Annual Report 2024
10

Women

In 2024, OMCT continued its efforts to combat sexual and gender-based violence and support Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRD). Around the world, growing authoritarianism, conflict, and backlash against women’s rights continue to fuel violence and impunity. To strengthen feminist movements, OMCT supported organisations representing more than 220 WHRDs, members of organisations and networks to continue their work on issues including gender-based violence, feminicides, reproductive rights, civil and political rights, and Indigenous Peoples rights.

Defenders at Risk

OMCT supported 81 women through its human rights defenders at risk mechanism. This included LC, a Kurdish filmmaker and human rights defender from Turkey, who lost her legs in a 2015 bomb attack. Despite ongoing medical challenges and political persecution, she remained committed to her activism. OMCT, in collaboration with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), provided tailored support, including a phone for filming and funding for therapy sessions. Thanks to this support, she could finally begin healing from the trauma she had endured. She later reported that prioritising her mental health was essential for sustainable activism.

Mexico: Victim of Sexual Torture Released from Arbitrary Detention

OMCT supported legal and international advocacy for Verónica Razo, who was sexually tortured in custody and arbitrarily detained in Mexico for 12 years. She was finally released in January 2024 and reunited with her children. Now a human rights defender, she advocates for the release and reparation of torture survivors as part of a Mexican victims’ network.

Mongolia: Addressing LGBTIQ+ Women's Rights in Mental Health Facilities before the Committee against Torture

In October 2024, OMCT, in collaboration with its partner, the Psychological Responsiveness NGO, submitted an alternative report to the Committee against Torture. This report detailed instances of violence, abuse, and inadequate care within Mongolian mental health facilities, particularly impacting LGBTIQ+ women and individuals with substance abuse issues. It also emphasizes the urgent need for systemic reforms and enhanced human rights protections.