By Neida Lazo

More than 20 percent of women in Serbia – one in every five – is a victim of physical violence at some point during her lifetime. Women's rights activists in Serbia have diligently campaigned for years to address this staggering statistic. Since 1991, when the first SOS women's crisis hotline was established, women's groups have helped to secure a 2002 law criminalizing domestic violence, which was revised three years later to secure better legal protections and options for women survivors of abuse. These changes in the legal treatment of gender-based violence has encouraged greater public awareness of the issue. As a result, increasing numbers of women have summoned the courage to report abusive acts.

I look at an ant and I see myself…endowed by nature with a strength much greater than my size so I might cope with the weight of a racism that crushes my spirit. I look at a stream and I see myself… flowing irresistibly over hard obstacles until they become smooth and, one day, disappear.”
—Miriam Makeba (1932-2008), South African singer, songwriter and civil rights activist also known as Mama Afrika

Despite advances in women’s educational and health rights, Lebanon continues to be governed by a patriarchal state and society where visibility of women’s presence in fields ranging from politics to academia belies deep gender inequities. Based in Beirut, KAFA (Enough) Violence and Exploitation is a shining example of a feminist organization that addresses gender based violence at multiple levels.

For more than 50 years, indigenous communities have been caught in the crossfire of Colombia’s civil war between guerilla groups, paramilitaries, narcotics traffickers and government forces. Declarations of neutrality by indigenous groups like the Wayúu people have done little to protect them from the violence and human rights abuses.

Global Fund grantees Women’s League of Chinland (WLC) and the Women’s League of Burma work closely with the Chin refugee community in India. At the Global Fund for Women, refugee rights of women and girls has long been a core component of our work. To date, we have supported 329 organizations working with refugees and internally displaced people in 68 countries, totaling over $6 million in grants. 

The Fiji Women's Rights Movement (FWRM) was founded in Suva in 1986 to address the serious lack of legal rights for women in Fiji society. FWRM is a multicultural feminist organisation that seeks to improve Fiji women’s socio-economic, legal and political status through national and international advocacy, as well as publications and activities such as public awareness raising, photography competitions and coalition-building on human rights. The group also conducts leadership training for young women and girls.

“When we started documenting the impact of pesticide use on women farmers, we were shocked to find that no one was paying attention to the welfare of these women. Women plantation workers were spraying some of the worst pesticides almost everyday and no one was concerned of the impact this would have on their health!” — Sarojeni Rengam, executive director of Pesticide Action Network-Asia Pacific (PAN AP)

Homosexuality was illegal during the Soviet era. This legacy of hatred and disdain of Lesbian Bisexual and Transsexual (LBT) persons remains alive and well in Kyrgyzstan, a country that became independent with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

"We want to raise the status of rural women, prepare them for the market economy and create conditions in which women are able to make a living wage.” — Bubuzura Azhumudinova, founder of Eldik Uzdar

“Women for Women’s Human Rights has [made a] great contribution to the women’s movement in Turkey. Three years ago, they organized women’s groups to change the Turkish Civil and Family Code, and they got the government to change the laws.” — Nurcan Baysal, GFW Advisor

“What we really want is to change violent attitudes and behaviors. We are trying to find the best way to introduce elements for prevention and protection against family violence.” — Fátima Millón, former director, Red de Mujeres Contra la Violencia