To mark International Day of Women Human Rights Defenders, we remember some of the female activists who have been killed over the past year

Nadia Vera



Mexico: died 31 July 2015

Nadia Vera was found dead in her flat in Mexico City. She had been raped, tortured and shot in the head alongside four other people, including three women and a male journalist, Rubén Espinosa. She was the 36th female human rights defender to be killed in Mexico since 2010. Vera campaigned against attacks on journalists and the selling off of oil reserves. Her activism had led to death threats, prompting her move from Xalapa, the capital of Veracruz, to Mexico City last year.

“Nadia’s murder shows us that there is nowhere safe left in Mexico for defenders fleeing threats or violence. That’s how serious the human rights crisis has become,” said Atziri Ávila, coordinator of the National Network of Human Rights Defenders of Mexico.

Francela Méndez

El Salvador: died 31 May 2015



Francela Méndez defended the rights of the transgender community in El Salvador. She was on the board of the Colectivo Alejandría (Alejandría Collective), which promotes the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the country. She was also involved in implementing a programme to address HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, and was a member of the Salvadoran Human Rights Defenders Network. Méndez was killed at the home of a friend in Sonsonate, outside San Salvador. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights condemned the killing.

Intisar al-Hasairi

Libya: died 24 February 2015



The bodies of Intisar al-Hasairi and her aunt were found in the boot of a car in Tripoli. Both had been shot.

Al-Hasairi was the co-founder of the Tanweer Movement, a group that promotes peace and culture in Libya. She was involved in pro-democracy protests in the country.

Joan Kagezi

Uganda: died 30 March 2015

Joan Kagezi, a Ugandan lawyer and prosecutor, was shot dead on her way home from work. She headed the directorate of public prosecutions in the international crimes and anti-terrorism division. At the time of her death, Kagezi was the lead prosecutor in a trial involving 13 men accused of involvement in an al-Shabaab terrorist attack. She also helped prosecute Thomas Kwoyelo, a former commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army, for crimes of murder and kidnapping. “Her murder ended what some lawyers described as one of the most brilliant and fearless top-notch criminal prosecuting careers,” wrote the Observer newspaper in Kampala at the time of her death.

Sabeen Mahmud

Pakistan: died 24 April 2015

Sabeen Mahmud was shot dead in her car after leaving an event in Karachi with her mother. She was one of Pakistan’s most prominent human rights activists, and the director of a pioneering cafe and community arts space called T2F (originally The Second Floor). On the evening she was killed, T2F had hosted an event highlighting the cases of those in Balochistan who have been “disappeared”, allegedly at the hands of the Pakistani government. Mahmud had received death threats – she was not afraid of rocking the boat or taking on religious fundamentalists. “This was a woman equally at home soldering wires, discussing Urdu poetry, playing cricket, attending every progressive political demonstration in Karachi, singing the back catalogue of Pink Floyd, and being my self-proclaimed ‘geek-squad for life’,” wrote her friend, the novelist Kamila Shamsie, after her death.

Norma Angélica Bruno Román

Mexico: died 13 February 2015

Norma Angélica Bruno Román was killed in front of her children on her way to attend the funeral of another young activist.

She was understood to be a member of a group in Iguala that worked with families whose relatives had disappeared.



Catherine Han Montoya

US: died 13 April 2015

Catherine Han Montoya, who campaigned for civil and human rights, was killed in her home in Atlanta. She championed the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, as well as immigrants and female Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders. She co-founded the Southeast Immigrant Rights Network. Montoya worked for the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, which paid tribute to her as “an extraordinarily talented leader and skilled organiser who devoted her life to empowering people, including immigrants, communities of colour, and LGBTQ individuals and their families. She leaves a legacy of building bridges of unity and opportunity across multi-ethnic communities”.

Losana McGowan

Fiji: died 4 April 2015

Losana McGowan, a journalist and women’s rights campaigner, was killed at home. Her partner has been charged with her murder. McGowan combined her work as a journalist, reporting for the Fiji Times and the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation, with her activism for the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre and Fiji Women’s Rights Movement, which works to change laws that discriminate against women. She was most recently the media and communications coordinator for the Secretariat of the Pacific Community. Her death has prompted calls for greater action to tackle violence against women.

Angiza Shinwari

Afghanistan: died 16 February 2015

Angiza Shinwari had recently started a second term as an active provincial council member in Nangarhar when she was killed following a bomb attack on the vehicle in which she was travelling. Before being elected to council, Shinwari was an activist and staunch defender of women’s rights and the right to education. Her killing highlights the dangers women face when taking up political positions in Afghanistan. Reuters reported that, despite keeping a low profile, Shinwari had asked Afghan and foreign officials for protection, fearing her life could be in danger. “All women working in government are in great danger. And the situation is especially bad for provincial council members,” she said.