Unsung Heroines - The Women Who Fight For Rights

By Farah Milhar, media officer, Minority Rights Group International

Defending human rights is a risky business, but for women on the job the threat is much greater. In every country, amid the deepest crisis - be it in eastern Congo or Sri Lanka - women human rights activists are at the forefront, challenging governments, military forces, militants, community leaders and men in their societies.

At the Hague, Netherlands, late last week Dutch funding agency CORDAID and Justitia et Pax brought together some 30 women rights defenders from across the world to share experience and generate solidarity for their groundbreaking work.

The women were from diverse backgrounds and struggling for a range of issues including extra-judicial killings, evictions, torture, sexual violence, female genital mutilation and domestic violence. Many were from ethnic and religious minorities and indigenous communities, meaning they face multiple levels of discrimination.

"People see you as the enemy. I had to stop going to my parent's house because it was too dangerous for them," said a pastoralist woman from an east African country. Together with other women in her community, this activist - whose name has been ommitted for her safety - has challenged attempts by her government to forcibly take away their land to build a tourist resort.

The price she paid was severe. A member of her family was killed, she has been questioned and interrogated several times by the police, and she has been forced to cut ties with her parents out of fear of their security.

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