International Women’s Day: Supporting Human Rights in Ukraine

Celebrations commemorating the political, historical, economic and cultural achievements of women will take place around the world today in honor of International Women’s Day. Lonely Planet would like to challenge you to join us in supporting one important cause.

The observation of March 8 to celebrate the historical, social and political contributions of women dates back to the 1900s. Yet, more than 100 years later, there is still more progress to be made.

The campaign theme for 2022, as selected by the coordinating IWD organization, is “Break the Bias.” Through this theme, IWD hopes to spotlight areas where we could still work toward greater equality and appreciation of differences.

One organization working every day toward these goals is the Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights. Founded in 1997, the feminist fund rose out of a need to provide emergency grants with very little bureaucratic red tape to help groups respond immediately to human rights situations. The organization says it intervenes “quickly when activists are poised to make great gains or face serious threats to their lives and work.”

UAF says its typical turnaround time to respond to a request is 72 hours with funds in the hands of those on the ground within 1-7 days.

The Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human rights has established an emergency response to the situation unfolding in Ukraine. It is committed to supporting women, trans and nonbinary activists by providing flexible funding and security support.

In honor of International Women’s Day, Lonely Planet is donating $5,000 to their work to aid Ukraine as we know that women and gender rights movements are being impacted because activists always face grave threats for pushing back on institutions of inequality. They are at even greater risk when their work is set against the backdrop of war. Our sister publication The Points Guy is also donating $5,000 which will mean a combined $10,000 toward UAF’s work in Ukraine.

The organization says some of the requests from groups and individuals it has received so far include requests for:

• Support with emergency evacuations and relocations

• Legal, financial, and medical support

• Security and disaster survival training

• Increasing shelter capacities for children, women, and all other civilians

• Access to alternative communication channels, mobile internet, power banks, VPNs, proxy, spare phones, and tablets

In honor of International Women’s Day, we would like to challenge you to join us in offering your support to this worthy cause as they continue to support movements led by women and LGBTQI+ people in Ukraine and around the world.

You can donate by visiting the Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights online.

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