Women human rights defenders around the globe are facing heightened threats of violence and repression.
- Isabelle Arradon
- ICG
Sometimes they are targeted for being activists, and sometimes just for being women.
World leaders should do much more to secure space for women’s safe participation in public life.
In early January 2019, unknown gunmen shot dead Maritza Isabel Quiroz Leiva, a 60-year-old Colombian land rights activist on a small farm near the Caribbean city of Santa Marta.
Her killing was a stark reminder that speaking out on social and political issues in Colombia – whether land disputes, women’s rights, or the…