African Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders

09/12/2025

𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐈𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄!

Today, as Tanzania marks its Independence Day and the world commemorates International Human Rights Defenders Day, we stand alongside Women Human Rights Defenders and communities who are mourning their dead, searching for the disappeared, and refusing to be silenced.

The African Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRD Initiative), together with WHRDs, social movements, and civil society across Africa, has issued this statement:

“𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞: 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐎𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐚𝐧𝐳𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚.”

We name the violence.
We name the gendered targeting of women defenders.
We name the legal architecture that shields power from accountability.
And we set out clear WHRD-centred demands for safety, justice, dignity, and structural change.

📄 Read & share the full statement (PDF attached).

Because independence cannot be celebrated while streets run with blood and women defenders are punished for imagining a different future.

Mary Lawlor UN Special Rapporteur for human rights defenders Front Line Defenders Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) OMCT SayNO - UNiTE to End Violence Against Women UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women BBC News Africa International Service for Human Rights Human Rights Watch