Adolfo Lujan | Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Mass demonstration in Madrid on International Women's Day
Multitudinaria manifestación en Madrid en el día internacional de la mujer

Priority Areas

Supporting feminist, women’s rights and gender justice movements to thrive, to be a driving force in challenging systems of oppression, and to co-create feminist realities.

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

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Tributo: Recordamos a lxs activistas feministas que cambiaron nuestro mundo
En esta galería en línea, rendimos homenaje a más de 450 valientes feministas y activistas de todas las regiones del mundo y 88 países que ya no están con nosotrxs.

Lxs traemos a todxs a nuestra memoria colectiva y llevamos su legado de lucha como nuestra antorcha en los movimientos feministas y por los derechos de las mujeres.

Usa los filtros para refinar tu búsqueda

Snippet - WCFM Regional focus: - EN

Regional focus:

Filter for funders that support initiatives in your geographical area.

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The Feminist Film Club

As part of AWID’s Feminist Realities journey, we invite you to explore our newly launched Feminist Film Club: a collection of short and feature films selected by feminist curators and storytellers from around the world, including Jess X. Snow (Asia/Pacific), Gabrielle Tesfaye (Africa/African Diaspora), and Esra Ozban (South West Asia, North Africa). Alejandra Laprea is curating the Latin & Central American program, which we’ll launch in September during AWID’s Crear, Résister, Transform: A Festival for Feminist Movements. In the meantime, look out for announcements on special films screenings and conversations with filmmakers!

Snippet2 - WCFM Explore and share - EN

Explore and share the databases with your network now!

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Snippet - COP30 - Resisting Ecofascisms - EN

Resisting Ecofascisms: A cross-movement dialogue at COP30

How movements are resisting fascist agendas in relation to climate change.

📅 Tuesday, November 11, 2025 
📍 Beira Rio Hotel, Belém, Pará

Les femmes autochtones défenseuses de droits

Ces défenseuses ont fait campagne pour les droits fonciers et ont lutté pour les droits des femmes et des peuples autochtones. Elles se sont opposées aux industries extractives, ont écrit de la poésie et se sont battues pour que l'amour prévale. L'une d'entre elles nous a quitté il y a dix-neuf ans. Nous vous invitons à vous joindre à nous pour rendre hommage à ces défenseuses, à leur travail et à l’héritage qu’elles nous ont laissé. Faites circuler ces mèmes auprès de vos collègues et amis ainsi que dans vos réseaux et twittez en utilisant les hashtags #WHRDTribute et #16Jours.


S'il vous plaît cliquez sur chaque image ci-dessous pour voir une version plus grande et pour télécharger comme un fichier 

 

Snippet - COP30 - Feminist Economic Alternatives Brief - EN

📖 Feminist Economic Alternatives Brief

A tool for feminist activists at COP30 fighting for transformative, equitable and community-centred solutions to address the climate crisis.

Download the Brief

Também disponível em português

4. Collect and analyze your data

This section will guide you on how to ensure your research findings are representative and reliable.

In this section:

Collect your data

1. Before launch

  • First determine the best way to reach your survey population.
    For example, if you want to focus on indigenous women’s rights organizers, do you know who the key networks are? Do you have contacts there, people who can introduce you to these organizations or ways of reaching them?
  • Determine if your key population can be easily reached with an online survey, if you need to focus on paper survey distribution and collection or a mix of both. This decision is very important to ensure accessibility and inclusiveness.
  • Be prepared! Prior to advertizing, create a list of online spaces where you can promote your survey.
    If you are distributing paper versions, create a list of events, spaces and methods for distributing and collecting results.
  • Plan your timeline in advance, so you can avoid launching your survey during major holidays or long vacation periods.
  • Make it easy for your advisors and partners to advertize the survey – offer them pre-written Twitter, Facebook and email messages that they can copy and paste.

2. Launch

  • Send the link to the survey via email through your organization’s email databases.
  • Advertize on your organization’s social media. Similar to your newsletter, you can regularly advertize the survey while it is open.
  • If your organization is hosting events that reach members of your survey population, this is a good space to advertize the survey and distribute paper versions as needed.
  • Invite your advisors to promote the survey with their email lists and ask them to copy you so you are aware of their promotional messages. Remember to send them follow-up reminders if they’ve agreed to disseminate.
  • Approach funders to share your survey with their grantees. It is in their interest that their constituencies respond to a survey that will improve their own work in the field.

