Search

World leaders at the development finance summit may have paid lip service to women’s rights, but the Addis Ababa action agenda tells a different story

As part of the “Undoing the Empire” teach-in, AWID met with Annette Davis, Sharone Omankoy and Fania Noël, all three members of Collectif Afroféministe MWASI (MWASI Afrofeminist Collective), to learn more about the French collective's activism in a context characterized by racism and misogyny and other forms of discrimination.

The 29th session of the UN Human Rights Council in June 2015 saw the introduction of the second ever Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) report on ‘Discrimination & Violence against Individuals Based on their Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity’. AWID spoke with Cynthia Rothschild, feminist, human rights and sexual rights activist, about the significance of the report and outcomes of the June 2015 Human Rights Council session.

The International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) made a statement on behalf of AWID, FORUM-ASIA, Just Associates, Nazra for Feminist Studies and the Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights – members of the Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition – to the 29th Session of the Human Rights Council.

With only a few days until the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD3) starts on July 13th in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, and governments at the UN headquarters in New York are still locked in negotiations on the outcome document. In the midst of this uncertainty, one thing is certain - what is finally agreed in Addis will impact how the next fifteen years of development financing are shaped, including financing for women’s rights, gender equality and the sustainable development goals (SDGs), to be agreed on September 2015 at the UN General Assembly.

AWID spoke with Dorotea Wilson, general coordinator of the Afro-descendant women in Latin America, the Caribbean (LAC) and the Diaspora, about the situation of Afro-descendant women in the region and how they are organizing and preparing for the Decade for People of African Descent.

No mother ever wants to see her child in prison but Rawia Sadek is not letting her daughter Yara Sallam’s incarceration bring her down.

To commemorate World Refugee Day, celebrated each year on June 20th, AWID spoke to Yasmine Flitti, Director of Finance and Administration with Comede (Committee for the Health of Exiles) and Hélène Rama Niang Diagne, President and Founder of FECSDA (Women Education Culture Health and Development in Africa), to learn more about the issues and challenges of migration in the Mediterranean region from a feminist perspective.

A Home Away from Home Singapore is a campaign that aims to raise awareness of violence and other issues that domestic workers in Singapore are facing. Through this project, we wanted to increase visibility and, in the long run, inclusivity through a day of appreciation for the domestic workers themselves and to try to effect attitudinal change in the minds of the general public.

We call on all States and this Council to recognise that violence against women is intrinsically linked to the imposition and exertion of power and maintaining the status quo, and that policies and laws to prevent violence against women should not only be geared towards protection, but also towards ensuring freedoms, including the freedom to decide on sexualities and bodily autonomy.