Elena Gastaldo
Protection of the Family
The Issue
Over the past few years, a troubling new trend at the international human rights level is being observed, where discourses on ‘protecting the family’ are being employed to defend violations committed against family members, to bolster and justify impunity, and to restrict equal rights within and to family life.
The campaign to "Protect the Family" is driven by ultra-conservative efforts to impose "traditional" and patriarchal interpretations of the family, and to move rights out of the hands of family members and into the institution of ‘the family’.
“Protection of the Family” efforts stem from:
- rising traditionalism,
- rising cultural, social and religious conservatism and
- sentiment hostile to women’s human rights, sexual rights, child rights and the rights of persons with non-normative gender identities and sexual orientations.
Since 2014, a group of states have been operating as a bloc in human rights spaces under the name “Group of Friends of the Family”, and resolutions on “Protection of the Family” have been successfully passed every year since 2014.
This agenda has spread beyond the Human Rights Council. We have seen regressive language on “the family” being introduced at the Commission on the Status of Women, and attempts made to introduce it in negotiations on the Sustainable Development Goals.
Our Approach
AWID works with partners and allies to jointly resist “Protection of the Family” and other regressive agendas, and to uphold the universality of human rights.
In response to the increased influence of regressive actors in human rights spaces, AWID joined allies to form the Observatory on the Universality of Rights (OURs). OURs is a collaborative project that monitors, analyzes, and shares information on anti-rights initiatives like “Protection of the Family”.
Rights at Risk, the first OURs report, charts a map of the actors making up the global anti-rights lobby, identifies their key discourses and strategies, and the effect they are having on our human rights.
The report outlines “Protection of the Family” as an agenda that has fostered collaboration across a broad range of regressive actors at the UN. It describes it as: “a strategic framework that houses “multiple patriarchal and anti-rights positions, where the framework, in turn, aims to justify and institutionalize these positions.”
Related Content
Snippet - WITM To Strengthen - AR
لتقوية صوتنا وقوتنا الجماعية لنصل لتمويل أكبر وأفضل للتنظيمات النسائية والنسوية وحركات الميم - عين وحلفائها/يفاتها عالمياً
Snippet FEA Georgia this is only the beginning (FR)
Géorgie
Syndicat Réseau Solidarité
ON NE FAIT QUE
COMMENCER
Ottilie Abrahams
Ottilie was a Namibian feminist activist, educator and politician.
Ottilie was one of the founders of the South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO), the Yu Chi Chan Club (an armed revolutionary group); and the South West African National Liberation Front (SWANLIF). She was also a founder of the Namibian Women’s Association and Girl Child Project.
Throughout her life, Ottilie argued for the right to argue, think, contest, and demand. She mobilized women, organized students and teachers and criticized other comrades for their elitism and their corruption.
Ottilie worked ferociously to dismantle patriarchy, and to create a concrete transformative, liberatory, feminist participatory democracy.
Ottilie often said: “I will rest the day I die.”
Body
Sunila Abeyseke
Snippet - WITM about research - PT
Sobre o inquérito WITM
O inquérito global do WITM é um pilar fundamental da terceira edição da nossa investigação orientada para a ação: "Onde está o dinheiro para a organização feminista" (abreviado, "Onde está o dinheiro" ou WITM). Os resultados do inquérito serão aprofundados e explorados através de conversas profundas com ativistas e financiadores, e comparados com outras análises e investigações existentes sobre o estado do financiamento para feministas e para a igualdade de género globalmente
O relatório completo "Onde está o dinheiro para a organização feminista" será publicado em 2026.
Para mais informações sobre como a AWID tem chamado a atenção para o dinheiro a favor de e contra os movimentos feministas, consulte a nossa história do WITM e os nossos relatórios anteriores aqui.
Snippet FEA collaborator and allies Photo 1 (EN)
Mary Assaad
Experta en desarrollo social y antropóloga de formación, Mary fue conocida como pionera en la batalla contra la mutilación genital femenina (MGF).
Nacida en 1922 en El Cairo, el trabajo de Mary en el campo del desarrollo comenzó tempranamente, cuando se unió a la Asociación Cristiana de Mujeres Jóvenes (YWCA, por sus siglas en inglés). Fue integrante del Consejo Mundial de Iglesias y se comprometió cada vez más con la cuestión de la salud de las mujeres. Su larga lucha contra la MGF rindió frutos en 2008, cuando Egipto finalmente penalizó este tipo de prácticas.
Se la recuerda como mentora de numerosxs feministas y activistas egipcixs.
Farida Afridi
ما هو الهدف من استطلاع "أين المال"؟
الهدف الأساسي من وراء استطلاع "أين المال" هو تسليط الضوء على على وقائع التمويل المتنوّعة والمركّبة للحركات النسوية، حركات النساء، حركات العدالة الجندرية وحركات مجتمع الميم - عين والحركات الحليفة لها على المستوى العالمي. بناءاً على هذا، وبناءً على ذلك - تعزيز قضية تحويل أموال أكثر وأفضل وتحويل السلطة باتجاه الحركات النسوية.
Snippet FEA Workers demonstrations in Georgia 2 (ES)
Mridula Prasad
Mridula était une ardente défenseure de la promotion de la santé des femmes à une époque où le sujet de la santé sexuelle et reproductive des femmes était considéré comme tabou aux Fidji.
C’est elle qui a guidé les premiers travaux du Fiji Women’s Rights Movement sur les droits sexuels et reproductifs. En septembre 1999, le Fonds des Nations Unies pour la population lui a décerné un prix régional pour sa contribution en matière de santé et de droits sexuels et reproductifs. Mridula était une militante affirmée, dévouée et infatigable, passionnée par la santé et l’autonomisation des femmes.
Membre reconnue du mouvement féministe et des mouvements de femmes aux Îles Fidji, nous nous souviendrons toujours de la contribution de Mridula. Elle est décédée de causes naturelles en 2017.
Islam Bibi
Мы распределяем деньги среди наших грантополучающих партнерок(-ров) и являемся феминистским и/или женским фондом – можем ли мы участвовать в опросе?
Нет, мы высоко ценим вашу работу, но в данный момент мы не просим откликов от женских и феминистских фондов. Мы будем рады, если вы поделитесь информацией об опросе со своими партнерками(-рами) и контактами внутри феминистской сети.
Snippet FEA Workers Persecution S4 (FR)
LA PERSÉCUTION DES TRAVAILLEUR·EUSES
Carmen de la Cruz
Carmen had a long career advocating for women’s rights both in NGOs and within the United Nations (UN) system.
She taught courses in several Spanish and Latin American universities, and published numerous articles and reports on women, gender and peace in developing countries.
Her writing and critical reflections have impacted a whole generation of young women. In her last years, she was responsible for the Gender Practice Area in the Regional Center of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for Latin America, from where she supported very valuable initiatives in favour of gender equality and women's human rights.
