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Many human rights defenders face risks, but women encounter additional risks because of their gender and the issues they address. Women who defend the human rights of women, especially women from marginalized racial or ethnic groups, can find themselves under threat of violence. Because they often challenge cultural, religious or social norms about the role of women in their society, they are frequently subjected to harassment and repression, ranging from verbal abuse to sexual harassment, rape, and murder.
Despite the risks and difficulties, activists – men and women -- continue to defend women from violence and to confront discrimination. Time after time, women refuse, resist and demand remedies.
Defending women's right to health
One of the issues women defenders campaign on is the right to health.
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Main photo: Police "escort" Eren Keskin (centre), a human rights defender who acts for women subjected to sexual violence in custody, Istanbul 2002
© Human Rights Association, Istanbul branch
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