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
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
Leila Hessini
Leila is a transnational feminist leader, strategist, and advisor with over 25 years of organizing, advocacy and philanthropic experience advancing human rights, gender equality, and sexual and reproductive rights and justice. She was born in Algeria and educated in the U.S., France, and Morocco; over her professional career, she has lived and worked in forty countries across Africa, Europe, Latin America and Asia. Leila currently serves as a Senior International Fellow at the Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon and as Senior Strategist for various feminist movements and organizations as well as the the Urgent Action Fund-Africa and Trust Africa on an initiative on Reimagining Feminist and Pan-African Philanthropies.
From 2017-2023, Leila held the position as Vice-President of Programs at Global Fund for Women where she oversaw its strategic grantmaking, movement-strengthening, global advocacy and philanthropic collaborations. At GFW, she doubled its grantmaking to over $17 million, launched its feminist and gender-based movements and crises work, created an adolescent girls program led by a girls’ advisory council and led its philanthropic advocacy work. Prior to that she served on the senior leadership team of Ipas from 2002 to 2016 where she published extensively on abortion rights and justice, lead global advocacy efforts and partnered with feminist groups working on self-management, community strategies and stigma reduction around bodily integrity and sexual and reproductive rights.
Leila is currently researching shifts in the philanthropic sector including recognizing non-institutional practices of giving resources in the Global South and efforts to decolonize practices in the Global North. She has written extensively on the political nature of veiling across North Africa and the Middle East, abortion practices in majority Muslim contexts and feminist approaches to sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice.
Leila holds an MPH in public health and a MA in Middle Eastern and North African Studies, studied Islamic law in Morocco and pursued doctoral studies in sociology in France. She studied Arabic and speaks French and English fluently. She is a mother of two feminist young women, an avid scuba diver, mountain bike rider, skier, and outdoor enthusiast.
Snippet She is on her way_Fest (ES)
Sesión plenaria:
"Ella está en camino":
Alternativas, feminismos y otro mundo
Felogene Anumo, AWID
Dr. Vandana Shiva, India
Dr. Dilar Dirik, Kurdistan
Nana Akosua Hanson, Ghana
Clone of Snippet - WITM About the survey - ES
Acerca de la encuesta
- GLOBAL Y DIVERSA: Reflexiona acerca de las realidades de la dotación de recursos entre las organizaciones feministas a escala mundial y desglosada por regiones.
- CONTEXTUALIZADA: Se centra en las voces, perspectivas y experiencias de los movimientos feministas en toda su riqueza, audacia y diversidad, en sus respectivos contextos.
- DE CREACIÓN CONJUNTA: Desarrollada y puesta a prueba en consulta estrecha con lxs afiliadxs y movimientos aliados de AWID.
- COMPLEMENTARIA: Contribuye a la evidencia disponible acerca del estado de la dotación de recursos para las organizaciones feministas, por los derechos de las mujeres y la justicia de género por parte de activistas, donantes feministas y aliadxs, y la difunde.
- PLURILINGÜE: Disponible en árabe, español, francés, inglés, portugués y ruso.
- CONFIDENCIAL: Damos prioridad a tu privacidad y anonimato. En ningún caso, AWID divulgará información acerca de una organización en particular ni exhibirá información que permita identificar a una organización por su ubicación o características. Los detalles de nuestra política de privacidad se encuentran disponibles aquí.
- ACCESIBLE: Es accesible a personas con distinto grado de capacidades auditivas, de movilidad, visuales y cognitivas, y responderla toma aproximadamente 30 minutos.
- REPLICABLE: Es susceptible de ser replicada por los movimientos en sus respectivos contextos; las herramientas y los conjuntos de datos de la encuesta estarán disponibles al público como forma de apoyar una mayor investigación y la promoción colectiva.
