Lilian Hernández is a woman human rights defender with more than 14 years of experience in defending labour and women’s rights in El Salvador. She currently serves as the Secretary of Finance for the Unión Sindical de Trabajadoras y Trabajadores del Instituto Salvadoreño para el Desarrollo de la Mujer (Trade Union of Workers of the Salvadorean Institute for the Development of Women) and Recording Secretary for the Trade Union Federation of the Unión Nacional para la Defensa de la Clase Trabajadora (National Union for the Defence of the Working Class). Within these unions, the woman human rights defender advocates for women’s rights in the workplace. Her work campaigning for the rights of working women focuses on equality, non-discrimination and inclusion.
She also participates in the Movimiento por la Defensa de los Derechos de la Clase Trabajadora (Movement for the Defence of Working Class Rights) and in the Coordinadora Nacional en Defensa de la Salud del Pueblo Salvadoreño (National Coordination for the Defence of the Health of the Salvadoran People).
The human rights defender community is regularly subjected to campaigns of defamation - they are labeled as 'traitors of the nation', 'terrorists' and 'subversive'. This tactic employed by the authorities is designed to discredit and undermine the work of human rights defenders by isolating and marginalising them, making them a vulnerable target for abuse. Community leaders and environmental activists who are opposed to large-scale mining projects face death threats and violence.
