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:
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Debating and passing resolutions on global human rights issues and human rights situations in particular countries
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Examining complaints from victims of human rights violations or activist organizations on behalf of victims of human rights violations
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Appointing independent experts (known as “Special Procedures”) to review human rights violations in specific countries and examine and further global human rights issues
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Engaging in discussions with experts and governments on human rights issues
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Assessing the human rights records of all UN Member States every four and a half years through the Universal Periodic Review
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:
◾️ 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.
Related Content
Why should I consider responding to the survey?
There are many reasons why your response to the WITM survey matters. The survey offers the opportunity to share your lived experience of mobilizing funding to support your organizing; claim your power as an expert on how money moves and who it reaches; and contribute to collective and consistent advocacy to funders moving more and better funding. Over the last two decades, AWID’s WITM research has proven to be a key resource for activists and funders. We wholeheartedly invite you to join us in its third iteration to highlight the actual state of resourcing, challenge false solutions, and point out how funding must change for movements to thrive and meet the complex challenges of our times.
Snippet FEA Get Involved 1 (FR)
ENGAGEZ-VOUS!
Vous pouvez suivre le travail de ces collectifs sur les réseaux sociaux et sites internet suivant:
- Cozinha Ocupação 9 Julho: Instagram, Facebook and site internet
- Association des Femmes Afro-Descendantes du Nord du Cauca: Instagram, Facebook and site internet
- Metzineres: Instagram, Facebook and site internet
Mia Berden
En nuestro caso, reorientamos dinero a nuestros socios beneficiarios y nos identificamos como fondo de mujeres/feminista, ¿deberíamos responder la encuesta?
No. Valoramos muchísimo su trabajo, pero no estamos buscando respuestas de fondos de mujeres/feministas por el momento. Alentamos a compartir la encuesta con sus socios beneficiarios y con sus redes feministas.
Les droits des femmes et l’égalité de-s genre-s – La rubrique ‘Point de mire’ sur TheGuardian.com
Snippet FEA EoS The Cover (FR)

La puissante
Autoprotection et renforcement
Jennifer López
Natalia Estemirova
Puis-je accéder à l’enquête et répondre aux questions depuis mon téléphone?
Oui, l’enquête est accessible depuis les téléphones intelligents.
Remembering: A Tribute to WHRDs no longer with us
AWID honors feminists and Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) who have died and whose contributions to the advancement of human rights are very much missed.
Celebrating Activists and WHRDs
AWID’s WHRD Tribute is a photo exhibition featuring feminist, women’s rights and social justice activists from around the world who are no longer with us.
The Tribute was first launched in 2012, at AWID’s 12th International Forum, in Turkey. It took shape with a physical exhibit of portraits and biographies of feminists and activists who passed away. The initiative was described by Forum participants as being a unique, moving and energizing way to commemorate our collective history.
At the 13th International Forum in Brazil, we honored activists and WHRDs with a mural unveiling ceremony in four languages, a dance performance and a Brazilian ritual.
In between the events, the Tribute lives as an online gallery that is updated every year as part of the 16 Days Campaign Against Gender Based Violence (25 November – 10 December).
Contributions from all over the world
Since 2012, through our annual Tribute to Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) no longer with us, over 400 feminists and WHRDs from 11 regions and 80 countries have been featured.
AWID would like to thank the families and organizations who shared their personal stories and contributed to this memorial. We join them in continuing the remarkable work of these women and forging efforts to ensure justice is achieved in cases that remain in impunity.
Visit the WHRD Tribute online exhibit
The violence and threaths against WHRDs persist
In addition to paying homage to these incredible activists, the Tribute particularly sheds light on the plight of WHRDs who have been assassinated or disappeared.
One third of those featured in the Tribute were activists who have been murdered or disappeared in suspicious circumstances. They were specifically targeted for who they were and the work they did to challenge:
- State power
- Heteronormativity
- Fundamentalisms
- Corporations
- Patriarchy
- Organized Crime
- Corruption
- Militarization…
Women like Agnes Torres, from Mexico, was killed because of her gender identity and sexual orientation; or Cheryl Ananayo, an environmental activist from the Philippines was assassinated as she struggled against a mining company; or Ruqia Hassan, a Syrian independent journalist and blogger killed for her criticism of ISIS. And so many others.
With the WHRD Tribute, we bring them all into our collective memory and carry their legacy of struggle as our torch in the feminists’ and women’s rights movements. We recognize that security, safety and self-care must be a priority in all our political agendas. And we call on to governments and international bodies to collectively address violence against feminists and WHRDs.
We believe this is a critical step to ensure the sustainability of our movements for gender equality, women’s rights, and justice for all.
Snippet FEA Ecofeminism (EN)
WEST AFRICA
NOUS SOMMES LA SOLUTION
We are the Solution
ECOFEMINISM:
Respect for all we have around us
Aysin Büyüknohutçu
AWID IN 2015: Building Collective Impact