3. During launch

  • Keep the survey open for a minimum of four weeks to ensure everyone has time to take it and you have time to widely advertize it.
  • Send reminders through your email databases and your partners databases asking people to participate in the survey. To avoid irritating recipients with too many emails, we recommend sending two additional reminder emails: one at  midway point while your survey is open and another a week before your survey closes.
  • As part of your outreach, remember to state that you are only collecting one response per organization. This will make cleaning your data much easier when you are preparing it for analysis.
  • Save an extra week! Halfway through the open window for survey taking, check your data set. How have you done so far? Run initial numbers to see how many groups have responded, from which locations, etc. If you see gaps, reach out to those specific populations. Also, consider extending your deadline by a week – if you do so, include this extension deadline in one of your reminder emails, informing people know there is more time to complete the survey. Many answers tend to come in during the last week of the survey or after the extended deadline.

If you also plan to collect data from applications sent to grant-making institutions, this is a good time to reach out them.

When collecting this data, consider what type of applications you would like to review. Your research framing will guide you in determining this.

Also, it may be unnecessary to see every application sent to the organization – instead, it will be more useful and efficient to review only eligible applications (regardless of whether they were funded).

You can also ask grant-making institutions to share their data with you.

See a sample letter to send to grant-making institutions

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Prepare your data for analysis

Your survey has closed and now you have all this information! Now you need to ensure your data is as accurate as possible.

Depending on your sample size and amount of completed surveys, this step can be lengthy. Tapping into a strong pool of detail-oriented staff will speed up the process and ensure greater accuracy at this stage.

Also, along with your surveys, you may have collected data from applications sent to grant-making institutions. Use these same steps to sort that data as well. Do not get discouraged if you cannot compare the two data sets! Funders collect different information from what you collected in the surveys. In your final research report and products, you can analyze and present the datasets (survey versus grant-making institution data) separately.

1. Clean your data

  • Resolve and remove duplications: If there is more than one completed survey for one organization, reach out to the organization and determine which one is the most accurate.
  • Remove ineligible responses: Go through each completed survey and remove any responses that did not properly answer the question. Replace it with “null”, thus keeping it out of your analysis.
  • Consistently format numerical data: For example, you may remove commas, decimals and dollar signs from numerical responses. Financial figures provided in different currencies may need to be converted.

2. Code open-ended responses

There are two styles of open-ended responses that require coding.

Questions with open-ended responses

For these questions, you will need to code responses in order to track trends.

Some challenges you will face with this is:

  1. People will not use the exact same words to describe similar responses
  2. Surveys with multiple language options will require translation and then coding
  3. Staff capacity to review and code each open-ended response.

If using more than one staff member to review and code, you will need to ensure consistency of coding. Thus, this is why we recommend limiting your open-ended questions and as specific as possible for open-ended questions you do ask. 

For example, if you had the open-ended question “What specific challenges did you face in fundraising this year?” and some common responses cite “lack of staff,” or “economic recession,” you will need to code each of those responses so you can analyze how many participants are responding in a similar way.

For closed-end questions

If you provided the participant with the option of elaborating on their response, you will also need to “up-code” these responses.

For several questions in the survey, you may have offered the option of selecting the category “Other” With “Other” options, it is common to offer a field in which the participant can elaborate.

You will need to “up-code” such responses by either:

  • Converting open-ended responses to the correct existing categories (this is known as “up-coding”). As a simple example, consider your survey asks participants “what is your favorite color?” and you offer the options “blue,” “green,” and “other.” There may be some participants that choose “other” and in their explanation they write “the color of the sky is my favorite color.” You would then “up-code” answers like these to the correct category, in this case, the category “blue.”
  • Creating a new category if there are several “others” that have a common theme. (This is similar to coding the first type of open-ended responses). Consider the previous example question of favorite color. Perhaps many participants chose “other” and then wrote “red” is their favorite. In this case, you would create a new category of “red” to track all responses that answered “red.”
  • Removing “others” that do not fit any existing or newly created categories.

3. Remove unecessary data

Analyze the frequency of the results

For each quantitative question, you can decide whether you should remove the top or bottom 5% or 1% to prevent outliers* from skewing your results. You can also address the skewing effect of outliers by using median average rather than the mean average. Calculate the median by sorting responses in order, and selecting the number in the middle. However, keep in mind that you may still find outlier data useful. It will give you an idea of the range and diversity of your survey participants and you may want to do case studies on the outliers.

* An outlier is a data point that is much bigger or much smaller than the majority of data points. For example, imagine you live in a middle-class neighborhood with one billionaire. You decide that you want to learn what the range of income is for middle-class families in your neighborhood. In order to do so, you must remove the billionaire income from your dataset, as it is an outlier. Otherwise, your mean middle-class income will seem much higher than it really is.

Remove the entire survey for participants who do not fit your target population. Generally you can recognize this by the organizations’ names or through their responses to qualitative questions.

