DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
Solidarité Féminine pour la Paix et le Développement Intégral (SOFEPADI)
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a 2002 peace agreement did not put an end to widespread sexual violence committed by the Mai-Mai, Laurent Nkunda’s militia, former Interhamwes and members of the DRC military. Every day women are raped, often when they fetch water or work the land, and rarely do they seek justice given the fear of family rejection and a lack of trust in the justice system. The scope and nature of sexual violence is shocking: UN sources estimate that hundreds of thousands of women have been raped and horrifically maimed as part of this violence.
SOFEPADI operates along the border between North Kivu and Ituri—a particularly volatile area where armed groups are still rampaging. SOFEPADI seeks to break the culture of silence, challenge the social stigma attached to rape victims, and promote justice reform. SOFEPADI and other women’s rights organizations in the DRC obtained a major victory in 2006 when parliament passed a law that broadens the definition of sexual violence and increases penalties for perpetrators. As a result of SOFEPADI’s awareness campaign, traditional chiefs in ten villages surrounding Béni and Bunia have been reporting rape cases to the police instead of arranging marriages between rapists and their victims as “compensation” to the victim’s family. SOFEPADI provides documentation and facilitates meetings between rape survivors and international organizations that focus media attention on sexual violence in DRC, and it was instrumental in organizing the visit of UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Yakin Ertürk, to the region. Under very difficult conditions, SOFEPADI has transformed resigned victims of sexual violence into active participants seeking justice.
UGANDA
AWARE-Uganda
In the economically-deprived, volatile Karamoja region in northeast Uganda, prevailing laws and customs severely limit women’s ability to own property and compel girls to drop out of school at a young age. Road ambushes and raids between ethnic groups are common, and in 2006, the Ugandan army began a disarmament operation, detaining people indiscriminately and using excessive force. Operations by the army were less violent in 2007 but an atmosphere of instability and violence still prevails.
Founded in 1989 by a small group of rural women, Action for Women and Awakening in 
Rural Environment-Uganda (AWARE-Uganda) now has sixty legal aid volunteers actively campaigning against domestic violence and for the promotion of women’s rights in the districts of Kaabong, Abim, and Kotido. AWARE provides free legal services to women, and in the last year AWARE helped twelve victims of sexual and domestic violence successfully file their cases in court, where each of the alleged perpetrators was found guilty. Remarkably, as a result of a training session on inheritance rights for clan leaders organized by AWARE, widows in Kalapata, Karenga, Kapoth and Kathile (four main towns in Karamoja) are now able to take possession of their late husbands’ property. In addition, with the help of AWARE, thirty women were able to obtain official documents from their district offices showing their ownership and entitlement to their land. In 2008, AWARE will continue a campaign to promote girls’ access to primary and secondary education.
LIBERIA
Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia
Women in Liberia are subject to pervasive social and economic discrimination and sexual and gender-based violence, and face many obstacles in accessing justice. During Liberia’s civil war, rape was used as a weapon to subdue and control populations – and the end of fighting in 2003 did not bring an end to such crimes. As a result of years of advocacy by the Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL) and others, in 2005 the Liberian Congress passed a rape law that increases penalties for perpetrators, raises the age of consent to eighteen, and corrects language in older legislation that made it extremely difficult to prosecute sexual assault cases other than gang rape. Last year, the first two convictions of rapists under the new law were handed down.
AFELL is representing dozens of women from across the country in rape cases. These prosecutions are a critically important step in establishing the rule of law and holding perpetrators accountable. AFELL is conducting broad public education around the cases to send the message that rapists will be prosecuted under the new law. AFELL has organized workshops in Monrovia and rural areas to train police officers, court officials, town chiefs and elders, and women’s groups to implement the rape law. AFELL recently signed an agreement with the national police director to design and implement a training program for police officers on how to investigate rape cases. AFELL also has provided legal education to community-based organizations in rural Grand Gedeh and Grand Bassa counties; this outreach led to a sharp increase in demand for legal aid – a sign that women, once resigned to rape as a part of life, are beginning to believe that change is possible.
