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
Posso realizar o inquérito fora do KOBO e partilhar as minhas respostas convosco por e-mail?
Somente no caso de problemas de acessibilidade e/ou se realizar o inquérito noutro idioma; caso contrário, encorajamo-lo a utilizar o KOBO para a recolha e análise padronizadas de dados do WITM.
Kasia Staszewska
Kasia has been supporting the work of feminist and social justice movements for the last 15 years. Before joining AWID, Kasia used to lead policy and advocacy for ActionAid and Amnesty International while organizing with feminists and social justice groups in Poland for access to abortion and against violence on the European borders. Kasia is passionate about resourcing feminist organizing in all their boldness, richness and diversity. She shares her time between Warsaw and her DIY community village in the forest. She loves saunas and is crazy about her dog named Wooly.
كم سؤال في الاستطلاع؟
هنالك 47 سؤال في الاستطلاع، منها 27 سؤال اجباري* والعشرين الباقين هي أسئلة اختيارية. أغلب الأسئلة هي أسئلة متعددة الخيارات. ندعوكم/ن للإجابة على جميع الأسئلة.
Jessica Whitbread
Jessica is a queer artist- activist from Toronto, Canada, but is currently based in Bulgaria. Jessica has over 15 years experience in the HIV response working at the intersections of gender and HIV with key populations (sex workers, women who use drugs, LGBTQI communities, incarcerated people and of course people living with HIV). Jessica loves movement building and thinking/taking/strategizing about arts-based interventions. One fun project she started in 2013 was LOVE POSITIVE WOMEN that engages over 125 community groups and organizations globally every February 1-14th to celebrate women living with HIV in their communities.
Как вы будете представлять и обрабатывать данные, собранные в ходе опроса?
Данные будут обработаны в статистических целях, чтобы осветить состояние ресурсного обеспечения феминистских движений во всем мире, и представлены будут только в обобщенном виде. AWID не будет публиковать информацию о конкретных организациях или отображать информацию, которая позволила бы идентифицировать организации по их местоположению или характеристикам, без их согласия.
Faten Nabhan
As realidades de financiamento para movimentos feministas mudam rapidamente. Este questionário é um ocorrência única?
Não. Tem por base a história de 20 anos da AWID de mobilizar mais financiamento de maior qualidade para mudanças sociais lideradas por feministas e é a terceira edição do nosso inquérito “Onde está o dinheiro para organização feminista?”. O nosso objetivo é repetir o inquérito WITM a cada 3 anos.
I am a young feminist. How can I engage in AWID’s work?
Young feminist activists are at the heart of AWID’s work.
In fact, 38% of our members are under the age of 30.
We believe that young feminists are both the present and the future of the struggle for women’s rights. We promote young leaders in the global women’s rights movement and our Young Feminist Activism program cuts across all aspects of our work.
At the same time, by defining young feminist activists as one of our Priority Areas, we contribute new analysis to current debates and ensure that young feminist activists are able to articulate their priorities and voice their concerns.
هل يمكنني التواصل مع أي أحد إن كانت لدي أسئلة أو أمور تثير قلقي؟
إن كانت لديكم/ن أسئلة أو أمور تثير قلقكم/ن، الرجاء التوجه الينا عن طريق هذا النموذج وكتابة "استطلاع أين المال" في العنوان أو راسلنا على witm@awid.org
2013: The sixth High-level Dialogue reviews progress of MDGs
The Sixth High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development, 7-8 October 2013 focused on reviewing the progress of MDG’s, and identifying gaps to be addressed in discussions on the new development framework.
A report by the MDG’s Gap Task Force launched during the session pointed to the failure to meet MDG 8 (Global Partnership for Development) as a major factor in the challenges to meeting the MDGs. The report showed that more focus should be given to developing stronger global partnerships that would ensure binding commitments for the new development framework post 2015.
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CSW69 spaces to watch out for
Learn more about upcoming CSW69 events that AWID is co-organizing
What will be different about this Forum?
We have always worked towards ensuring that our Forums are co-developed with partners, movements and our priority constituencies.
For our upcoming Forum, we aim to deepen and strengthen that spirit and practice of co-creation and collaboration. We also recognize the need to improve the balance between the inclusion of many voices and experiences with room for participants and staff to breathe, take pause and enjoy some downtime.
This Forum will be different in the following ways:
- We will have far less organized Forum activities because we want people to have time to engage, experience, process, talk to each other, etc. This is key to communicate: you can come to the Forum, be very engaged and active and not facilitate any organized activity (or “session”).
- We will have Open Spaces - at least one whole afternoon without any organized activities - but also physical spaces available throughout the Forum for people to self-organize meetings, etc.
- We have a Content and Methodology Committee made up of feminists from different regions with expertise on participatory methodologies to support us and all those leading activities at the Forum to use creative and engaging formats for the Forum activities.
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What’s a feminist like you doing in a place like this?
A conversation on international advocacy and global governance
✉️ By registration only. Register here
📅 Friday, March 14, 2025
🕒 2.30pm EST
🏢 Blue Gallery, The Blue Building, 222 East 46th Street
🎙️Facilitated by: Anissa Daboussi, Manager, Advancing Universal Rights and Justice team
Organizer: SRI, AWID
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Preferred languages:
Boil them down to communications language preferences
Snippet WCFM Title Menu (EN)
Snippet - COP30 - Radical Democracy - EN
Radical Democracy and Climate Justice - the missing debate of COP30
As the world struggles with multiple intersecting crises, local communities and collectives of various kinds are resisting as also creating constructive alternatives.
📅 Wednesday, November 12, 2025
📍 Seminario Mar Nossa Sra Da Assunção, Pará, Brazil