Global Human Rights Defender Honour for member of Peaceworks, Noelene Nabulivou
Fiji WHR Defender Noelene Nabulivou recognised for efforts in new global
publication
November 26 2008
Suva, Fiji Islands
November 29 is the International Women Human Rights Defenders Day and this year
Fiji based feminist, human rights activist and peacebuilder Noelene Nabulivou is
one of the women's human rights defenders being acknowledged in a special
publication being released as part of the 2008 Global 16 Days of ActIvism
Campaign.
Joining the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign, members of
the International Coalition on Women Human Rights Defenders honor 16 women human
rights defenders who have endured all risks and dangers to pursue their
activism.
And according to Nabulivou the 16 Days Campaign theme "Human Rights for
Women, Human Rights for All UDHR60" is important because it calls and
claims solidarity and sisterhood with all women human rights defenders,
globally;:
"Our work impacts deeply and personally on every individual activist so it
is not really important who is on the campaign posters. Reflected in the 16
faces are a myriad of defenders in Iraq, Nicaragua, Burma, Bougainville,
Tonga, Guam, Democratic Republic of Congo, the Phillipines, West Papua, USA,
Jamaica, South Africa, the Solomon Islands, Fiji and every other country on
earth - all working against all forms of gender based violence and toward true
equality for women and girl child. All carry the movement, and all need our
solidarity and care."
Who are women human rights defenders?
Women active in human rights defense who are targeted for who they are as well
as those active in the defense of women's rights who are targeted for what
they do. Simply, it pertains to human rights activists who are women, as well as
other activists who also defend women's rights.
In every region of the world, many women human rights defenders - whether they
are women, men, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or any other sex - often
find their rights violated, enduring different forms and degrees of violence.
Perpetrators of the violence are not just those from the State. Many incidents
of violence against women human rights defenders have been documented as
committed by people from the community and family members who view the work of
these women human rights defenders as contradicting social norms.
Aside from the general forms of violence they face together with other
defenders such as threats, restriction of freedom of opinion and expression,
restriction of association and assembly, arbitrary arrest, abduction, torture or
murder, women human rights defenders especially experience sexual assault, rape,
or other forms of sexual violence. They face attacks, which specifically target
their sexuality as a form of punishment for their advocacy.
Each of these 16 women human rights defenders marks a day of activism against
gender violence - from November 25, the International Day against Violence
against Women until December 10, the International Human Rights Day.
They represent the many other women human rights defenders we honor each
November 29, the International Women Human Rights Defenders Day.
On these days and every day, we pay tribute to the courage of all women human
rights defenders who risk their lives in defense of their rights, and the rights
of others.
The publication notes: "Noelene is a Paciic workshop facilitator, trainer
and community
educator, with experience developed in diverse spaces in rural,
remote and urban Paciic areas. As Coordinator of Women's Action
for Change in Fiji, much of Noelene's advocacy focuses on rights of
women and young people. "Women defenders in Fiji are challenged
because we work on human rights and equality in small, complex
post-conlict spaces. Rising evangelical and right-wing nationalist
groups challenge hard-won gains from recent decades. We face
trauma of years of coup d' etats on the whole community, and
in particular on women human rights defenders ourselves. Each
subsequent coup sees still more of us targeted in subtle and overt
ways." WAC ensures that unpopular issues such as rights related to
sexuality, abortion and
sex workers, as well as religious fundamentalism, indigenous masculinist
politics, and Fiji's
warrior culture and militarism are challenged."
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