The Mesoamerican Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders (IM-Defensoras) is a convergence that brings together feminist organizations and networks of women defenders from diverse Mesoamerican social movements. Established in 2010, it was created to address the violence faced by women and persons with diverse gender or sexual identities in their territories as a result of their human rights defence and challenges to prevailing norms. Its purpose is to contribute to protecting and strengthening defenders’ struggles, organizations, and the social movements in which they are engaged. 

Today, IM-Defensoras brings together nearly 3,000 women defenders and 300 organizations across Mesoamerica. Members work to defend land, territory, and the environment; search for disappeared loved ones; demand truth and justice; advance equality; accompany migrants; uphold the right to free expression and information; and defend public health, water, Indigenous Peoples’ rights, labour rights, LGBTTTIQ+ rights, and women’s rights. IM-Defensoras supports these struggles through the application of Feminist Holistic Protection (FHP) strategies, with the aim of ensuring that women defenders can sustain their activism under conditions of security, well-being, leadership, and autonomy.