Rights on the Line
For International Women’s Day, Rights on the Line is handing the mic over to a few of many WHRDs who work every day of the year for their own rights and the rights of their communities. Tune in to hear these WHRDs speak about their work as human rights defenders:
Ruth Komuntale #Uganda
Ruth is a WHRD with the Busongora Women’s Platform to Promote the Right to Land and Justice, which is a women’s group which advocates for land rights of the Basongora community in Western Uganda.
#Gender/Women's Rights
#Minority Rights
#Land Rights
Graciela Pérez Rodriguez #Mexico
After the disappearance of her own daughter, aged 13, her brother and three nephews, Graciela is dedicating her life to search for disappeared persons in Mexico, seeking to generate citizens’ mechanisms which provide access to truth and identity, and consequently to memory and justice in a peaceful way.
Emel Kurma #Turkey
Emel is a WHRD and Co-Executive Coordinator of the Citizens’ Assembly which advocates rights, freedoms, peace and pluralism, intercultural citizenship, rule of law and justice, accountable and transparent public administration, and a political economy that is socio-ecologically credible.
Sindy Joyce #Ireland
Sindy is a member of the Indigenous Minceir community, also known as ‘Irish Travellers’, a WHRD and doctoral student in the Department of Sociology at the University of Limerick. She has been a vocal advocate for the recognition of the Minceirs’ ethnicity status in Ireland and continues to campaign for human rights across the country.
Tasneem Ahmed Taha Zaki #Sudan
Tasneem is a human rights lawyer who provides legal assistance to victims of human rights abuses, especially youth and students in El-Fasher. She was arrested in 2016 and detained for three months for trying to advocate for victims of sexual assault in Darfur.
#Gender/Women's Rights
#Civil & Political Rights
Hauwa Haruna #Nigeria
Hauwa works on conflict resolution and women's rights in Northern Nigeria. Her organisation, Center for Women Empowerment in Nigeria, promotes education for young boys and girls, supports survivors of domestic violence and other types of gender-based violence, and works with internally-displaced persons.
Hannah Vu #Vietnam
Hannah is a WHRD from Vietnam, currently doing an internship with the Vietnamese Overseas Initiative for Conscience Empowerment (VOICE) based in the Philippines. Hannah has been arrested and attacked by police. For security reasons, she moved first to Cambodia and then to the Philippines.
Kimsor Lim #Cambodia
Kimsor is a land and environmental rights defender. In 2009 Kimsor and her community were forced to leave their land and relocate, in favour of urban development plans. In 2013 she started coordinating a women’s network in several communities affected by destructive development. In the past two years, Kimsor has been advocating against sand mining in fishing communities, and has been making videos demanding that relevant government agencies explain irregularities behind ongoing exports of sand out of Cambodia. Because of her work, Kimsor has received threats from private companies and state authorities.
8th March is #InternationalWomensDay, but these women are advocating for human rights all year round. Listen to hear about their work and the human rights violations their communites are facing.