AFELL is the most prominent women-led human rights organization in Liberia, yet the Fund’s grant is its only source of general support funding – and the only funds it can use to respond to requests for legal aid from community-based organizations.
MOROCCO
El Amane Association for Women’s Rights
Morocco is at a critical moment for women’s rights. In January 2004, after more than a decade of advocacy by the women’s rights movement, King Mohamed VI signed unprecedented reforms to the Mudawana, or Family Code, which governs issues of marriage, divorce and inheritance. Prior to the reforms, Moroccan law treated women as legal minors, subject to male guardianship throughout their lives. Even opening a bank account required male permission. The new Family Code outlaws forced marriage and imposes restrictions on the practice of polygamy and “repudiation” – unilateral divorce by the husband. To ensure that the Family Code reforms translate into improvements in women’s lives, the Fund supports local and national women’s rights organizations as they press police and local officials to follow the requirements of the new law.
In the photo above, El Amane staff discuss their strategic plan.
El Amane was founded in 2003 to address the needs of young women in underserved rural areas. In rural Morocco, national officials fail to oversee local judges and officials in charge of implementing the Family Code reforms, female literacy rates are abysmal, and many women are totally unaware of the increased protections offered by the Family Code. El Amane conducts public education campaigns targeted to reach women in rural areas and incorporates human rights education with literacy training and income-generating projects. It presses local courts, hospitals and police stations to improve services for women. El Amane is also committed to movement and coalition-building and has successfully encouraged other organizations in the region to make women’s rights a priority. Last year they convinced ten humanitarian and development organizations to provide legal and social support to victims of gender-based violence.
ALGERIA
Collective of Women of the Black Spring
In 2005, the Algerian government responded to the demands of women’s rights organizations and made several modest policy improvements affecting women’s rights, making it easier for women to obtain a divorce as well as child support. If implemented, these would benefit thousands of women abandoned by their husbands, many of whom are forced to sleep in the streets with their children for lack of funds. However, implementation of the revised family code is a major challenge, and the need for better laws to protect and promote women’s rights remains high. Women must have approval from a male relative to marry; they are entitled to only half of what their brothers inherit; and polygamy remains legal – men are allowed to marry up to four wives. Domestic violence is pervasive and tolerated by police and officials.
In 2001, seeking to improve women’s rights and welfare in the heart of rural Amazigh (Berber) country, a group of young women created the Collectif de Femmes du Printemps Noir. The Collective courageously challenges social tolerance of violence against women. In 2006, with Fund support, the Collective opened a “listening center” in Tizi-Ouzou to provide female victims of violence with legal, medical, and social support. The Collective also has developed income-generating projects to promote women’s economic empowerment and educated Algerians on women’s rights. Its monthly bulletin documents violations of women’s rights and offers women legal advice. In 2008, the Collective will travel from village to village to introduce to women a new law that requires a civil marriage certificate—a key protection for women who can use this document to protect their marital rights if abandoned by their husbands—prior to a religious wedding ceremony.
INDIA
Shramajivee Mahila Samity (SMS) 
Women in rural India rarely have access to the court system, and many disputes are handled at the community level through shalishis, where men traditionally resolve conflicts related to land disputes, divorce, alimony, and sexual violence. Founded in 1990, Shramajivee Mahila Samity (SMS) works to ensure women receive support in defending their interests. For example, it has facilitated hundreds of shalishis – ensuring that women are allowed to testify; trains community leaders on non-discriminatory mechanisms for conflict resolution; and explores ways to connect shalishis to local courts, which are more likely to enforce hard-won laws protecting women’s rights.
As SMS has grown from 200 members in a few villages to 16,000 members in 300 villages in West Bengal, it has taken on larger advocacy projects focused on economic empowerment in addition to its community-based work. For example, recognizing that a lack of employment opportunities leaves rural women impoverished, SMS helped press the central government to pass the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and include a provision that one-third of work projects be allocated to women. To ensure that this provision is implemented, SMS organized labor rights committees run by 133 female tea plantation workers in Jalpaiguri district—where a thousand starvation deaths have occurred—to demand change. SMS is pressing for work permits to be given to individuals rather than families – whereby male heads-of-household receive permits and widows and single women, who are desperately in need of work, are unable to obtain assistance.
