Women Human Rights Defenders

Magodonga Mahlangu and her organisation, Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), received the 2009 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award. WOZA is a grassroots movement of over 75,000 Zimbabweans working throughout their country to empower women from all walks of life to mobilise and take non-violent action against injustice. 

On 24 June, in the EU Office of Front Line, Front Line and Kvinna till Kvinna (KtK) presented “Insiste Persiste Resiste Existe”, a compilation of security strategies addressing the specific needs of women human rights defenders (WHRDs), to 20 representatives of EU Institutions and Member States, and Brussels-based NGOs. The report is a joint project between Front Line, KtK (Sweden) and the Urgent Action Fund (USA). 

Front Line, along with numerous other civil society organisations, has signed an open letter to the Iranian authorities asking them to end the harassment and prosecution of members of all women’s rights activists and defenders in Iran, including members of the One Million Signatures Campaign.

Read the letter to the Iranian authorities

An international Campaign on Women Human Rights Defenders was launched on 25 November 2004 at the Asia Civil Society Forum in Bangkok. The campaign is a global mobilisation to bring international attention to the concerns of Women Human Rights Defenders and their need for protection. It will involve women and human rights activists in different fields and sectors, grassroots groups, NGOs, social movements and other members of the civil society. Front Line is part of the International Coordination Committee for the Campaign. The Campaign has been launched with an International Statement highlighting the situation of women human rights defenders and the specific challenges they face.