Dear ,

This year, three women were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize – recognition that lasting peace and democracy can be achieved only when women have the opportunity to participate fully. The Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee, the Yemeni political activist Tawakkul Karman, and President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia have all dedicated their lives to change.

This autumn, Human Rights Watch is acknowledging a number of women who risk their safety – and even their lives – in the name of human rights with The Alison Des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism, our highest honor. These women come from Mexico, Iran, and Indonesia, and all of them work tirelessly to defend the vulnerable and to bring abusers to justice.

We’d like to introduce you to them, below. And if you are attending one of our annual dinners in North America, you will probably hear one of them speak about their inspirations, their work, and their dedication to human rights.

Sister Consuelo Morales has seen the number of people in Monterrey who are tortured, killed, or “disappeared” skyrocket in the four years since Mexico’s president unleashed the military to combat drug cartels.

Morales has taken the lead in demanding justice for the victims of this violence. Her human rights organization, Ciudadanos en Apoyo de Derechos Humanos (CADHAC), has been documenting human rights violations that would otherwise not be investigated, as the authorities often blame the victims, saying they must have been criminals themselves. Families ask her to help find their loved ones who have been “disappeared,” feeling they have nowhere else to turn. 

Morales, a small nun with a resonant voice, visits dangerous prisons, overcrowded with gang members, and tracks down illegal detention centers where victims are held incommunicado. Although authorities tell her she’s entering at her own risk, she goes in anyway.

Nik Steinberg

Nik Steinberg, a researcher for our Americas division, is sponsoring Morales. Steinberg will shortly release his report on abuses by Mexico’s security forces in the context of the "war on drugs." He has also worked on political repression in Cuba under Raul Castro. He is fluent in Spanish.

Read the rest of Morales's story >>

Anis Hidayah was literally going into labor with her second child when she answered her phone, suspecting it would be a migrant worker needing her help. She was right. The woman had recently returned to Indonesia and said she was being extorted before being allowed to return to her hometown.

“At first I thought I’d ignore the call, but I couldn’t,” Hidayah told the Jakarta Globe. Although the woman wanted to speak only to Hidayah, a leading advocate for Indonesia’s migrant domestic workers, she convinced the domestic worker to call one of her colleagues at the organization Hidayah co-founded, Migrant Care.

Millions of Indonesians work in foreign countries. In 2010, these workers sent their families more than US$7.1 billion in remittances.

More than half of Indonesians who seek jobs abroad are women who work as domestic workers in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Despite their important economic contributions and the valuable services they provide as nannies and housekeepers, they are typically excluded from labor laws abroad and face a wide range of abuse and exploitation.

Nisha Varia

Nisha Varia, senior researcher for our women's rights division, is sponsoring Hidayah. Varia is a general expert on women's rights in Asia and has investigated abuses against women migrant workers in Asia and the Middle East. She has also documented intimidation and threats against women in Afghanistan and violence against female refugees in Nepal.

Read Hidayah's story >>