4. Make it safe

To ensure confidentiality of the information shared by respondents, at this stage you can replace organization names with a new set of ID numbers and save the coding, matching names with IDs in a separate file.

With your team, determine how the coding file and data should be stored and protected.

For example, will all data be stored on a password-protected computer or server that only the research team can access?

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Create your topline report

A topline report will list every question that was asked in your survey, with the response percentages listed under each question. This presents the collective results of all individual responses. 

Tips:

  • Consistency is important: the same rules should be applied to every outlier when determining if it should stay or be removed from the dataset.
  • For all open (“other”) responses that are up-coded, ensure the coding matches. Appoint a dedicated point person to randomly check codes for consistency and reliability and recode if necessary.
  • If possible, try to ensure that you can work at least in a team of two, so that there is always someone to check your work.

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Analyze your data

Now that your data is clean and sorted, what does it all mean? This is the fun part where you begin to analyze for trends.

Are there prominent types of funders (government versus corporate)? Are there regions that receive more funding? Your data will reveal some interesting information.

1. Statistical programs

  • Smaller samples (under 150 responses) may be done in-house using an Excel spreadsheet.

  • Larger samples (above 150 responses) may be done in-house using Excel if your analysis will be limited to tallying overall responses, simple averages or other simple analysis.

  • If you plan to do more advanced analysis, such as multivariate analysis, then we recommend using statistical software such as SPSS, Stata or R.
    NOTE: SPSS and Stata are expensive whereas R is free.
    All three types of software require staff knowledge and are not easy to learn quickly.

Try searching for interns or temporary staff from local universities. Many students must learn statistical analysis as part of their coursework and may have free access to SPSS or Stata software through their university. They may also be knowledgeable in R, which is free to download and use.

2. Suggested points for analysis

  • Analysis of collective budget sizes
  • Analysis of budget sizes by region or type of organization
  • Most common funders
  • Total amount of all funding reported
  • Total percentages of type of funding (corporate, government, etc)
  • Most funded issues/populations
  • Changes over time in any of these results.

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Previous step

3. Design your survey

Next step

5. Conduct interviews


Estimated time:

• 2 - 3 months

People needed:

• 1 or more research person(s)
• Translator(s), if offering survey in multiple languages
• 1 or more person(s) to assist with publicizing survey to target population
• 1 or more data analysis person(s)

Resources needed:

• List of desired advisors: organizations, donors, and activists
• Optional: an incentive prize to persuade people to complete your survey
• Optional: an incentive for your advisors

Resources available:

Survey platforms:

Survey Monkey
Survey Gizmo (Converts to SPSS for analysis very easily)

Examples:
2011 WITM Global Survey
Sample of WITM Global Survey
Sample letter to grantmakers requesting access to databases

Visualising Information for Advocacy:
Cleaning Data Tools
Tools to present your data in compelling ways
Tutorial: Gentle Introduction to Cleaning Data

 


Previous step

3. Design your survey

Next step

5. Conduct interviews


Ready to Go? Worksheet

Download the toolkit in PDF

Women Human Rights Defenders

WHRDs are self-identified women and lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LBTQI) people and others who defend rights and are subject to gender-specific risks and threats due to their human rights work and/or as a direct consequence of their gender identity or sexual orientation.

WHRDs are subject to systematic violence and discrimination due to their identities and unyielding struggles for rights, equality and justice.

The WHRD Program collaborates with international and regional partners as well as the AWID membership to raise awareness about these risks and threats, advocate for feminist and holistic measures of protection and safety, and actively promote a culture of self-care and collective well being in our movements.


Risks and threats targeting WHRDs  

WHRDs are exposed to the same types of risks that all other defenders who defend human rights, communities, and the environment face. However, they are also exposed to gender-based violence and gender-specific risks because they challenge existing gender norms within their communities and societies.

By defending rights, WHRDs are at risk of:

  • Physical assault and death
  • Intimidation and harassment, including in online spaces
  • Judicial harassment and criminalization
  • Burnout

A collaborative, holistic approach to safety

We work collaboratively with international and regional networks and our membership

  • to raise awareness about human rights abuses and violations against WHRDs and the systemic violence and discrimination they experience
  • to strengthen protection mechanisms and ensure more effective and timely responses to WHRDs at risk

We work to promote a holistic approach to protection which includes:

  • emphasizing the importance of self-care and collective well being, and recognizing that what care and wellbeing mean may differ across cultures
  • documenting the violations targeting WHRDs using a feminist intersectional perspective;
  • promoting the social recognition and celebration of the work and resilience of WHRDs ; and
  • building civic spaces that are conducive to dismantling structural inequalities without restrictions or obstacles

Our Actions

We aim to contribute to a safer world for WHRDs, their families and communities. We believe that action for rights and justice should not put WHRDs at risk; it should be appreciated and celebrated.

