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On July 1 , 2004, mobilisation among women’s groups in Asia Pacific on the International Campaign on Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) was launched at the Asia Pacific NGO Forum (for ten year review of the Beijing Platform for Action) in Bangkok, Thailand, where around 1000 women activists from Asia Pacific have gathered to discuss gains, critical challenges that remain and newly emerging issues in the course of the ten-year implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. The campaign is aimed at bringing international attention to the concerns of WHRDs and the need to protect them. Despite international recognition of the need to protect human rights activity and human rights defenders, the situation of human rights defenders is alarming today. There is growing repression of civil society movements sanctioned or tolerated by governments in various countries in Asia Pacific. The repressive acts range from freezing funds of NGOs to harassment and killings of human rights activists.
A round table discussion on WHRDs was organised at this Asia Pacific NGO Forum with the goal of developing concrete recommendations for the protection of WHRDs. Speakers at the round table discussion on WHRD who were WHRDs themselves and have experienced harassment and abuse particularly from State authorities have expressed their deep concerns with the worsening situation in the way the perpetrators treated them specifically in the context of the war against terror carried out by governments post September 11. Irene Fernandez, Women’s Human Rights Defender from Malaysia who has been convicted for publishing a report on violations of human rights of migrants workers in detention in Malaysia spoke of how the Malaysian authorities have subjected her to a nine-year trial for this alleged crime. Burmese WHRD spoke of harassment that they suffer from Thai authorities who are becoming intolerant towards Burmese refugees in order to show solidarity of Thai Government with the Burmese military junta because of their common business interests in Burma. “Our members can’t sleep at night fearing when the authorities would come to arrest them. Most of us don’t have legal papers, we could be deported from the country anytime.” Dalit women HRDs in India have experienced extreme forms of abuse, including human excreta being thrown at their faces and sexual assault by the police and men of upper castes. Muslim WHRDs in India are labelled “anti-national” by mainstream Hindu voices and “anti-muslim” by men within their communities.
Women HRDs are on par with their male colleagues in putting themselves on the line in the promotion and protection of human rights. However, women face risks that are specific to their gender and additional to those faced my men. As women, they become more visible and may arouse more hostility than their male colleagues because they may be defying cultural, religious or social norms about femininity and the role of women in a particular country or society. In this context, women HRDs may not only face human tights violations in relation to their work but also because of their gender and the fact that their work may run counter to social stereotypes about women’s submissive nature or challenges notions of society about the status of women. Furthermore, the hostility, harassment and repression women defenders face may take gender-specific forms, which could range from verbal abuse directed exclusively at women to sexual harassment and rape. The repercussion of these forms of intimidation and violation are also gender-specific as the sexual abuse of a woman human rights defender can result in pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS. Lastly, WHRD working on women-specific rights, face an additional risk factor, as the assertion of such rights is seen as a threat to patriarchy and as disruption of cultural, religious and social norms.
Participants of the round table discussion at the NGO Forum formulated recommendations for the protection of women human rights defenders, the major ones are:
The International Campaign on Women Human Rights Defenders will culminate in Consultations aimed at consolidating the campaign, obtaining recognition for WHRDs and developing specific recommendations and remedies for their adequate protection. The International Campaign on Women Human Rights Defenders is initiated and implemented by various NGOs worldwide including Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development; Amnesty International, Forum Asia, International Service for Human Rights and many others.
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