’t the full solution–our government must take much stronger action to end support for abusive members of police forces, for example. But funding to support women human rights defenders and address gender-based violence is one good step.
This International Women’s Day, join us in taking these actions!
What You Can Do
Post!
Share our International Women’s Day social media toolkit (available in English and Spanish) to uplift brave women human rights defenders and raise awareness about the dangers they face. We’ve included some graphics for you to share on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram along with some sample tweets!
Write!
Ask your member of Congress to support funding for protecting women human rights defenders and efforts to address gender-based violence in Latin America in the annual foreign aid bill. Use this sample email.
Women human rights defenders have made invaluable contributions to the preservation of life, the environment, and human dignity. We must not turn a blind eye to their suffering.
