Susana Chavez
Confronting Extractivism & Corporate Power
Women human rights defenders (WHRDs) worldwide defend their lands, livelihoods and communities from extractive industries and corporate power. They stand against powerful economic and political interests driving land theft, displacement of communities, loss of livelihoods, and environmental degradation.
Why resist extractive industries?
Extractivism is an economic and political model of development that commodifies nature and prioritizes profit over human rights and the environment. Rooted in colonial history, it reinforces social and economic inequalities locally and globally. Often, Black, rural and Indigenous women are the most affected by extractivism, and are largely excluded from decision-making. Defying these patriarchal and neo-colonial forces, women rise in defense of rights, lands, people and nature.
Critical risks and gender-specific violence
WHRDs confronting extractive industries experience a range of risks, threats and violations, including criminalization, stigmatization, violence and intimidation. Their stories reveal a strong aspect of gendered and sexualized violence. Perpetrators include state and local authorities, corporations, police, military, paramilitary and private security forces, and at times their own communities.
Acting together
AWID and the Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition (WHRD-IC) are pleased to announce “Women Human Rights Defenders Confronting Extractivism and Corporate Power”; a cross-regional research project documenting the lived experiences of WHRDs from Asia, Africa and Latin America.
We encourage activists, members of social movements, organized civil society, donors and policy makers to read and use these products for advocacy, education and inspiration.
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"Women Human Rights Defenders confronting extractive industries: an overview of critical risks and Human Rights obligations" is a policy report with a gender perspective. It analyses forms of violations and types of perpetrators, quotes relevant human rights obligations and includes policy recommendations to states, corporations, civil society and donors.
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"Weaving resistance through action: Strategies of Women Human Rights Defenders confronting extractive industries" is a practical guide outlining creative and deliberate forms of action, successful tactics and inspiring stories of resistance.
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The video “Defending people and planet: Women confronting extractive industries” puts courageous WHRDs from Africa, Asia, and Latin America in the spotlight. They share their struggles for land and life, and speak to the risks and challenges they face in their activism.
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Challenging corporate power: Struggles for women’s rights, economic and gender justice is a research paper outlining the impacts of corporate power and offering insights into strategies of resistance.
Share your experience and questions!
Tell us how you are using the resources on WHRDs Confronting extractivism and corporate power.
◾️ How can these resources support your activism and advocacy?
◾️ What additional information or knowledge do you need to make the best use of these resources?
◾️ How can these resources support your activism and advocacy?
◾️ What additional information or knowledge do you need to make the best use of these resources?
Thank you!
AWID acknowledges with gratitude the invaluable input of every Woman Human Rights Defender who participated in this project. This project was made possible thanks to your willingness to generously and openly share your experiences and learnings. Your courage, creativity and resilience is an inspiration for us all. Thank you!
Related Content
What is included in registration fees?
The AWID Forum registration fees for all forum participants cover:
- Full access to all four days of the Forum
- Lunches and coffee/tea breaks during forum days
- Resource materials
- Simultaneous interpretation during plenaries and some selected breakout sessions/activities (English, French, Spanish, and local language)
- Participation in the celebration dinner/party
- Mobile app with final program and chat function
- Free Wi-Fi service in the forum premises
- Airport pick ups and hotel-venue-hotel transportation
Principles of Engagement
Welcome to Crear | Résister | Transform: a festival for feminist movements!
Principles of Engagement
AWID is committed to creating an online space that invites and challenges us all to operate from a place of courage, curiosity, generosity and shared responsibility.
We invite you to co-create spaces with us that are free of harassment and violence, where everyone is respected in their gender identity and expression, race, ability, class, religion, language, ethnicity, age, occupation, type of education, sexuality, body size, and physical appearance. Spaces where we recognize inequalities in our world and strive to transform them in our own interactions with each other.
We want to create a space where ...
- we can all be present
This means that we are able to listen, understand and relate to each other. To feel close, in spite of it all being virtual. For this, we will make interpretation available and open channels (like chat and other tools) for you to react and share. To hear each other better, we invite you to wear headphones during the conversation. If it is possible for you , we suggest that you close your email and any other likely source of distraction while you are in the conversation.
- all forms of knowledge are valued
Let us celebrate the multiple ways in which knowledge shows up in our lives. We invite you to approach the conversation with curiosity and openness to learn from others, allowing ourselves to unlearn and relearn through the exchange, as a way to start collectively building knowledge.
- all of us feel welcome
We are committed to holistically approaching accessibility by being mindful of different physical, language, mental and safety needs. We want a space that is welcoming of folks from various backgrounds, beliefs, abilities and experiences. We will be proactive but we also ask that you communicate your needs with us, and we will do our best within our capacity to address these needs.
