"The situation of women environmental & Human Rights Defenders across Afrcia", December 2025

Women environmental and human rights defenders (WEHRDs) in Africa play a vital role in protecting communities, ecosystems, and the rights of marginalized populations. Yet their work comes at a steep cost. They face disproportionate risks, including gender-based violence, criminalization, intimidation, and exclusion from decision-making processes...

Despite their crucial contributions, the experiences of WEHRDs are often overlooked, their voices sidelined, and their struggles underreported...

Data from Global Witness and ALLIED paint a grim picture... Since 2012, a total of 2,157 defenders globally have been killed, 126 of whom were from an African country. Out of the 126 defenders reported killed, just five of them were women. According to ALLIED, there have been a total of 261 attacks across all countries since 2022. Out of the total number of attacks, just 18 were reported to be against women. These numbers mask the real scale of the crisis—silenced by fear, stigma, and chronic underreporting...

Violence against WEHRDs is highly gendered and often intersects with other forms of discrimination....

Women and girl environmental and human rights defenders working in patriarchal societies often face the same dangers as men when they challenge powerful interests. However, their activism also puts them at risk in other ways because of who they are, not just what they are doing. They endure smear campaigns, sexual violence, online abuse, and criminalization for daring to challenge power....

Across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, WEHRDs spoke of constant fear, systemic harassment, and exclusion from key decision-making spaces. Many are targeted precisely because they are women: their gender is weaponized to silence their voices and discredit their leadership....

The report calls for gender-responsive protection frameworks, stronger data collection, psychosocial and legal support, and recognition of women defenders as agents of change, not passive victims.