Jean-Marc Ferré | Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
A general view of participants at the 16th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.

Special Focus

AWID is an international, feminist, membership organisation committed to achieving gender equality, sustainable development and women’s human rights

Human Rights Council (HRC)

The Human Rights Council (HRC) is the key intergovernmental body within the United Nations system responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe. It holds three regular sessions a year: in March, June and September. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is the secretariat for the HRC.

The HRC works by:

  • Debating and passing resolutions on global human rights issues and human rights situations in particular countries

  • Examining complaints from victims of human rights violations or activist organizations on behalf of victims of human rights violations

  • Appointing independent experts (known as “Special Procedures”) to review human rights violations in specific countries and examine and further global human rights issues

  • Engaging in discussions with experts and governments on human rights issues

  • Assessing the human rights records of all UN Member States every four and a half years through the Universal Periodic Review

Learn more about the HRC


AWID works with feminist, progressive and human rights partners to share key knowledge, convene civil society dialogues and events, and influence negotiations and outcomes of the session.

With our partners, our work will:

◾️ Monitor, track and analyze anti-rights actors, discourses and strategies and their impact on resolutions

◾️ Raise awareness of the findings of the 2017 and 2021 OURs Trends Reports.

◾️Support the work of feminist UN experts in the face of backlash and pressure

◾️Advocate for state accountability
 
◾️ Work with feminist movements and civil society organizations to advance rights related to gender and sexuality.
 

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Videos

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Impunity for violence against women defenders of territory, common goods, and nature in Latin America
March 16, 2018
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March 15, 2018
 
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Paulina Cruz Ruiz

Paulina Cruz Ruiz, from the Rabinal, Baja Verapaz region of Guatemala, was an ancestral Maya Achí (Indigenous) authority and a human rights defender.

She was actively involved in community organizing and resistance, including legal measures against mining projects on Indigenous territory, projects that would severely affect and damage the socio-environmental fabric.  

“The extractive industry model promoted by the Guatemalan government and the construction of large-scale development projects on indigenous lands without community consent has been a source of ongoing disputes with resistance movements.” - Minority Rights Group International

Paulina was also part of the March for Dignity, Life and Justice, in which on 1 May 2019 thousands of Guatemalans started a march of eight days against corruption and impunity in the prosecution and assassinations of human rights, peasant and Indigenous leaders and land defenders.

Paulina was murdered on 14 September 2019 near her home in the village of Xococ. 

According to the Minority Rights Group International, “one of the major ongoing issues affecting Mayan communities is the increasing activity of the mining industry.”


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Read more about the March for Dignity, Life and Justice
 

 

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Disclaimer: Communications with AWID staff

If you have received emails from any staff members at AWID, we would like you to understand the following:

  • The information contained in this communication is confidential and is intended solely for the addressee. 

  • This communication may contain information proprietary to the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), and may not be reproduced or disseminated in whole or in part without AWID's written consent. 

  • AWID does not warrant that any information contained herein is complete or correct. This communication is not an offer to enter into any agreement and is not a confirmation of any agreement described herein unless the context clearly indicates the contrary. 

  • AWID is not acting as your adviser in any agreement that may be proposed herein, and this communication does not constitute a recommendation, guidance or proposal to enter into any agreement. 

  • AWID does not guarantee or otherwise assure the expected results of any agreement. This communication may contain views or opinions that are not necessarily those of AWID. 

  • You shall not be entitled to place any reliance on the information contained in this communication for the purposes of entering into any proposed agreement or otherwise.

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Registration status:

Search for funders based on their requirements for groups to be registered.

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.

Join us on Slack

After filling out the form, we will send you a personal invitation to the community.


About this community:

For those who are new to Slack, we’ll have orientation sessions and materials available after you sign up.

Since we are working in three languages (English, Spanish, French) we invite you to write in the language you are the most comfortable with and use online translation tools (Google Translate or others) to participate in discussions.

Co-creating welcoming and safe spaces:

Please refer to the Community Guidelines

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.

Weekly Prompts: 

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.


Join us on Slack