Women defenders do run into danger from the local militias and paramilitary forces in addition to sometimes being intimidated by officials.
I will speak from personal experience. In the year 2008, I was in danger, which made me lose my Canadian passport. When I addressed it to the Canadian embassy in the region, there was absolutely no co-operation. I was compromised. We were at the height of the sectarian war, and I was left without a home and on the streets, but the Canadian embassy did not think of it as an important issue.
What women's defenders need is access to safe places, just like the jeopardized woman under ISIS. Your work entails that you challenge the governmental provisions for women, and our governmental officials are not the nicest at some points when it comes to women's issues. You find yourself grabbing your bags and running for safety.
I've been speaking about this for a decade. Women's defenders need some sort of a diplomatic passport to be able to go to safety when needed. If Canada can create a precedent and provide access in an honorary way to women who have a reliable track record and who are defending women, that would be a great thing, but I may be speaking fiction.
I feel that some of us with dual citizenship are privileged. We can go back and forth. We have seen the world at its best, and we live in places where it's at its worst. We can do a lot to alleviate women's pains in both countries, but we need to be given more privileges and more ability to move.
I think this is about women's defenders, but I don't want to make it just about women's defenders at this point. Was the other part of your question about women in general?