Together4Equality

Join us in supporting Equality Defenders around the world!

£10,838.31 of £15000
Accurate as of 10 Dec 2018

The Equal Rights Trust works in partnership with equality defenders to secure the adoption and implementation of equality laws. For us, an equality defender is anyone – civil society representative, lawyer, journalist, government representative, philanthropist – committed to promoting a world in which all can participate on an equal basis. Between now and 10 December (Human Rights Day), we are seeking to raise £15,000 - £1,000 for our work with each of fifteen equality defenders.

Donate to us through BT MyDonate

Over the last two months of our campaign, we’ve shared the stories of some of the remarkable #equalitydefenders whose work we have the privilege to support. We’ve told you about Alvaro, whose coalition we’re supporting as it works for the adoption of comprehensive equality law in Paraguay. We’ve shared the story of Marjana and her ground-breaking litigation on behalf of LGBT persons in Serbia. We’ve highlighted the work of Anaraa, who recently launched the Equality Coalition of Mongolia with our support. And we’ve told you about the work of many other amazing individuals working to promote equality in countries ranging from Armenia to Yemen.

But the simple fact is that for every two equality defenders whose remarkable work we can share with you, there is another who we can’t tell you about. In fact, for some of the people whose work we support, to simply reveal the country they work in would be to put them and that work at risk. So, in the last week of our campaign, we want to highlight the work of those #equalitydefenders working to fight discrimination in the darkest and most difficult of circumstances.

We are delighted that with your help, we’ve now raised over £10,000, but we’ve yet to meet our target. Please help us to help these equality defenders as they work to create an equal world. Stand #Together4Equality, donate today and help us reach our goal!

From all at the Trust, thank you!

Please click on the names below to read more about other equality defenders we are supporting. 

Sardorbek Abdukhalilov

“The true meaning of our work is standing out firmly for justice and fair dealing even if it be against ourselves.”  -Sardorbek Abdukhalilov, lawyer, Kyrgyzstan

Sardorbek Abdukhalilov is a lawyer working with Spravedlivost, a human rights organization based in Jalal-Abad in southern Kyrgyzstan. The Equal Rights Trust has been working with Sardorbek for more than five years: among other things, we have supported him to bring litigation on behalf of members of Kyrgyzstan’s ethnic minority population and worked with him to undertake an in-depth analysis of Kyrgyzstan’s legal framework on equality and non-discrimination. We are currently supporting Sardorbek and other members of the Kyrgyzstani Equality Coalition to develop and advocate for the adoption of a comprehensive equality law in the country.

By donating to our campaign, you can enhance the support we provide to enable equality defenders like Sardorbek to secure the adoption and implementation of equality laws. Every donation counts!

Donate to us through BT MyDonate
Alvaro Martínez Gómez

Alvaro Martínez Gómez is a member of the coordination team of La Red Contra Toda Forma de Discriminación, a coalition of 25 civil society organisations formed in 2003. The Equal Rights Trust is providing practical, technical and strategic support to La Red in its efforts to promote the adoption of comprehensive anti-discrimination law in Paraguay, the last state in South America without such a law.

By donating to our campaign, you can enhance the support we provide to enable equality defenders like Alvaro to secure the adoption and implementation of equality laws. Every donation counts!

Donate to us through BT MyDonate

Mónica Bayá

Mónica Bayá is Technical Secretary of Comunidad de Derechos Humanos, a group of organisations and institutions in Bolivia which work for the full and equal enjoyment of human rights. The Equal Rights Trust is working with Mónica and Comunidad de Derechos Humanos to improve the implementation of Ley contra el racismo y toda forma de discriminación (the Law against racism and all forms of discrimination).

By donating to our campaign, you can enhance the support we provide to enable equality defenders like Mónica to secure the adoption and implementation of equality laws. Every donation counts!

Donate to us through BT MyDonate

Marjana Majstorović

Marjana Majstorović is a Serbian lawyer, working with Labris, the Belgrade-based Lesbian Human Rights Organisation. Earlier this year, with support from the Equal Rights Trust, Marjana and the Labris team succeeded in their legal battle to persuade the Ministry for Education to remove six textbooks containing discriminatory content against the LGBT community, from the curriculum. Over the coming year, the Trust will provide ongoing support to Marjana and her team, as they work to ensure that the Ministry adopts systemic changes to ensure that all educational materials promote equality and that there is no further discrimination against any groups in educational materials.

