Ramona Vijeyarasa

I’m based in Brussels and work to demand accountability for women’s rights to control their bodies, livelihoods, time and resources.

Senior Programme Manager for Women’s Rights
International
Follow Ramona on Twitter

Ramona is a human rights lawyer. Prior to joining ActionAid, she worked with the International Organisation for Migration in Vietnam and Ukraine on the trafficking of women and girls.

She has been an advocate for reproductive rights and gender justice at the Centre for Reproductive Rights and the International Centre for Transitional Justice, both based in New York.

Latest blogs

Life is complex!

So often the development sector tries to respond to single issues.But the Cambodia migrant worker living in the outskirts of Phnom Penh does not only face fear of robbery and perhaps even rape when...
Bopha, a garment worker
by:
Ramona Vijeyarasa

Righting Wrongs on International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day is a time of celebration, when activists, feminists and women’s movements appreciate the many advances that we have helped to bring about worldwide.In many ways, the world...
by:
Ramona Vijeyarasa

Do governments care about the safety of women in their cities?

Today I’m in Dublin for the 8th World Alliance of Cities against Poverty Forum. This international meeting has brought together over 500 leaders and activists from all around the world, including UN...
by:
Ramona Vijeyarasa

Standing up against violence - One Billion Rising

As millions of women and men around the world rise today to demand an end to gender-based violence, I wanted to reflect on our safe cities initiative, a programme that ActionAid has been running for...
by:
Ramona Vijeyarasa

Violence against women: the most ignored obstacle for development?

Several weeks ago a colleague was surprised when I wrote to him that violence against women is an integral component of poverty reduction. “Is this an ideological position or literally true?” he...
by:
Ramona Vijeyarasa

Violence against women: the most ignored obstacle for development?

Several weeks ago a colleague was surprised when I wrote to him that violence against women is an integral component of poverty reduction. “Is this an ideological position or literally true?” he...
by:
Ramona Vijeyarasa

Where are urban poor on the development agenda?

We are just a few days away from the opening of the 6th World Urban Forum in Naples, where an ActionAid delegation, together with UN Women, will host an event aimed at bringing attention to the...
by:
Ramona Vijeyarasa

Demanding change for young poor urban women

Fifteen ActionAiders, including staff from 3 countries, and some of our partners gathered this week at a young urban women’s life choices and livelihoods workshop in Johannesburg.Having embarked on...
Urban poor India
by:
Ramona Vijeyarasa

Where are the rural women?

The 2012 theme for the Commission on the Status of Women is rural women and yet one of the most absent voices this year has been the rural women themselves. Civil society has made evident efforts to...
Jeanne doing her work in banana plantation
by:
Ramona Vijeyarasa

Freeing women from Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

Do laws actually work to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)? Listening to the Honourable Jebii Kilimo, Assistant Minister for Co-operative Development and Marketing in Kenya, at ActionAid...
Catherine in West Pokot
by:
Ramona Vijeyarasa
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