Every day, women around the world put themselves at risk to defend the rights of others. They document abuse, support survivors, challenge impunity, and speak truth to power, often while navigating a world that seeks to silence them precisely because they are women. On International Women’s Day, ProtectDefenders.eu reaffirms its commitment to the women and gender-diverse defenders who stand at the frontlines of human rights, and to the principle that their protection is not optional, it is essential.
A commitment rooted in evidence
Gender sensitivity is one of the key aspects of ProtectDefenders approach and policy, it is in fact a core pillar of how the mechanism operates and how it measures its own effectiveness. Over the past year, at least 50% of all defenders supported identified as women HRDs (WHRDs) or defenders from gender minorities, including non-binary and gender-diverse individuals. This reflects the approach towards a gender-sensitive strategy that prioritises the most vulnerable defenders.
More than 90% of the mechanism’s support was delivered to HRDs from high-risk groups – this figure speaks to the intersectional nature of the threats defenders face.
In addition to the threats common to all defenders, WHRDs are subjected to gendered attacks that specifically target their identity and their presence in public life.
They face sexualised violence, harassment, and public slander rooted in deeply entrenched norms that seek to confine women to private spaces and away from political agency. The goal of these attacks is not only to stop their work, it is to shame, isolate, and intimidate them into silence. LGBTQI+ defenders face similarly targeted persecution.
The voices we gathered during the year
This year, ProtectDefenders.eu has had the privilege of hearing directly from women defenders whose courage continues to inspire and whose stories demand to be told.
In Sudan, where conflict has created one of the most dangerous environments in the world for human rights defenders, women remain at the center of local protection networks, peacebuilding efforts, and community resilience. We spoke with Mariam Hamid Ahmed, Executive Director of Kayan for Women Empowerment, an organisation working to advance the rights, safety, and leadership of Sudanese women and girls.
“Sudanese women are carrying the double burden of resisting repression and challenging deeply rooted patriarchal norms. Threats against women defenders are not only meant to stop their work, they aim to shame them, isolate them, or endanger their families.”
Despite restricted access, repeated displacement, and the collapse of essential services, Mariam and her colleagues continue to document violations, support survivors, and advocate for gender equality. When asked what keeps her going, her answer is immediate: “It’s the women themselves — their courage, their dignity, their determination to keep their families and communities alive.”
In Georgia, where the adoption of a foreign-agent law modeled on Russian legislation has rapidly reshaped the space available to civil society, Natia Tavberidze offered a first-hand account of what it means to defend human rights in a country that is rapidly changing and where human rights are worsening: political prisoners, journalists physically attacked at protests, and organisations facing bank account freezes and demands for sensitive beneficiary data – the risks are escalating fast. Yet solidarity, she told us, remains the strongest source of hope: “Even in the most difficult moments, knowing that there is at least one person who stands with you can make a profound difference.”
We also had the chance to hear from two woman human rights defenders from Afghanistan. In 2026 entire generations of Afghan women are being denied their rights and their futures.
Negina Yari, International Board member of WILPF and founder of the Window for Hope Network, describes what being a human rights defender in Afghanistan means today: “What we are witnessing goes beyond a human rights crisis: for women, there are simply no rights left.” And yet women keep finding ways to organise, whether it is underground classes, small civil society meetings, or encrypted communications, because, as Negina puts it, “the harder the Taliban makes the laws, the stronger women’s resilience becomes.” Similarly, Parasto, an educator and defender working with the SRAKAF Educational Association, began building home-based schools for girls and women across Afghanistan. What started with a single classroom in September 2021 has grown into a network of 35 schools, offering literacy, skills training, and “second chance” programmes for girls and women who were forcibly denied education.
Finally, a few weeks ago, the interview with Lissette Gonzalez showed how Venezuelan society remains deeply marked by machismo. As WHRDs “We tend to face more personal attacks and criticism, not only about what we say, but about who we are. Our credibility is questioned more easily, and the attacks can be more gendered and more personal.” Women, she notes, also carry a disproportionate burden of survival in the context of Venezuela’s humanitarian crisis: “Carrying water to the house, women. Waiting in line for gas, women. Searching for food, women.”
Her message to younger women defenders is one that resonates across all the stories gathered this year: “We need to take care of ourselves. If you want to take care of others and fight for rights, you have to be healthy, physically and mentally.”
What women defenders need
The stories above are not exceptions. They are representative of a global reality that demands a sustained, structured, and gender-responsive international response.
International Women’s Day is a moment to celebrate resilience, to honour courage, and to recommit to action. For ProtectDefenders.eu, that commitment is expressed not only through words but through the emergency grants, relocation support, capacity-building, and advocacy that reach women defenders in over 110 countries every year.
Their protection is our collective responsibility.