By donating to our campaign, you can enhance the support we provide to enable equality defenders like Marjana to secure the adoption and implementation of equality laws. Every donation counts!

Donate to us through BT MyDonate

Anaraa Nyamdorj

Anaraa Nyamdorj is co-founder and advisor of the LGBT Centre in Mongolia who has worked on LGBTI rights since 1997. Earlier this year, with support from the Equal Rights Trust, the LGBT Centre and other civil society organisations working with different groups exposed to discrimination established a national Equality Coalition. Over the coming year, the Trust will provide financial and technical support to the Coalition, as it seeks to expand its membership, increase capacity and develop a strategy for equality law reform as the existing legal provisions on equality are not sufficient to address and rectify the systemic discrimination and marginalisation of some of the groups. 

By donating to our campaign, you can enhance the support we provide to enable equality defenders like Anaraa to secure the adoption and implementation of equality laws. Every donation counts!

Donate to us through BT MyDonate

 

Nvard Piliposyan

Nvard Piliposyan is a lawyer working with the Non-Discrimination and Equality Coalition of Armenia. The Equal Rights Trust is providing Nvard and the Coalition with technical support as they develop proposals for a comprehensive equality law in the country.

By donating to our campaign, you can enhance the support we provide to enable equality defenders like Nvard to secure the adoption and implementation of equality laws. Every donation counts!

Donate to us through BT MyDonate

 

Nabil*

Nabil is a Pakistani human rights defender, working in the Northern region of Pakistan, to document violations of human rights, in particular those of minority rights. Last year, as a result of his work, a fatwa was launched against Nabil and multiple threats were made to the safety of him and his family. With support from the Equal Rights Trust, Nabil was able to urgently relocate until the threat had alleviated. Despite the ongoing risks, Nabil continues to document discrimination faced by minority groups in the region and the Trust will continue to support him as needed.

*Nabil’s real name is withheld for his safety

By donating to our campaign, you can enhance the support we provide to enable equality defenders like Nabil to secure the adoption and implementation of equality laws. Every donation counts!

Donate to us through BT MyDonate

Baraa Shiban


Baraa Shiban is a Yemeni human rights activist. Having been part of the 2011 Arab Spring protests against Yemen’s former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, which led to Saleh’s resignation in 2012, Baraa was selected to represent the youth delegation in the National Dialogue Conference, Yemen’s transitional dialogue process. At the same time, Baraa was conducting fieldwork in Yemen for Reprieve, investigating drone strikes across the country. However, in 2015, Baraa’s human rights activism put him at particular risk during a deteriorating security situation and it became unsafe for him to stay in Yemen. The Equal Rights Trust, which has been administering a Fund in Yemen to provide emergency and non-emergency financial assistance to human rights defenders at risk, was able to assist Baraa by providing funding for him to be relocated to the UK in 2015 on an emergency basis. Since then, Baraa has collaborated with the Equal Rights Trust in relation to its report on discrimination and inequality in Yemen, speaking on the panel of the report launch at the 38th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in June 2018.

By donating to our campaign, you can enhance the support we provide to enable equality defenders like Baraa to secure the adoption and implementation of equality laws. Every donation counts!

Donate to us through BT MyDonate

Catherine Harrington

Catherine Harrington is Campaign Manager for the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights. Catherine is building a coalition of equality defenders around the world to advocate for the repeal of gender discriminatory nationality laws. The Equal Rights Trust has been supporting Catherine and the campaign since 2014 as a member of the campaign’s founding Steering Committee. We expect important developments in the coming year. For example, after supporting the establishment of the historic Arab Declaration on Belonging and Identity in 2018, the Global Campaign is now working with civil society and governments in the Middle East to realise the Declaration’s goal of gender-equal nationality laws across the region.

By donating to our campaign, you can enhance the support we provide to enable equality defenders like Catherine to secure the adoption and implementation of equality laws. Every donation counts!

Donate to us through BT MyDonate

 
Vanilde Furtado

Vanilde Furtado is the Programme Coordinator at UN Women in Cabo Verde. The Equal Rights Trust has been working with Vanilde and UN Women Cabo Verde to facilitate an exchange of information and experience with women’s rights experts from Bolivia in the context of a national effort to promote the adoption of a gender parity law in Cabo Verde. For more information about this work in Cabo Verde, please click here.

By donating to our campaign, you can enhance the support we provide to enable equality defenders like Vanilde to secure the adoption and implementation of equality laws. Every donation counts!

Donate to us through BT MyDonate