Fatima Qureshi
Culturellement nomade, née à Hong Kong et enracinée dans un héritage turco-pakistanais, l'amour de Fatima pour les récits - tant pour les lire que pour les cocréer - a alimenté sa passion pour l'activisme à travers la communication. Forte de sa formation en journalisme, Fatima a travaillé pendant 7 ans dans les domaines de la communication numérique et médiatique avec des ONG qui offrent des opportunités d'éducation et de l’aide juridique aux réfugié·e·s et demandeur·se·s d'asile, ainsi qu'avec le mouvement féministe musulman qui applique une perspective féministe et fondée sur les droits dans la compréhension et la quête d’égalité et de justice au sein de la tradition juridique musulmane. Elle rédige régulièrement des tribunes sur les questions féministes dans les pays du Sud.
Grâce à la narration dans cette ère ultra digitale des réseaux sociaux, Fatima continue de collaborer avec des animateur·rice·s communautaires et des activistes de terrain pour créer du contenu audiovisuel dans le but de cultiver des ponts de compréhension vers la libération collective et la décolonisation. Les jours où elle ne travaille pas, elle regarde attentivement des films féministes indépendants venant d’Iran, du Maroc et du Pakistan, et les autres jours elle interprète de la poésie orale avec ses camarades à Kuala Lumpur.
Snippet Day 14_Fest (FR)
L’histoire derrière Crear, Résister, Transform
Coumba Toure
Discours de clôture: Et maintenant, où allons-nous?
Cindy Clark, AWID
Fem Joy: Fête de clôture!
DJ Miss Ray
DJ Luana Flores
Phoenix Inana
Leila Alaoui
WITM - Refreshed INFOGRAPHIC 3 EN
How feminists resource themselves
Feminist and women’s rights organizations don’t just rely on institutional funding, we resource ourselves. Our organizing is powered by passion, political commitment, solidarity and collective care.
These resources are self- generated and autonomous, and often invisible in our budgets, but they are the backbone of our organizing.
Faten Nabhan
Snippet Festival In Review - Presentation (EN)
A Festival For Feminist Movements
Do you want to be inspired by the creative resistance strategies of feminists from all over the world? Do you want to discover feminist initiatives that show us how we can all live in a more just world? Do you want to learn about models of feminist care and healing to bring to your own community? Is that a resounding yes that we hear? YES!
Then check out Crear | Résister | Transform: a festival for feminist movements. This festival took place virtually throughout the month of September 2021 across all of AWID’s platforms, and now you can experience it on your own time.
The Festival was a multicultural and multilingual experience.
The panelists participated in their preferred language and at AWID we included subtitles on the videos for your accessibility.
Hindia Haji Mohamed
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
Who are AWID's members?
A dynamic network of people around the world, AWID members are researchers, academics, students, educators, activists, business people, policy-makers, development practitioners, funders, and more. Our members - of every age - are those who make AWID a unique global feminist association.
Membership with AWID is open to anyone who shares our values
We offer different types of memberships geared to income level and whether you are an individual or an organization. Currently we have over 5000 members, individual and institutional, from 164 countries.
Our members are an important part of our work
We collaborate for advocacy on specific issues, members vote in elections for our Board, and can also participate in and contribute to our Priority Areas through webinars, surveys, or urgent actions, for example.
Our institutional membership draws from a broad range of organizations interested in advancing gender justice and women’s human rights, including women’s rights organizations, from the local to the global levels, grassroots networks, major international institutions, government departments, university programs and more. 63% of our members are from the global South and 38% are under the age of 30.
Snippet Relive the Festival_Fest (EN)
Relive the Festival
Gloria Capitan
Snippet - COP30 - Actions - ES
Eventos y acciones en la COP30
8-16 de noviembre de 2025
¿AWID puede financiar mi proyecto de desarrollo?
No, lamentablemente AWID no es una organización financiadora.
No podemos considerar propuestas o solicitudes de financiamiento.
Les invitamos a consultar nuestra lista de donantes que potencialmente puedan financiar su trabajo por los derechos de las mujeres.
Encontrarás más recursos en la página de nuestra área prioritaria «Financiamiento de los movimientos feministas»