Friday Files

FRIDAY FILE - AWID spoke to Maya Alvarado, Executive Director of Unión Nacional de Mujeres Guatemaltecas (UNAMG) about the historic trial in which Guatemala’s former dictator and chief of military intelligence are charged with genocide and crimes against humanity, the first such trial to take place in the Central American country.

FRIDAY FILE - In December 2012 the United States Senate failed to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Esmé Grant[i] from the United States International Council on Disabilities (USICD) talked to AWID about why it failed and how they are committed to ensuring the CRPD will be ratified in 2013.

FRIDAY FILE - As the World Social Forum in Tunis wrapped up, many agreed that the vitality of the older days of the Forum was back. Taking place at the Al Manar University in Tunis, amidst the still unmet calls for dignity and justice of the Arab uprisings, it gathered about 54,000 people who were united in their hopes for a better world.

FRIDAY FILE – From 20-22 March, about 250 people, largely from civil society organizations (CSOs) and another third from other stakeholders such as the United Nations (UN), gathered in Bonn, Germany for an international conference on Advancing the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda.  There was an active group of women’s rights organizations and advocates who made it clear that “We will not be mainstreamed into a polluted stream!”

FRIDAY FILE - Long working hours, lack of rest time and poor treatment and compensation, in the absence of national legislation, often turns domestic work into a form of slavery in many countries. We reflect on some of the changes taking place in Latin America regarding decent work for domestic workers.

FRIDAY FILE - On April 2, 2013, a decades long campaign culminated in the signing of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) at the UN General Assembly. The ATT prohibits arms sales when there is a risk that weapons could be used to violate international humanitarian or human rights law. 

FRIDAY FILE: Initiated in opposition to the exclusive World Economic Forum, the World Social Forum(WSF) has, since it began in 2001, become an important space for civil society movements to propose alternatives to the dominant system, under the banner “Another world is possible”. 

FRIDAY FILE: Margaret Sekaggya, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders submitted her third report to the UN Human Rights Council. This report is the first to focus exclusively on the situation of women defenders and those working on women’s rights or gender issues.

FRIDAY FILE: At first glance, female genital mutilation and genital surgery carried out for cosmetic purposes might seem intrinsically different. On closer examination, however, they may be more similar than they initially appear.

FRIDAY FILE: Côte d’Ivoire has been in a political impasse since the declaration of contested results of a second round of presidential elections held in November 2010. Since both candidates claimed victory and have been sworn in, the country has two presidents and two governments. In order to understand the impact of this situation on women and women’s rights organizations, AWID spoke with two women’s rights defenders, Mata Coulibaly President of SOS EXCLUSION and Honorine Sadia Vehi Toure, President of Génération Femmes du troisième Millénaire (GFM3), as well as with an Ivorian politician who prefers to remain anonymous and to whom we have given the pseudonym of Sophie.