- all of us feel safe and respected:
We all commit individually and collectively to respect each other’s privacy and to seek people’s consent before sharing any images or content generated during the conversation that involves them.
Creating a safer, respectful and enjoyable environment for the conversations, is everybody's responsibility.
Reporting
If you notice that someone is behaving in a discriminatory or offensive manner, please contact the reference person who will be indicated at the beginning of the session.
Any participants that express oppressive language or images, will be removed from the call and will not be readmitted. We will not engage with them in any way.
Teresia Teaiwa
Considérée par le Guardian comme l'une des icônes nationales de Kiribati, Teresia était une avocate téméraire.
Elle travaillait en étroite collaboration avec des groupes féministes aux îles Fidji. Ses travaux de recherche ont servi à aborder les problèmes du féminisme et de l'égalité de genre dans le Pacifique. Elle était également corédactrice de l’International Feminist Journal of Politics. En Océanie, son influence a traversé les frontières académiques, ainsi que les mouvements pour la justice sociale.
Snippet - WITM To make - PT
Para dar ênfase à complexidade do financiamento de várias formas de organização feminista;
I can’t attend the Forum in person, how else can I participate?
More than just an event, the AWID Forum is part of our Feminist Realities Journey, with many spaces to come together, online and offline, for sharing, discussing, strategizing and co-creating feminist realities.
Learn more about the Feminist Realities Journey and everything that will happen before the Forum. Join our mailing list to stay tuned for Post-Forum announcements!
We are exploring options to participate virtually at the Forum and we will share information when we know what we can offer.
Snippet FEA Who takes care of them S4 (ES)
...¿QUIÉN LES CUIDA A ELLXS?
Upasana Agarwal
Sobre Upasana Agarwal
Upasana es unx ilustradorx y artista no binarie de Calcuta, India. Su obra explora narrativas identitarias y personales, que empean restos o evidencias visuales de los contextos con los que trabaja. Le atraen especialmente los diseños en patrones que, para ellx, comunican verdades complejas sobre el pasado, el presente y el futuro. Cuando Upasana no está ilustrando, organiza y dirige un centro de arte comunitario queer y trans de la ciudad.
Rhonda Copelon
Amal Bayou
Amal was a prominent politician and parliamentarian in Libya. She was a faculty member at Benghazi University from 1995 until her death in 2017.
Amal was a civil society activist and a member of various social and political initiatives. She assisted the families of martyrs and the disappeared, and was a founding member of a youth initiative called ‘’Youth of Benghazi Libya”. In the 2014 parliamentary elections, Amal was elected to the House of Representatives with more than 14,000 votes (the highest number of votes anyone received in the 2014 elections).
Amal will remain in the memories of many as a woman politician working to ensure a better future in one the most difficult and conflict-ridden contexts in the region.
Snippet - WITM About the survey - PT
Sobre o inquérito
- GLOBAL E DIVERSO: Reflete sobre as realidades de financiamento da organização feminista em escala global e separadas por regiões
- CONTEXTUALIZADO: Dá enfâse às vozes, perspetivas e experiências vividas dos movimentos feministas com toda a sua riqueza, coragem e diversidade, nos seus respetivos contextos
- CRIADO EM COLABORAÇÃO: Desenvolvido e testado em colaboração conjunta com membres da AWID e parceires do movimento
- COMPLEMENTAR: Contribui para os testemunhos existentes e aprofunda os mesmos sobre o estado de financiamento para a organização feminista, de direitos das mulheres e de justiça de género por ativistas, financiadores feministas e aliados
- MULTILINGUE: Disponível em árabe, inglês, francês, português, russo e espanhol.
- CONFIDENCIAL: Damos prioridade à sua privacidade e ao seu anonimato. A AWID jamais divulgará informações sobre uma organização específica ou informações que permitam identificar uma organização através da respetiva localização ou características. A nossa política de privacidade detalhada está disponível aqui.
- ACESSÍVEL: Acessível para pessoas com uma variedade diversificada de habilidades auditivas, de movimento, visuais e cognitivas, sendo que demora aproximadamente 30 minutos a ser realizado.
- REPRODUZÍVEL: Pode ser reproduzido através dos movimentos nos seus respetivos contextos; ferramentas de inquérito e conjuntos de dados estarão disponíveis publicamente para abranger mais inquéritos e advocacia coletiva.
Will the AWID Forum still be in Taipei in light of the COVID-19?
AWID is closely monitoring the global COVID 19 situation and for now anticipates continuing with the Forum as planned.
