Hande Kader
Advancing Universal Rights and Justice
Uprooting Fascisms and Fundamentalisms
Across the globe, feminist, women’s rights and gender justice defenders are challenging the agendas of fascist and fundamentalist actors. These oppressive forces target women, persons who are non-conforming in their gender identity, expression and/or sexual orientation, and other oppressed communities.
Discriminatory ideologies are undermining and co-opting our human rights systems and standards, with the aim of making rights the preserve of only certain groups. In the face of this, the Advancing Universal Rights and Justice (AURJ) initiative promotes the universality of rights - the foundational principle that human rights belong to everyone, no matter who they are, without exception.
We create space for feminist, women’s rights and gender justice movements and allies to recognize, strategize and take collective action to counter the influence and impact of anti-rights actors. We also seek to advance women’s rights and feminist frameworks, norms and proposals, and to protect and promote the universality of rights.
Our actions
Through this initiative, we:
- Build knowledge: We support feminist, women’s rights and gender justice movements by disseminating and popularizing knowledge and key messages about anti-rights actors, their strategies, and impact in the international human rights systems through AWID’s leadership role in the collaborative platform, the Observatory on the Universality of Rights (OURs)*.
- Advance feminist agendas: We ally ourselves with partners in international human rights spaces including, the Human Rights Council, the Commission on Population and Development, the Commission on the Status of Women and the UN General Assembly.
- Create and amplify alternatives: We engage with our members to ensure that international commitments, resolutions and norms reflect and are fed back into organizing in other spaces locally, nationally and regionally.
- Mobilize solidarity action: We take action alongside women human rights defenders (WHRDs) including trans and intersex defenders and young feminists, working to challenge fundamentalisms and fascisms and call attention to situations of risk.
Related Content
Snippet FEA Map of Spain Union Otras (EN)
Communicating Desire and Other Embodied Political Praxes | Title Snippet EN
Communicating Desire and Other Embodied Political Praxes
with Manal Tamimi, Lindiwe Rasekoala, and Louise Malherbe
Podcast credit: Zuhour Mahmoud
Snippet FEA Principles of Work Antiracism (EN)
ANTIRACISM
Illumination by the Light of the Full Moon | Snippet Small EN
Illumination by the Light of the Full Moon: An African BDSM experience
More than a fun kink to explore for the sensations, BDSM can be a way of addressing emotional pain and trauma. It has been a medium of sexual healing for me, providing a radical form of liberation.
Zhou Jianrong
Stories of Change AWID Forums
What does an AWID Forum mean to those who have been there? What is this magic that happens when feminists from around the world gather to celebrate, strategize, learn and share joy?
AWID spoke to over forty Forum participants to hear their stories of the transformations that happened to them as activists, to their organizations and to the movements they are part of. We also learned about what we should keep and build on that makes an AWID Forum different and how we can improve.
This report holds lessons and advice invaluable to anyone planning in-person regional and thematic convenings and for us as we plan for the 15th AWID International Forum.
Scroll down to dive in!
A Joy to the World: Six Questions with Naike Ledan | Small Snippet AR
الفرح للعالم: ستّة أسئلة مع نايكي ليدان
ما ساعدني في ذلك هو حبّي للعمل في كافة أنحاء البلاد، وتوثيق معارف الناس. لذلك تركت مساحتى المريحة، وأصبحت مديرة قطرية لمنظّمة إقليمية كويرية. تركَّز معظم عملي على إيجاد الموارد وبناء قدرات المجتمع المدني.
Illuminée Iragena
Why Bangkok?
Each Forum takes place in a different region, and it is time for the AWID Forum to come back to Asia! We visited many countries in the region, consulted feminist movements, and conducted detailed assessments of logistics, accessibility, safety, visas and more. Eventually, the AWID Board enthusiastically approved Bangkok, Thailand, as the best option. We are excited to come back to Bangkok, where we held the AWID Forum in 2005.
Clone of Crear | Résister | Transform: A Walkthrough of the Festival! | Content Snippet AR
مع استمرار الرأسمالية الأبوية الغيريّة في دَفعِنا نحو الاستهلاكية والرضوخ، نجد نضالاتنا تُعزَل وتُفصَل عن بعضها الآخر من خلال الحدود المادّية والحدود الافتراضية على حدٍّ سواء. ومع تحدّياتٍ إضافية يفرضها علينا وباءٌ عالميٌّ علينا تجاوزه، أصبحت سياسة فرِّق تَسُد مواتية للاستغلال المتزايد في مجالات عدّة.
ومع ذلك، أخذَنا «ابدعي، قاومي، غيٍّري: مهرجان للحراكات النسوية»، الذي نظّمته جمعية «حقوق المرأة في التنمية» AWID في الفترة ما بين 1 أيلول/ سبتمبر وحتى 30 أيلول/ سبتمبر 2021، في رحلةٍ حول ما يعنيه تجسّد حيواتنا في المساحات الافتراضية. اجتمعَت معنا في المهرجان ناشطات نسويات من حول العالم، لأجل مشاركة خبراتهن حول المقاومة والحرّيات المُنتَزَعة بصعوبة، والتضامن العابر للحدود، وكذلك لتوضيح الشكل الذي يمكن أن يبدو عليه التكاتف العابر للحدود القومية.