  • Promoting collaboration and coordination among human rights and women’s rights organizations at the international level to  strengthen  responses concerning safety and wellbeing of WHRDs.

  • Supporting regional networks of WHRDs and their organizations, such as the Mesoamerican Initiative for WHRDs and the WHRD Middle East and North Africa  Coalition, in promoting and strengthening collective action for protection - emphasizing the establishment of solidarity and protection networks, the promotion of self-care, and advocacy and mobilization for the safety of WHRDs;

  • Increasing the visibility and recognition of  WHRDs and their struggles, as well as the risks that they encounter by documenting the attacks that they face, and researching, producing, and disseminating information on their struggles, strategies, and challenges:

  • Mobilizing urgent responses of international solidarity for WHRDs at risk through our international and regional networks, and our active membership.

Related Content

L’activisme pour les droits et la protection des travailleuses-eurs du sexe en Hongrie

L’activisme pour les droits et la protection des travailleuses-eurs du sexe en Hongrie

En septembre 2015, l'Association hongroise des travailleuses-eurs du sexe (SZEXE) a célébré 15 ans de travail au service de la lutte pour les droits des travailleuses-eurs du sexe, pour leur protection et contre leur stigmatisation. 


SZEXE a été créée par des travailleuses du sexe, pour la plupart d’origine rom et travaillant dans la rue, qui se sont réunies avec leurs allié-e-s pour protester contre l'introduction d'une loi réglementant le travail du sexe. Cette action est souvent décrite comme marquant le début de l'activisme sur le travail du sexe en Hongrie.

« Zones de tolérance »

La loi contre laquelle SZEXE a protesté a été « rédigée afin de pousser les travailleuses-eurs du sexe, principalement d'origine rom, à quitter Józsefváros, le 8ème arrondissement de Budapest, de sorte que la zone puisse être réhabilitée et que les bâtiments publics puissent être privatisées plus facilement ». Selon cette loi, les municipalités qui comptent une population de plus de 50.000 personnes ou des quartiers où le travail du sexe est considéré comme envahissant devaient délimiter des soi-disant «zones de tolérance». Il a été déclaré illégal de proposer des services sexuels en dehors de ces zones alors que les autorités hongroises étaient réticentes à les identifier. Cela a poussé un nombre important de travailleuses-eurs du sexe vers l'activité illégale, un grand nombre d’entre elles ayant été condamnées à une amende ou placées en détention.

Pour aggraver encore la situation, les travailleuses-eurs du sexe entretiennent des rapports hostiles avec la police :

«Les travailleuses-eurs du sexe craignent la police, plutôt que de pouvoir compter sur elle pour les défendre contre des actes de violence ou d'autres crimes. » – SZEXE

Mettre la maltraitance au défi

L'une des priorités de SZEXE est de fournir une aide juridique aux travailleuses-eurs du sexe : Depuis sa création, l'organisation a initié de nombreuses actions en justice devant les tribunaux. En conséquence, certains districts de Budapest se sont vus obligés « d’identifier des zones de quasi-tolérance ». En dépit de ces décisions, SZEXE a été témoin à de nombreuses reprises de mauvais traitements à l’égard des travailleuses-eurs du sexe par la police et a constitué des dossiers d’information à leur sujet.

« La police a profité de l'absence de certitudes en matière juridique concernant ces zones de tolérance et les travailleuses-eurs du sexe ont été ciblées injustement afin de permettre à la police d’atteindre ses quotas d’amendes ». - SZEXE

SZEXE a contesté avec succès des centaines « d’amendes et de détentions arbitraires pratiquées par la police. »

Depuis que la Hongrie a rejoint l'UE en 2004, l'association a également mis en œuvre des projets pilotes innovants pour « favoriser l'auto-organisation de la communauté, pour autonomiser les travailleuses-eurs du sexe en leur fournissant des services juridiques et des services associés au VIH et en s’exprimant ouvertement contre la marginalisation et la pauvreté. Ces projets ont bénéficié de subventions du Fonds social européen ».

SZEXE soutient également les travailleuses-eurs du sexe en proposant de la formation par des pairs, des conseils en matière de migration, des services de santé communautaires, le développement des compétences entrepreneuriales et renforcé son travail de plaidoyer au niveau national et international. À la suite de ces efforts de lobbying et à la production d'un rapport alternatif, le Comité pour l'élimination de la discrimination à l'égard des femmes (CEDAW) a appelé le gouvernement hongrois à « adopter des mesures visant à prévenir la discrimination contre les travailleuses-eurs du sexe et de veiller à ce que la législation sur leurs droits à des conditions de travail sûres soit garantie aux niveaux local et national ".