If at any moment the situation demands something different, we will let you know right away.
The 14th AWID International Forum is scheduled to take place 20-23 September 2021 in Taipei,.
Snippet FEA collaborator and allies Photo 2 (FR)
Comprendre le contexte des menaces antidroits
Chapitre 2
Bien plus de la moitié de la population mondiale est aujourd’hui dirigée par l’extrême droite. C’est sur cette toile de fond que défenseur·e·s des droits humains et féministes luttent pour « tenir bon », protéger le multilatéralisme et le système international des droits humains, alors que leurs engagements les exposent à de violentes répressions. Ces institutions sont cependant de plus en plus soumises aux intérêts du secteur privé. Les grandes entreprises, surtout les sociétés transnationales, siègent à la table des négociations et occupent des fonctions de leadership dans plusieurs institutions multilatérales, l’ONU notamment. Le lien entre ultranationalisme, restriction de l’espace civique et emprise des entreprises a un impact considérable sur la réalisation ou non des droits humains pour tout le monde.
Danger - Trump and the Far Right.
Sommaire
- Nationalisme et ultranationalisme
- Emprise des entreprises : le pouvoir débridé des entreprises met nos droits en danger
- Répression et restriction des espaces civiques pour les activistes féministes et les défenseur·e·s des droits humains des femmes et des personnes LGBTIQ+
- Histoire du mouvement de la résistance. L’Article 16 de la CEDAW : vers une réforme des codes de la famille discriminatoires dans les contextes musulmans
Cristina Morales Jose
Selena “Rocky” Malone
Rocky mostró un liderazgo y una dirección inspiradoras en su trabajo con jóvenes lesbianas, gays, bisexuales, transgénero, intersex, queer, y personas transgénero indígenas de Australia (LGBTIQBBSG) en riesgo.
Rocky comenzó su carrera con el Servicio de Policía de Queensland como Oficial de Policía de Enlace. Para ella, hacer una diferencia era algo importante. Desarrolló una carrera impresionante trabajando con jóvenes LGBTIQBBSG como Gerente del Servicio Juvenil de Puertas Abiertas.
Rocky trabajó con lxs beneficiarixs en situaciones complejas, específicamente relacionadas con la identidad sexual y de género. Esta línea de trabajo le resultaba propia: era una líder comunitaria fuerte, una triunfadora discreta, una amiga leal, una persona que apoyaba compasivamente a lxs demás, alguien que producía el cambio. Rocky fue una de lxs fundadorxs de IndigiLez Leadership y de Support Groes.
En 2016, en la Corte Suprema de Brisbane, Michael Kirby, ex juez del Tribunal Supremo de Apelaciones, mencionó por su nombre a Rocky al elogiar el trabajo que el Servicio Legal LGBTI había desarrollado a lo largo de los años. Rocky luchó de forma extraordinariamente tenaz por los derechos humanos de la comunidad LGBTIQBBSG, corrió los límites y produjo cambios de una forma respetuosa y amorosa.
Snippet - WITM FAQ - PT
Perguntas Frequentes
Why did AWID decide to change the Forum location from Bali to Taipei?
Events in Indonesia, in late 2019 - in particular, signs of intensifying militarization and backlash against LGBTQ rights - led us to question AWID’s ability to maintain a reasonably safe and welcoming environment for the diversity of participants we aspire to bring together at the Forum.
After careful consideration the AWID Board of Directors decided to change the venue for the 14th International AWID Forum, in November 2019 from Bali to Taipei.
Taipei offers a strong degree of logistical capacities, and is accessible for many travellers (with a facilitated e-visa process for international conferences).
For more details:
Snippet FEA Meet the Solidarity Network (EN)
SOLIDARITY NETWORK
Meet the Solidarity Network, a health and service union mostly led by women. Emerging as a response to increasing precarity, severe underpayment and hostile work environments faced by workers in Georgia, Solidarity Network fights for dignified compensation and work places.
Its goal? To create a national worker’s democratic movement. To do so, it has been branching out, organizing and teaming up with other local and regional unions and slowly creating a network of unions and empowering women workers to become union leaders.
Its political approach is a holistic one. For Solidarity Network, labor rights issues are directly connected to broader national political and economic agendas and reforms. That’s why they are pushing for tax justice, women and LGBTQIA+ rights, and fighting against the dismantling of the Georgian welfare state.
The Solidarity Network is also part of Transnational Social Strike (TSS), a political platform and infrastructure inspired by migrant, women and essential worker organizing that works to build connections between labor movements across borders and nurture global solidarity.