In 2015 AWID grew and diversified.
We ramped up preparations for the 13th AWID international Forum, focused a lot of energy on the Post 2015 Development Agenda and Financing for Development processes, and continued the core work of our priority areas:
- Challenging Religious Fundamentalisms
- Women Human Rights Defenders
- Economic Justice
- Resourcing Women’s Rights
- Young Feminist Activism
A sneak peak inside the report
The context
- We continue witnessing the rapid breakdown in democracy and democratic institutions, with spaces for dissent shrinking.
- Multiple and concurrent systemic crises (energy, food, finance and climate) continue to deepen inequalities and pose major challenges.
- Corporations are a leading power in determining the development agenda.
- Violence against WHRDs remains an urgent problem.
- Religious fundamentalisms are pervasive and increasingly powerful.
- New forms of online gender-based violence have emerged.
In response, we are moving out of our silos.
Increasingly, women’s rights and other movements worldwide are articulating the systemic and intersectional nature of these and other problems. We are making better connections with the agendas of other social and environmental movements for solidarity, alliance building and collective responses. We are also seeing greater visibility of these movements fighting for justice on the ground.
Our Impact
- For effective strategizing and advocacy, we need facts
- To exchange knowledge and join hands in solidarity, we need a strong online community
- To build our collective power, we need to work together
- To influence international processes, we need to increase our access and voice
- To reposition power we need to give visibility and emphasize the important role that feminist and women’s rights movements are already playing
Our Members
As at 31st December, 2015 we had:

Read the full report
Parvin Paidar
Should I do any preparation to respond to the survey?
As the WITM survey is focused on resourcing realities for feminist organizations, most questions ask about your group’s funding between 2021–2023. You will need to have this information with you to fill out the survey (e.g., your annual budgets and key sources of funding).
En su lucha por los derechos humanos enfrentan la injusticia en América Latina
Este año honramos a 19 defensoras de la región de América Latina y el Caribe. De ellas, 16 fueron asesinadas, incluyendo a 6 periodistas y 4 defensoras LGBTQI. Únete a nosotras en la conmemoración de sus vidas y trabajo, compartiendo los memes aquí incluidos con tus colegas, amistades y redes; y tuiteando las etiquetas #WHRDTribute y #16Días.
Por favor, haz click en cada imagen de abajo para ver una versión más grande y para descargar como un archivo.












Snippet FEA Mariama Sonko (EN)
This is Mariama Sonko, an inspiring small-scale rural farmer, eco-feminist and a woman human rights defender.
She lives in Niaguiss, a town in the southwest of Senegal. Growing up in a family and community of rural farmers, she witnessed the essential role of women in food production and seed preservation from a very early age, while also being immersed in the rhythms and working of the land. Mariama has been defending local agricultural knowledge and peasant practices since the 1990s. As a mother of five children, the food she grows herself is the main source of sustenance for her family.
She is currently the president of “Nous Sommes la Solution'' and is involved in promoting agroecological practices and family farming, encouraging food sovereignty, biodiversity and farmer seed preservation, and demanding equitable access to resources and land for women across West Africa.
Source: AWID’s Feminist Realities Festival Crear | Résister | Transform - Day 2/ 2ème jour/ 2º día