Over 120 women – including Nobel peace laureates and frontline activists from the Middle East, Africa and Central America—will gather in the Netherlands from April 24-26 to discuss how the international community can protect women human rights defenders across the globe. “Women activists are on the frontlines of some of the globe’s most pressing conflicts,” says Jody Williams, Nobel peace laureate (USA) and chair of the Nobel Women’s Initiative. “These women play an essential role in pushing back against those wishing to repress basic human democratic rights.” Williams will be joined at the conference by sister Nobel peace laureates Shirin Ebadi (Iran), Mairead Maguire (Northern Ireland) and Leymah Gbowee (Liberia), as well as globally-known human rights experts. [caption id="attachment_748" align="alignnone" width="300"] Mairead Maguire speaking at "Defend The Defenders Conference 2015"[/caption]…
