Defenders' stories

‘There is currently no law to protect human rights defenders in Madagascar. We need this law to pass. The army and the gendarmes must be trained to understand who we are so they can become our allies.'

Yuteita Hoyos Ramos is an Indigenous woman human rights defender from Mexico. In an interview, she told us how she came to work in defence of the rights of girls, women and Indigenous peoples, and about her aspirations for the future of Mexico.

‘The Egyptian authorities must open the civic space for civil society to play its role. They must stop persecuting human rights defenders, political opponents, and journalists simply for doing their jobs. The UN and the international community must maintain pressure on them to comply with human rights standards.’

‘We try to address issues of climate change and inequality only through answering symptoms of the disease. It's time that we address the root cause which is the global financial architecture.’

‘We strongly believe that we must push the gender perspective, that we must work with the present and future generations, and that also puts their lives at risk, because they are looking for their birthright. And [these risks] should not be normalised in our world, as we look to reach what is known as climate justice.'

Farukhleqa is a woman human rights defender from Afghanistan. She has been working for the promotion and protection of women's right for almost 20 years and is currently actively opposing gender apartheid in Afghanistan.

Tamana is a human rights and women’s rights activist who leads in Germany the campaign to 'End Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan. In an interview with ISHR, she tells us a little more about her work and vision for Afghan women.

Elham Kohistani is a human rights defender from Afghanistan. Having witnessed successive governments trample human rights in her country since her childhood, she has dedicated her life to fighting for the basic rights of women and girls.

'Since the Taliban came to power, Afghanistan [has become] the only country where we see that women don’t have any kind of rights.'

'They can take our homes, our titles or our surnames, but the hope and joy that sustain us, and with which we continue to work, still remain.'

Cynthia Palacios Reckziegel works in international advocacy for the Center of Legal and Social Studies (CELS) in Buenos Aires. She shared her hopes for a future in which women in Argentina can access reproductive health services without being discriminated.

Andreza Jorge is a human rights defender and activist working to empower communities in favelas in Brazil. She was also a participant to the 2023 edition of ISHR’s flagship training course, the Human Rights Defender Advocacy Programme (HRDAP).