Une société civile hongroise sur le déclin 

En dépit des nombreuses batailles et victoires remportées à ce jour, "la situation des travailleuses-eurs du sexe et leur mobilisation a décliné au cours des dernières années en Hongrie", selon SZEXE. Etant donné les mesures de répression contre la société civile et contre certaines ONGs par l'actuel gouvernement d'extrême-droite, SZEXE se retrouve parmi les organisations qui ont perdu « toutes ses principales sources de financement national dans un contexte de rétrécissement de l’espace d’expression de la société civile ». Les ONG pro-gouvernementales, quant à elles, bénéficient d’une ligne budgétaire destinée à soutenir les « valeurs familiales traditionnelles et (le renforcement de)  l'identité nationale ». 

Une autre facette de cette tendance inquiétante est une loi sur les délits de 2012, qui a un effet dévastateur sur les groupes marginalisés, y compris la population rom, les personnes sans-abri, les toxicomanes et les travailleuses-eurs du sexe. Cette loi a favorisé la discrimination et un contrôle disproportionné des travailleuses-eurs du sexe qui reçoivent « des amendes pour non-respect de réglementations vagues ou arbitraires en matière de travail du sexe ». SZEXE déclare qu’en 2012 seulement, plus de 14.000 cas de délit ont été enregistrés contre les travailleuses-eurs du sexe. Cette situation est aggravée par le fait qu’en l'absence d'engagement du gouvernement pour répondre à leur droit à la santé, les travailleuses-eurs du sexe sont encore plus vulnérables qu’avant. 

Mouvement(s) inclusifs

être créés et soutenus pour continuer à contester les discriminations, les stigmatisations et les violations des droits humains (pas seulement en Hongrie, mais à l'échelle mondiale). SZEXE a rejoint l’AWID comme membre suite à sa participation au Forum international de l’AWID en 2012.

"Ce rassemblement a vraiment été une source d'inspiration pour les collègues de SZEXE, c’était la première fois qu’elles ont eu l’occasion d’entrer en contact avec le mouvement féministe international et d’en apprendre plus sur les luttes des femmes, parfois très similaires, dans le monde" - SZEXE

La participation de SZEXE au Forum a renforcé sa prise de conscience du potentiel de mobilisation collective qui existe au sein du (des) mouvement(s) pour les droits des femmes. L'organisation, « inspirée par la diversité des voix et des causes du mouvement, s’exprime ouvertement contre le sexisme, la whorephobia, l'homophobie et la transphobie, le racisme et les préjugés sociaux que l’on retrouve dans trop de sociétés. »

« SZEXE vise à contribuer à un mouvement féministe qui soit inclusif des besoins et des voix des femmes qui sont souvent laissées pour compte par les mouvements issus de la société civile et par les  politiques, comme c’est le cas par exemple des femmes trans*, des travailleuses du sexe et des migrantes.» - SZEXE


Visionnez le film "Sex Workers Against the Tide" (travailleuses-eurs du sexe à contre-courant),  en anglais, avec sous-titres hongrois.

 

Sex Work Activism in Hungary

Sex Work Activism in Hungary

In September 2015, the Association of Hungarian Sex Workers (SZEXE) celebrated 15 years of work in the struggle for sex worker rights, the protection of sex workers, and the dismantlement of stigma.


SZEXE was established by predominantly street-based Roma sex workers and their allies who joined together to protest the introduction of a law regulating sex work. This is often described as the beginning of sex work activism in Hungary.

‘Tolerance Zones’

The law SZEXE protested was “drafted in order to push sex workers, mainly of Roma origin, out of the Józsefváros, Budapest’s 8th district, so that it could undergo rehabilitation and properties could be privatised more easily.” According to this law, municipalities counting a population of more than 50,000 or areas where sex work is considered to be pervasive had to identify the so-called ‘tolerance zones’. It was declared illegal to engage in sex work outside of these specified zones, however Hungarian authorities were reluctant to identify these zones. This pushed a significant number of sex workers towards illegal activity with a large proportion of them being fined or detained.

To further aggravate the difficult position of sex workers, there was an antagonistic relationship with the police

“Sex workers fear the police rather than being able to depend on them for protection from violence or other crimes.” – SZEXE

Challenging Mistreatment

One of SZEXE’ priorities is to provide legal aid to sex workers, and the organisation has since its existence initiated numerous legal actions resulting in court orders for some districts of Budapest to “identify quasi-tolerance zones”. In spite of these orders, SZEXE has repeatedly witnessed and documented the mistreatment of sex workers by the police.