يحمل هذا التكاتف إمكانية مقاومة الحدود، ناسجاً رؤية لمستقبل تحويلي، لأنه سيكون إلغائيًا ومناهضًا للرأسمالية. على مدار شهر، وعبر البُنى التحتية الرقمية التي احتللناها بكويريّتنا ومقاومتنا وخيالاتنا، بيّن لنا المهرجان طريقةً للانحراف عن الأنظمة التي تجعلنا متواطئات في قهر أنفسنا وأخريات/ آخرين.
بالرغم من أن أودري لورد علّمتنا أنّ أدوات السيّد لن تهدم أبدًا منزله، بيّنت لنا سارة أحمد أنه بإمكاننا إساءة استخدام تلك الأدوات عن سبق إصرار. أصبح من الممكن تخيّل خلخلة في واقع الرأسمالية الأبوية الغيريّة، لأننا خلقنا مساحة للاحتشاد، بالرغم من كلّ الأشياء الأُخرى التي تتطلّب وقتنا.
إذا أدركنا الاحتشاد باعتباره أحد أشكال التمتّع، عندها سيصبح من الممكن خلق الرابط بين المتعة المتجاوزة والمقاوَمة العابرة للحدود القومية/ الرقمية. بين أنواع التمتّع التي تتحدّى الحدود من ناحية، والكويرية والبهرجة والأرض ونضالات السكّان الأصليين ومناهضة الرأسمالية والتنظيم المناهض للاستعمار من ناحية أخرى.
حاول هذا العدد التقاط كيفية اتخاذ ممارسة الاحتشاد في المهرجان لأشكالٍ وتخيّلات متعدّدة. إلى جانب التعاون المباشر مع بعض الحالمات/ين والمتحدّثات/ين في المهرجان، دعَونا عدداً كبيراً من أصوات أخرى من الجنوب العالمي لنكون في نقاش جماعي حول الكثير من الثيمات والموضوعات المرتبطة بالجنوب. فيما يلي خريطة لبعض جلسات المهرجان التي كانت أكثر إلهامًا لنا.
Hala Salaam
What are the Forum languages?
AWID’s working languages are English, French and Spanish. Thai will be added as the local language, as well as sign language & other accessibility measures. Other languages may be added if funding permits, so check back regularly for updates. We care about language justice and will try to include as many languages as we can and as our resources allow. We hope to create multiple opportunities for many of us to be present in our languages and to communicate with each other.
Estela Ambrosio Luna
Clone of CFA 2023 - Intro 2 - EN
“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” - Maya Angelou
AWID Forum
Welcome to the 15th International AWID Forum!
The International AWID Forum is both a global community event and a space of radical personal transformation. A one-of-a-kind convening, the Forum brings together feminist, women’s rights, gender justice, LBTQI+ and allied movements, in all our diversity and humanity, to connect, heal and thrive. The Forum is a place where Global South feminists and historically marginalized communities take center stage, strategizing with each other and social justice movements, in order to shift power, make strategic alliances, and usher in a different, better world. When people come together on a global scale, as individuals and movements, we generate a sweeping force. Join us in Bangkok, Thailand in 2024. Come dance, sing, dream and rise with us.
Upasana Agarwal Snippet EN
Upasana Agarwal
Upasana is a non binary illustrator and artist based out of Kolkata, India. Their work explores identity and personal narratives by using a visual remnant or evidence of the contexts they work with. They are especially drawn to patterns which to them communicate complex truths about the past, present and future. When Upasana is not illustrating they organise and run a queer and trans community art centre in the city.
María Verónica Reina
María was recognized globally for her extraordinary leadership in the disability community.
She represented the International Disability and Development Consortium during the negotiation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2001-2006).
Her work was devoted to the implementation of the goal of the Convention - realization of universal human rights by, for and with persons with disabilities for an inclusive, accessible and sustainable world.
In her words, her leadership was about “...serving the disability community, starting with small tasks that others may not wish to do”.
She passed away on October 27, 2017 in her hometown of Rosario, Argentina.
Read more about María Verónica Reina in her own words
2023 - Hybrid like never before: in person - thai
การประชุมแบบผสมผสานอย่างที่ไม่เคยมีมาก่อน
นับเป็นครั้งแรกที่เวทีประชุม AWID จะเสนอรูปแบบการมีส่วนร่วม 3 รูปแบบ
การเข้าร่วมด้วยตัวเอง ณ สถานที่จัดงาน
ผู้เข้าร่วมสามารถเดินทางเข้าร่วมด้วยตัวเอง ที่กรุงเทพฯ ประเทศไทย ซึ่งเราจะตั้งหน้าตั้งตาคอยท่านอยู่!
Snippet Caribbean Feminist Spaces_Fest (EN)
Caribbean Feminist Spaces, Creative Expressions & Spiritual Practices for Community Transformation
Tonya Haynes, CAISO
Angelique V. Nixon, CAISO
Carmen Griffiths
Carmen was the Head of the Construction Resource and Development Collective (CRDC) and was instrumental in supporting women’s involvement in the construction industry in Jamaica.
She also worked on issues of disaster preparedness for rural and urban women. She worked closely with women (especially single mothers) teaching them how to use hurricane straps and other technology to secure their homes. She worked in the area of water and sanitation and was a strong advocate for sustainable environmental management and development.
She was a part of the Huairou Commission and advocated for grassroots women on such issues as shelter, energy, and sustainable livelihoods.
