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Violence Against Women Human Rights Defenders in Mesoamerica 2012-2014 Report

Authored by: Claudia Samayoa, Ana María Hernández, Cristina Hardaga, et al

Categories: Human Rights
Sub-Categories: Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV)
Country: Mesoamerica
Region: Latin America and the Caribbean
Year: 2014
Citation: Samayoa, Claudia, Ana María Hernández, Cristina Hardaga, et al. Violence Against Women Human Rights Defenders in Mesoamerica 2012-2014 Report. Mesoamerican Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders, 2014.

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Executive Summary

Drawing on data collected by the Mesoamerican Registry of Attacks on Women Human Rights Defenders through the Regional Monitoring and Information System, this report provides updated information regarding attacks on WHRDs in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico from 2012-2014, and includes a separate chapter on the situation in Nicaragua. In the absence of specific and official reports on the situation of WHRDs in Mesoamerica and the lack of gender indicators in most of the existing documentation on violence, the present report can improve understanding of the situation of WHRDs in the region and increase awareness about the realities they face, quantifying their contributions and the risks involved in their work. It also serves as a solid base for continuing to demand that States fulfill their obligations to protect WHRDs. The report seeks to continue strengthening the support systems created by WHRDs within their rural and urban communities, fostering a sense of of belonging, and upholding the conviction that we are not along in exercising our civic duty to defend human rights. Our aim is also to promote a sense of security for WHRDS, affirming, “If they touch one of us, they touch us all.” Above all, however, this report recognizes the tireless efforts of Mesoamerican women, who, in the face of discrimination and violence, continue to defend the rights they have won, broadening and deepening democracy and “buen vivir” (living well) throughout the region.