“Police took advantage of the lack of legal certainty surrounding these tolerance zones and unfairly targeted sex workers with fines in order to fill their quotas.” - SZEXE

In hundreds of cases, SZEXE has successfully challenged “the arbitrary fining and detention practices of the police.”

Since Hungary joined the EU in 2004, the association has also implemented innovative pioneering projects to “foster self-organisation of the community, to empower sex workers in providing HIV-related and paralegal services for their peers and become vocal advocates against marginalisation and poverty from grants of the European Social Fund”.

SZEXE also supports sex workers with peer education, migration counselling, community-based health services and entrepreneurial skills development, and has strengthened its national and international advocacy levels. As a result of its lobbying efforts and the production of a  shadow report, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) called on the Hungarian government to “adopt measures aimed at preventing discrimination against sex workers and ensure that legislation on their rights to safe working conditions is guaranteed at national and local levels”.

Hungary’s shrinking civil society

Despite battles won and numerous achievements so far, “the situation of sex workers and their mobilisation has worsened in recent years in Hungary”, according to SZEXE. As a result of the present right-wing government’s crackdown on civil society and specific NGOs, SZEXE is among the organisations that has lost “all major sources of domestic funding in a shrinking civil society space” whereas pro-government NGOs have been financed through a funding scheme to support ‘traditional family values and national identity building/strengthening’.

Another part of this worrying trend is a 2012 misdemeanour law, which has a disproportionate effect on marginalised  groups including the Roma population, homeless persons, drug users and sex workers. The law has led to discrimination and disproportionate policing of sex workers who face “fines for non-compliance with vague sex work regulations or arbitrary fines…”. SZEXE states that in 2012 alone, over 14,000 misdemeanor cases were initiated against sex workers. This situation is compounded by the fact that sex workers have been left even more vulnerable by the lack of government’s commitment to address their right to health.  

Inclusive movement(s)

In order to continue challenging discrimination, stigma and violation of human rights (not just in Hungary but globally), inclusive, diverse and strong movements must be built and sustained. SZEXE joined AWID as a member as a result of its participation in the 2012 AWID International Forum.

“The gathering was truly inspirational for SZEXE’s colleagues as it was the first time when they connected with the international feminist movement and learned about the – sometimes very similar – struggles of women worldwide.” – SZEXE

SZEXE’s participation in the Forum reinforced its awareness of the powerful possibilities of collective mobilisation within the global women’s rights movement(s). The organisation, “inspired by diverse voices and causes in the movement, speaks out against sexism, whorephobia, homophobia and transphobia, racism and classism present in too many societies.”

“SZEXE aims to contribute to a feminist movement that is inclusive of those women's needs and voices, who are often left behind by civil society groups and policy-making, for instance trans women, sex workers or migrants.” - SZEXE


Watch “Sex Workers Against the Tide” (Hungarian with English subtitles)

 

Topics
Sex work

Activismo por el trabajo sexual en Hungría

Activismo por el trabajo sexual en Hungría

En septiembre de 2015, la Asociación de Trabajadorxs Sexuales de Hungría (SZEXE en su idioma original) celebró sus 15 años de trabajo en la lucha por afirmar los derechos y proteger a lxs trabajadorxs sexuales, así como por desmantelar el estigma contra ellxs


A SZEXE la crearon trabajadorxs sexuales sobre todo romaníes que trabajaban en la calle y sus aliadas, que se unieron para protestar por la sanción de una ley regulando el trabajo sexual. Se considera que el activismo por el trabajo sexual en Hungría comenzó en ese momento.

‘Zonas de tolerancia' 

La ley contra la que protestó SZEXE fue «redactada para sacar a lxs trabajadorxs sexuales, sobre todo las de origen romaní, del octavo distrito de Budapest, Józsefváros, para poder mejorarlo y que resultara más fácil privatizar las propiedades en esa zona». Según esa ley, los municipios con más de 50 000 habitantes o con zonas con gran presencia de prostitución  tenían que definir las llamadas 'zonas de tolerancia'. Ejercer el trabajo sexual fuera de esas zonas específicas pasó a ser ilegal, pero las autoridades se resistieron a definir dichas zonas. El resultado de esto fue que la actividad de un número significativo de trabajadorxs sexuales pasó a ser ilegal y muchas de ellxs fueron multadxs o arrestadxs. 

