Every year, ProtectDefenders.eu supports more than 5,000 women human rights defenders in the most vulnerable countries, through direct and gender-sensitive protection grants, funding to local women rights' organisations, comprehensive relocation programmes, training and capacity-building, accompaniment in the field, advocacy and specific outreach programs.
Women human rights defenders (WHRDs) are key actors for sustainable development, social justice, peacebuilding in post-conflict areas, and the rule of law in the most vulnerable and fragile communities. However, WHRDs are particularly targeted, and their resilience very often confronted with specific threats that demand gender-focused tools and strategies for ensuring their safety. In this context, the development of protection mechanisms, capacity-building programmes and tailored advocacy initiatives that address WHRDs' particularities is an increasing demand to the international civil society and donors' community.
From the outset, ProtectDefenders.eu has committed to provide gender-sensitive assistance and WHRDs are a high priority target for the EU HRD mechanism. Today, WHRD represent 48% of the overall number of beneficiaries, and these figures are consistently increasing in time.
