To mark March 8, International Women\u2019s\nDay, the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and\nEquality) wishes to highlight the fundamental role played by women human rights\ndefenders in Latin America and the Caribbean. In a region where rates of sexual\nand gender-based violence against women are extremely high and multiple forms\nof discrimination are entrenched, women human rights defenders are key in the\nfight for the defense of women\u2019s human rights. Likewise, they are at the\nvanguard of promoting and protecting the rights of others.<\/p>\n\n
Although the vast majority of countries\nin Latin America and the Caribbean have ratified the Convention on the\nElimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW),[1]<\/a>\nwomen in the region continue to suffer inequalities that negatively impact\ntheir full enjoyment of human rights. According to the Economic Commission for\nLatin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), more than 3,800 women in 33 countries\nin the region were murdered because of their gender in 2019.[2]<\/a>\nThis violence stems from structural inequalities which profoundly affect all\nwomen, but especially women members of historically marginalized groups like\nAfro-descendants and the LGBTI community. For example, according to the Network\nof Afro-Latin American, Afro-Caribbean, and Diaspora Women, Afro-descendant\nwomen are victims of multiple forms of violence, which is often racialized.\nLikewise, the current discourse on gender ideology in the region, driven by in\nlarge part by conservative religious groups, has led to more discrimination\nagainst lesbian, bi-sexual, and trans women, as well as more hate crimes and\nmurders. Finally, poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean, as in other\nregions in the world, has a feminine face, as women are less likely to have\naccess to higher education and work outside of the home than their male\ncounterparts. When women do work outside of the home, they are paid, on\naverage, 17% less than men.[3]<\/a>\nAll of these factors make the work of women human rights defenders of utmost\nimportance. But, they are also facing some grave challenges.<\/p>\n\n In Colombia, where the post-Peace Accord\nreality for human rights defenders is startlingly alarming due to the high rate\nof murders of defenders and impunity for those murders, women human rights\ndefenders are among the most vulnerable. As the Office of the United Nations\nHigh Commissioner for Human Rights recently documented, the number of women\nhuman rights defenders killed in Colombia in 2019 increased by 50% over the\n2018 number.[4]<\/a>\nAfro-descendant and rural women defenders are at generally greater risk, just\nas they suffer greater vulnerabilities in terms of overall enjoyment of their\nhuman rights.<\/p>\n\n In Cuba, independent women activists are\nfacing an increase in repression and de facto <\/em>house arrests, as well as\nreprisals and threats against themselves and their family members. Travel\nrestrictions arbitrarily imposed by the Cuban government routinely prevent\nindependent activists from participating in advocacy activities outside of the\nisland and the application of these against women continues to grow.\nFurthermore, Cuban women are clamoring for an Integral Law against Gender\nViolence \u2013 a proposal which has been rejected by the National Assembly \u2013 and\nthey continue to face difficulties in accessing decent, well-paying jobs.<\/p>\n\n In Nicaragua, the crisis that began in\nApril 2018 has had a profound impact on women. Women human rights defenders,\nsuch as the Mothers of April, have played an important role in the opposition\nmovement, as many have lost their children to the violence of the crisis. There\nhas also been an overall increase in violence against women and femicides, as a\nresult of the crisis. Furthermore, women in Nicaragua also face\ndisproportionate economic consequences due to the crisis, as many have been\nleft as heads of households, with male family members killed, imprisoned, or\nfired from their jobs because of their political ties.<\/p>\n\n In Brazil, the situation of violence\nagainst women is extremely concerning, especially against Afro-descendant and\ntrans women. Our partners have documented that in the first two months of the\nyear 38 trans women have been killed in the country.[5]<\/a>\nThis high level of violence makes the work of women human rights defenders \u2013\nespecially those working on behalf of diverse communities of women \u2013 all the\nmore difficult and important.<\/p>\n\n Race and Equality calls on all Latin\nAmerican and Caribbean States to honor the human rights commitments they have\nmade under CEDAW and other applicable international human rights treaties, to\nrespect and protect the rights of women. We likewise reiterate our support for\nwomen human rights defenders, especially those of our partner organizations and\nin the countries where we work, who so courageously and tirelessly fight to\npromote and defend the rights of women and others in the region on a daily\nbasis. We thank you and assure you that you are not alone in your work towards\na safer, more just, and equitable society for all. [1]<\/a> OHCHR. Status\nof Ratification Interactive Dashboard: CEDAW, <\/em>https:\/\/indicators.ohchr.org\/<\/a> (last accessed Mar. 4, 2020).<\/p>\n\n [2]<\/a> ECLAC. Measuring femicide: challenges and efforts to bolster the\nprocess in Latin America and the Caribbean,<\/em> Nov. 2019, available at:<\/em> <\/em>https:\/\/oig.cepal.org\/sites\/default\/files\/femicide_web.pdf<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n [3]<\/a> UN News. More\nwomen in Latin America are working, but gender gap persists, new UN figures\nshow,<\/em> Oct. 28, 2019, available at:<\/em> https:\/\/news.un.org\/en\/story\/2019\/10\/1050121<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n [4]<\/a> UN News. Colombia:\n\u2018Staggering number\u2019 of human rights defenders killed in 2019,<\/em> Jan. 14,\n2020, available at: <\/em>https:\/\/news.un.org\/en\/story\/2020\/01\/1055272<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n [5]<\/a> See<\/em> www.antrabrasil.org<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" To mark March 8, International Women\u2019s Day, the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) wishes to highlight the fundamental role played by women human rights […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":10154,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[1130,1125,1122,1172,1183,1166,1169,1168,1124,1163],"resources_country":[1189,1191,1193,1197,1199,1205,1201,1195],"resources_language":[],"resources_audience":[],"resources_format":[],"resources_topic":[1104,1109],"resources_year":[],"class_list":["post-12842","resources","type-resources","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-brazil","category-colombia","category-lgbti","category-lgbti-blog","category-mexico","category-nicaragua","category-panama","category-peru","category-regional","resources_country-brasil","resources_country-colombia-es","resources_country-cuba-es","resources_country-mexico-es","resources_country-nicaragua-es","resources_country-panama-es","resources_country-peru-es","resources_country-republica-dominicana","resources_topic-lgbti-es","resources_topic-raza-e-igualdad"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/raceandequality.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resources\/12842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/raceandequality.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resources"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/raceandequality.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/resources"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raceandequality.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raceandequality.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/raceandequality.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raceandequality.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12842"},{"taxonomy":"resources_country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raceandequality.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resources_country?post=12842"},{"taxonomy":"resources_language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raceandequality.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resources_language?post=12842"},{"taxonomy":"resources_audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raceandequality.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resources_audience?post=12842"},{"taxonomy":"resources_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raceandequality.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resources_format?post=12842"},{"taxonomy":"resources_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raceandequality.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resources_topic?post=12842"},{"taxonomy":"resources_year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raceandequality.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resources_year?post=12842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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