La relación hostil que mantenían con la policía agravó aún más su situación:

 «Lxs trabajadorxs sexuales no recurren a la policía en busca de protección frente a la violencia o a otros delitos sino que le temen» – SZEXE

Enfrentándose al maltrato

Una de las prioridades de SZEXE es brindar ayuda legal a las trabajadorxs sexuales y desde su comienzo la organización ha iniciado muchas acciones legales que llevaron a varios distritos de Budapest a verse obligados a 'identificar zonas de casi-tolerancia'. Pese a estos veredictos, SZEXE ha presenciado y documentado numerosos incidentes de maltrato policial contra trabajadorxs sexuales.

«La policía aprovechó la falta de certeza jurídica en torno a las zonas de tolerancia y en forma injusta se dedicó a multar a trabajadorxs sexuales para cumplir con sus cuotas».- SZEXE

En cientos de casos, SZEXE ha logrado cuestionar «las multas y detenciones arbitrarias realizadas por la policía». 

Desde que Hungría se sumó a la Unión Europea en 2004, la asociación también comenzó a implementar proyectos pioneros e innovadores para «estimular procesos organizativos autónomos en la comunidad, empoderar a las trabajadorxs sexuales para que brinden servicios a sus pares en áreas como el VIH o como auxiliares jurídicas y hacer que se conviertan en defensoras activas frente a la marginación y la pobreza, todo esto con el apoyo del Fondo Social Europeo». 

SZEXE también apoya a las trabajadorxs sexuales brindándoles educación entre pares, consejerías para migrantes, servicios de salud comunitaria y capacitación como emprendedorxs. También ha fortalecido su incidencia a nivel nacional e internacional. Como producto de sus esfuerzos de lobby y del informe sombra que redactaron, el Comité para la Eliminación de la Discriminación contra la Mujer (CEDAW) consideró «preocupante la discriminación contra las trabajadorxs sexuales y la inexistencia en el Estado de medidas destinadas a garantizarles condiciones laborales seguras».

La reducción del espacio para la sociedad civil en Hungría

Pese a las batallas ganadas y los numerosos logros alcanzados hasta ahora, «la situación de lxs trabajadorxs sexuales y su grado de movilización han empeorado en los últimos años en Hungría», según SZEXE. Como producto de la represión contra la sociedad civil que está llevando adelante el gobierno actual (de derecha), SZEXE es una de las organizaciones que han perdido «todas sus principales fuentes domésticas de financiamiento en un contexto donde se está reduciendo el espacio para la sociedad civil», mientras que a las ONG pro-gobierno se las financia a través de programas para apoyar «los valores tradicionales de la familia y la construcción /fortalecimiento de la identidad nacional». 

Otro aspecto de esta tendencia preocupante es la ley de contravenciones promulgada en 2012, que tuvo un efecto desproporcionado sobre los grupos marginados como la población romaní, las personas sin hogar, usuarias/os de drogas y trabajadorxs sexuales. Esa ley generó discriminación y una vigilancia policial desproporcionada sobre lxs trabajadorxs sexuales que «reciben multas por violar regulaciones formuladas en forma vaga acerca del trabajo sexual o directamente en forma arbitraria...». SZEXE afirma que solo en 2012 se iniciaron más de 14 000 causas por contravenciones contra trabajadorxs sexuales. Esta situación se agrava por el hecho de que la falta de compromiso gubernamental con su derecho a la salud las ha colocado en una posición aún más vulnerable.   

Movimiento(s) incluyente(s)    

Para continuar desafiando la discriminación, el estigma y las violaciones a los derechos humanos (no solo en Hungría sino en todo el mundo) es necesario construir y sostener movimientos incluyentes, diversos y fuertes. SZEXE se afilió a AWID tras participar en el Foro Internacional de AWID 2012

«Esa reunión constituyó una gran inspiración para las compañeras de SZEXE, que por primera vez se vincularon con el movimiento feminista internacional y conocieron las luchas de las mujeres en distintas partes del mundo, a veces muy similares a las suyas». – SZEXE

La participación de SZEXE en el Foro hizo que sus integrantes reforzaran su percepción acerca de las posibilidades de movilización colectiva dentro del movimiento (o los movimientos) mundial(es) por los derechos de las mujeres. «Inspiradas por la diversidad de voces y de causas en el movimiento, nuestra organización alza su voz contra el sexismo, la putafobia, la homofobia y la transfobia, el racismo y el odio de clase presentes en demasiadas sociedades».

«SZEXE quiere contribuir a un movimiento feminista que incluya las necesidades y voces de aquellas mujeres a las que los grupos de la sociedad civil y quienes formulan políticas muchas veces dejan de lado, como las mujeres trans*, trabajadoras sexuales o migrantes.»- SZEXE


Mira el video «Sex Workers Against the Tide» (en húngaro, con subtítulos en inglés) 

 

Feminist propositions: Glossary of terms

Capitalism:

An economic system in which production and consumption patterns are based on profit using privately owned capital goods and wage labour. The system builds on individual wealth and capital accumulation at the lowest cost to the investor, with little regard for the societal costs and exploitation of the workforce - both paid and unpaid.

