Crisis Response – Women Human Rights Defenders

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We work to strengthen the support for women human rights defenders (WHRDs) in the region during crisis periods when they face threats to their life and security while doing their work and activism.

We have seen an increasing trend in which WHRDs are targeted for the work that they do: work against mining corporations (Thailand) and development projects (Philippines) that encroach on community land; raise awareness of various forms of violence against women (China); demand for an increase in minimum wage (Cambodia); leading a movement that calls for clean elections, government accountability and confronts corruption (Malaysia). In many cases, WHRDs are also vulnerable to gendered forms of violations.

In the past years, we have raised awareness on these cases through submissions to human rights bodies as well as social media campaigns.

 

Solidarity Statement

18th March 2017

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

On the 18th March 2017 we join in solidarity with our members, CSOs and fellow WHRDs in Malaysia as they resist censorship and demand freedom of expression and of association, and civil activism.

We are greatly concerned by the prosecution and subsequent conviction of Lena Hendry under the Film Censorship Act 2002 for privately organising the film screening of “No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka” on 22 March 2017.  The government of Malaysia has chosen, once again, to bluntly exercise its power to groundlessly harass a woman human rights defender for her legitimate human rights activities.

Read the full statement