GFW Grantee CLADEM (Comité de América Latina y El Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de la Mujer; Latin American and Caribbean Committee for the Defense of Women’s Rights) is the 2010 Gruber Women’s Rights Prize winner for its courageous work advancing women’s sexual and reproductive rights.

Founded in 1987 in Costa Rica, CLADEM is a regional network of women’s organizations and activists that advocates and monitors compliance with international agreements, proposes legal reforms, produces research, and facilitates collaborative action. Members believe that both democracy and peace are fundamental to their vision of a more just world.

From the late 1980s and through the 1990s, the CLADEM played a key role in advancing legal reforms in sexual and reproductive rights. Of special importance was its work in promoting legislation emphasizing respect for sexual and reproductive rights in state interventions into cases of violence against women.

Also receiving the award is the Center for Reproductive Rights, a US-based organization that pushes legal reforms to advance reproductive freedom worldwide. The two organizations will share a $500,000 prize; each recipient will receive a gold medal.

For more information on the prize and detailed bios of the recipients, go to the Gruber Prize website » or leer en Español (PDF) »

For more information on CLADEM, go to their website (en Español) »