Commodification of land:

The conversion of land and activities related to it (like agriculture) into commodities that can be bought or sold for profit.

International Financial Institutions (IFIs):

Institutions (like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, or regional development banks) that provide loans to countries lacking sufficient money to cover funding shortfalls or to finance development projects. Historically, the lending policies of these institutions have been determined by economically powerful Western countries and private enterprises. Loans to low-income countries in particular typically include conditionalities that prompt economic reforms in these countries to support neo-liberalism.

Neoliberalism:

A set of economic and political theories in which market forces, rather than governments, determine key aspects of the economy with governments acting to support globalized markets and the interests of capital. Neo-liberal economic policies typically include promotion of free trade, privatisation, reduced government spending on social programs, subsidies and tax exemptions for business, deregulation of financial sector and foreign investments, low taxes on the wealthy and corporations, flexible labour and weak environmental protection.

Patriarchy:

Refers to systemic and institutionalized male domination embedded in and perpetuated by cultural, political, economic and social structures and ideologies. Hetero-patriarchy in addition, is a patriarchal system that is also based on the belief that heterosexuality is the only normal and acceptable sexual orientation.

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Calling all artists & creative activists to come together in a new Slack community!

Our thoughts are with the many people all around the world who are most affected by the repercussions of the global COVID-19 pandemic, especially marginalised communities that are historically oppressed.

This is an invitation for artists and creative activists to join a virtual space to connect, build community, and support each other through these challenging times. For this we have created a new Slack community to safely share insights, learnings, life-hacks, resources, advice, fears and anxieties, hopeful and joyful reminders, and in general chat about how we’re doing.

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The co-creation of our feminist realities starts with ourselves and how we treat each other. We are dedicated to creating and protecting safe and supportive spaces for our communities both online and in person.  We also consider that safe and welcoming spaces are co-owned and co-created. We expect our members to act in a manner that is ethical, responsible and consistent with the values of AWID and assume collective responsibility to ensure an atmosphere of mutual respect and solidarity.

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As part of our ongoing discussions, we will offer weekly prompts in Slack with the intention to gently facilitate dialogue and inspire art-making processes. This can be an introspective process, but to make the most out of this community, we welcome you to interact with other community members and share thoughts as part of our discussions. The intention is to invite folks to respond freely and gradually by writing or making art in whatever way feels best. 

We hope to have relevant and timely discussions with you, so we invite your suggestions and feedback. In general, the themes will center the experiences and perspectives of artists, writers, and creators -- and they will make space for folks to vision into and beyond the current global climate through the lens of feminist realities.


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Pleasure Garden Exhibition

The artwork is a photography and illustration collaboration between Siphumeze and Katia during lockdown. The work looks at black queer sex and plesure narratives, bondage, safe sex, toys, mental health and sex and many more. It was created to accompany the Anthology Touch.

Mental Health
Mental Health
Sex and Spirtuality
Sex and Spirtuality
Orgasm
Orgasm

About the Artists:

Siphumeze Khundayi portrait
Siphumeze Khundayi is an art-maker, photographer and facilitator interested in creative ways of bringing together dialogue and artistic practice in relation to African Queer identity.

She is creative director of HOLAAfrica! a pan-Africanist womanist online collective.

Her solo and collaborative performance work has been featured in a number of festivals and theatre spaces such as Ricca Ricca Festival in Japan

She directed two Naledi nominated productions in 2017 and 2018. She directed a show that won a Standard Bank Ovation award in 2020.

As a photographer she was part of a group exhibition titled Flowers of my Soul in Italy organised by the Misfit Project. Produced three publications for HOLAAfrica and was published in and provided the cover for volume two: As You Like of the Gerald Kraak Anthologies.
katia portrait
Katia Herrera is a 21-year-old  Digital visual artist from the noisy city of  Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Despite Herrera being a self-proclaimed introvert, her artwork is remarkably loud in a world trying to quiet black voices. With titles like Black Woman, You Own the Moon, Earth Goddess, Forever,  and Universe Protector, Herrera’s legacy will be marked by her passion for highlighting the endurance and perseverance of black folks of old and present to contrast the narrative that black skin should only be associated with slavery.

One of her most lovely and vivaciously titled works, Universe Protector, portrays the black soul as a divine entity full of strength, power, and greatness. In her youth, her love of graphic design was stimulated by her parents’ artistry and the Photoshop they had downloaded on their computer for their professional photography.