PAKISTAN
Panah Trust
Sindh province has one of the highest rate of so-called “honor killings” in Pakistan, in which women are murdered by their relatives for allegedly bringing dishonor upon the family. In this area of Pakistan, the lives of millions of women are circumscribed by extreme seclusion and submission to their husbands and male relatives. In this atmosphere of deep repression, Panah Trust works to bring attention to the rights and welfare of women by actively engaging the judiciary and police in Karachi to strengthen respect for and protection of women’s rights. The group also runs a shelter with medical, psychological and legal services for hundreds of women and their children experiencing domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking and fear of honor killings. Sixty percent of their clients are illiterate.
Their work is a careful balancing act: Panah Trust activists note that when women begin to assert their rights, even tentatively, they face punishment and violence, and “the curve of honor killings has risen parallel to a rise in awareness of women’s rights.” Thus they incorporate strategies that help women in danger and, at the same time, press for accountability and law enforcement to minimize repercussions against the women they shelter. Panah Trust’s successes operating in this context are remarkable. Last year Panah launched a training initiative on women’s legal rights, and by order of the Chief Justice of Sindh, this training has been integrated into the curriculum of the academy that trains all new judges. Rulings made by new judges will then be monitored for their first two years. Four hundred and fifty-five judges in lower Sindh courts will undergo the same training during winter and summer recess of the court over the next three years. The Inspector General of Police in Karachi has also requested training from Panah.
GUATEMALA
Ixmucané National Indigenous Women’s Association
In rural Guatemala, access to land is critical to the ability of indigenous people to provide food for their families. Women must challenge male community leaders who deny women their right to own property, leaving them completely dependent on male relatives.
At left, the Ixcumané mural says “For women’s lives, land and dignity.”
Ixmucané is pressing land rights organizations and coalitions, all run by men, to take women’s rights into account. Founded in 1993 by women forced to flee to Mexico during Guatemala’s civil war, Ixmucané currently has a membership of more than 600 Mayan and rural women in ten rural communities that have been resettled by the Guatemalan government in the Petén. Ixmucané also works with other female land rights activists to develop coordinated strategies. As a founding member of the Rural Women’s Alliance, Ixmucané won a legal victory when the government land fund, which distributes land to resettled refugee communities, issued a decree establishing the ability of women to own land jointly with their husbands. Last year, through community education and legal aid, Ixmucané succeeded in registering every woman in the rural village of Santa Carmelita as co-owner of her land with her husband or partner. This year, the organization will join the Association of Female Mayan Lawyers to convince other towns to follow suit.
MEXICO
Justice for our Daughters
Nowhere in Mexico is the crisis of violence against women more apparent than in the northern state of Chihuahua. Since 1993, more than 450 women and girls have been murdered in Chihuahua and Ciudad Júarez. For many years, the 
authorities did little to investigate or prosecute those responsible, and in several cases they used torture to extract confessions from scapegoats, leaving murderers at large. In response to human rights activism, local authorities have improved their investigations into the more recent murders of women, especially those related to domestic violence. However, many cases still have not been adequately investigated.
The photo at right shows mothers of young women who were murdered or disappeared at a demonstration.
Founded in 2001 by a woman whose daughter disappeared, Justice for our Daughters helps families navigate the legal system, provides legal support to the wrongfully accused, and collects evidence to be used in cases. In addition to legal aid, Justice raises awareness about the crisis to generate international pressure to force Mexican authorities to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators. Over the past year, Justice worked with its international allies to attract significant international attention to the crisis; the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights agreed to send investigators to Chihuahua; Amnesty International conducted a massive public education campaign on the murders; and several expert forensic anthropologists are now reviewing the police department’s own investigations. The Fund provided Justice for our Daughters with its first grant, and remains one of the only sources of funding for this dynamic organization.
Read more:
» Selected women's rights victories from 2007
