The concern for the protection of human rights defenders was brought to international attention by the cumulative advocacy of many organizations through activities such as the Paris Summit on Human Rights Defenders. In 1998, the United Nations adopted the

UN Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognised Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, for UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. A position for a UN Special Representative to the Secretary General on Human Rights Defenders was created in 2000 and in the same year, Hina Jilani, a prominent lawyer and human rights defender from Pakistan, was first appointed to the position. She was reappointed for another term, which will end in 2006.

The focus on women as human rights defenders was discussed during a regional consultation with the UN Special Representative, organized by Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD), Amnesty International, and International Women's Rights Action Watch - Asia Pacific (IWRAW-AP) in 2003. One of the key recommendations was to organize an international consultation that will bring attention to the human rights violations women human rights defenders face because of their gender and the gender-specific issues they advocate. So several women's groups and human rights organizations interested in working on the issues of WHRDs met in Geneva, Switzerland in April 2004 and formed the International Coordinating Committee for this initiative.