For more than a decade, the Mesoamerican Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders (IM-Defensoras) has documented the patterns, perpetrators, and impacts of violence against women defenders across the region. Now, through their latest research report “Data That Hurt Us, Networks That Save Us”, they reveal the scale and severity of this violence – over 35,000 attacks between 2012 and 2023 – and highlight the power of feminist collective protection in resisting patriarchal, racist, and extractivist violence.
This report draws on one of the most comprehensive feminist registries of attacks in the world. It offers both quantitative data and rich, contextual analysis on the intersecting threats faced by defenders in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua. From criminalisation and state violence to the expansion of authoritarianism and impunity, the report identifies patterns that expose how defending rights has become increasingly dangerous – especially for Indigenous, Afro-descendant, LGBTQIA+, and rural defenders.
It also foregrounds the critical role of networks, collective strategies, and the Feminist Holistic Protection (FHP) model in ensuring the safety, sustainability, and power of Mesoamerican defenders. IM-Defensoras calls on states, international institutions, and movements to ensure that legal, political, and funding frameworks are responsive to defenders’ needs – and to stop targeting them for speaking truth to power.
As a key partner in the Safety for Voices (SfV) Consortium, IM-Defensoras continues to shape and lead regional feminist approaches to digital and physical safety for WHRDs.You can read the full executive summary of “Data That Hurt Us, Networks That Save Us” here on IM-Defensoras’ website, where the full report and additional resources are also available.
