I am Mrs. Oumou Touré, I am a socio-linguist by training, trainer, educator and an agent for development.
[Reflections of courage: defending the human rights of women]
[Oumou Touré, Mali. On Women and Armed Conflict]
The women were, at the time of the conflict, harrassed, raped, beaten and weakened.
We often visited the refugee camps. I was in Burkina Faso, I met and spoke to these women.
It was a suffering for which you really need to find solutions.
When conflict happens, women suffer.
They are the victims. But when it comes to resolving conflicts, because there is a status to defend, they are absent.
That's the challenge I have all the time, each day and every moment.
So now, women are trying to be where conflicts are resolved because we really want an end to all these conflicts.
We seek peace, we want peace, we aspire to peace.
I am the only girl in a family of men and boys.
My father never said "this is the task of a woman, this is the task of a boy."
On the other hand, my mother did not want me to go to school.
She wanted me to stay at home and have her only daughter devote herself to housework. But my father refused.
I never stayed at home, I'm still on the ground.
If I am not in Bamako talking to grass roots women's associations,
I am engaged in high-level advocacy with my colleagues.
But mostly, I am talking to women working on the ground so as to understand their aspirations.
To be a woman who can stand up for her views, one must accept risks.
We are harassed everyday, all the time.
To find women human rights defenders who live a normal life is rare.
Rare.
People attack us, saying, "do not talk to our wives", "do not talk to our sisters", "do not bring foreign ideas."
And every act that we take in public life leads to a judgment on our behavior.
This is moral violence.
The women agenda is not an agenda of women. It is a common agenda, a common responsibility.
So we believe that stereotypes, threats, and verbal abuse will not stop us anymore.
Because during these crises, we have seen who is worth what and who has what role.
We are confident that we can do more and better and I think this is our future.
[In 1995, governments committed to a comprehensive framework for the achievement of equal rights for women]
[Twenty years later, women`s human rights defenders across the globe continue to fight for the full realisation of the human rights of women]
[Join the campaign to support women`s human rights defenders] [#reflect2protect]