Solidarity bolsters Honduras activism
Solidarity bolsters Honduras activism
28 Feb 2014 00:00| Jo Tuckman
Women's rights defenders in Central America are drawing on a formidable network for support and protection.
No one could accuse Berta Cáceres of being faint-hearted. The leading Honduran indigenous activist has endured multiple threats, systematic judicial harassment and smear campaigns because of her efforts to keep indigenous lands in Honduras free of companies that plunder their natural resources.
Cáceres describes all this as "just part of the struggle", but says that, without solidarity from her peers, it could all be over.
"The solidarity is why I am alive and why I am here," she told a recent meeting of the Mesoamerican Human Rights Defenders' Initiative (IM-Defensoras) in the Mexican capital. "And, of course, we are committed to continue."
IM-Defensoras is a three-year-old effort to provide women's rights defenders in the region with protection mechanisms that are gender-sensitive and adapted to different contexts.
They go beyond traditional options usually focused on organising some kind of police guard or facilitating exile.
More:
http://mg.co.za/article/2014-02-27-solidarity-bolsters-honduras-activism
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