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Special Focus

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

Protection of the Family

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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.”

 

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Biblioteca de recursos Derechos en Riesgo

Biblioteca de recursos Derechos en Riesgo

Una colección viva de recursos para apoyar a los movimientos feministas, a personas que diseñan políticas y a aliadxs que resisten a las tendencias fascistas, fundamentalistas y anti-derechos.

agent in action

Cristina Bautista

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Category
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Region
Latin America
Date of death / disappearance
Cause of death / disappearance

Killed

“If we stay quiet they kill us and if we talk [they kill us] too. So, let’s talk.” -  Cristina Bautista, 2019

Cristina Bautista was a member of the Nasa Indigenous people’s community whose home is situated in the region of Northern Cauca, Colombia. She was part of their resistance as a leader, land rights defender, social worker, and governor of the Nasa Tacueyó Indigenous reserve. 

A tireless defender of the rights of Nasa people, Cristina spoke strongly and loudly against the violence directed at her community. In a speech before the United Nations, she called for the protection of Indigenous women’s lives and their involvement in different spheres of life. In 2017, Cristina was a UN Human Rights Office Indigenous fellow and she was awarded a grant from the UN Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples in 2019. 

“I would like to bring to light the current situation of the Indigenous people in Colombia, the killing of Indigenous leaders, the repression of social protest. Instead of helping, the peace deal has increased war and the exploitation of sacred territories in Colombia… In the current situation, in almost all Indigenous nations as women we have been working to find a better future for our families. I don’t want more women from the countryside to continue living under these circumstances. We need opportunities for Indigenous women to participate in politics, in the economy, in society and in culture. Today gives me true strength, to see all these women here and that I am not alone.” - Cristina Bautista, 2019

On 29 October 2019, Cristina was murdered along with four unarmed Indigenous guards in an attack which was allegedly carried out by armed members of “Dagoberto Ramos”, a FARC dissident group. 

According to Global Witness, “the murder of community and social leaders has risen dramatically in Colombia in recent years.” 

“The Nasa community has repeatedly raised the alarm with the authorities about threats to their safety. Despite efforts by successive Colombian Governments, indigenous peoples continue to face great risks, especially religious or community leaders like Cristina Bautista.” - UN press briefing, 1 November 2019

Watch a speech by Cristina Bautista in August 2019 in which she denounced previous murders of Indigenous guards (Spanish only)

WITM - Refreshed INFOGRAPHIC 3 FR

Comment les féministes s’autofinancent ?

Les organisations féministes et de défense des droits des femmes ne dépendent pas uniquement des financements institutionnels, elles s’autofinancent. Nos mouvements sont animés par la passion, la solidarité, l’engagement politique et le soin collectif.
Ces ressources autonomes et autogénérées sont souvent invisibles dans les budgets, mais elles sont le pilier de notre action collective.

 Explorez les données sur l’autofinancement

How does the AWID Forum connect to regional and other spaces?

We are in communication with regional, thematic and funder convenings planned for 2023-2024, to ensure flow of conversations and connections. If you are organizing an event and would like to make a connection to the AWID Forum, please get in touch with us!

2025 AWID Feminist Calendar

AWID 2025 Calendar cover

 

 

 

 

This calendar is a gift to our global feminist community. It is our promise of future connection and movement moments in the year to come. This past year has seen unspeakable injustices. We welcome a new year full of powerful movement spirit, of hopeful solutions and strategies. For a more just world for all.

As you flip through the pages note the diversity of art from our artist members who use their work to amplify and interlink our different movements under the feminist umbrella. Do you see yourself, your movement, your communities in these pages? We encourage you to use this calendar as a practical tool to mark time and space, but also to pencil in occasions to connect with feminists and activists.

Use it, print it, share it. Let this calendar be a daily companion in your journey, a constant reminder of our interconnectedness and our shared visions for a better world. Let it inspire you, as it inspires us, to keep moving forward together.

This calendar invites us to immerse ourselves in the inspiring world of feminist artistry. Each month, as it gently unfolds, brings forth the vivid artwork of feminist and queer artists from our communities. Their creations are not mere images; they are profound narratives that resonate with the experiences of struggle, triumph, and undying courage that define our collective quest. These visual stories, bursting with color and emotion, serve to bridge distances and weave together our diverse experiences, bringing us closer in our shared missions.

Get it in your preferred language!

English

Français

Español

Português

عربي

Русский

Thai

Formation à la méthodologie

Bientôt disponible :

Formation à la méthodologie

Vous souhaitez vous rassembler pour renforcer les résistances ? Cette méthodologie de formation propose des exercices de groupes qui renforcent les connaissances et le pouvoir du collectif, avec des adaptations pour répondre à vos besoins.

Bientôt disponible

Paulina Cruz Ruiz

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Category
Derechos económicos, sociales y culturales
Region
América Latina
Date of death / disappearance
Cause of death / disappearance

Asesinato

Paulina Cruz Ruiz, de la región de Rabinal, Baja Verapaz, en Guatemala, fue una autoridad ancestral Maya Achí (Indígena) y una defensora de los derechos humanos. Paulina se involucró activamente en la organización comunitaria y la resistencia, lo cual incluyó la adopción de medidas legales contra los proyectos mineros en territorios Indígenas, proyectos que afectarían y perjudicarían severamente el tejido socio ambiental. 

"El modelo de industria extractiva promovido por el gobierno guatemalteco y la construcción de proyectos de desarrollo a gran escala en tierras indígenas, sin el consentimiento de la comunidad afectada, ha sido una fuente de disputas permanentes con los movimientos de resistencia". - Minority Rights Group International

Paulina también formó parte de la Marcha por la Dignidad, la Vida y la Justicia, del 1º de mayo de 2019, en la cual miles de guatemaltecxs iniciaron una marcha de ocho días contra la corrupción y la impunidad en la persecución y el asesinato de dirigentes de derechos humanos, líderes campesinxs e indígenas y defensorxs de la tierra. 

Paulina fue asesinada el 14 de septiembre de 2019 cerca de su casa en la aldea de Xococ.

Según el Grupo Internacional de Derechos de las Minorías: "actualmente, uno de los principales problemas que afectan a las comunidades mayas es la creciente actividad de la industria minera".

Para leer más sobre la comunidad Maya en Guatemala

Para leer más sobre la Marcha por la Dignidad, la Vida y la Justicia

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Démocratie radicale et justice climatique - le débat absent de la COP30

Modèles de gouvernance alternative comme moyens de sortir de la crise climatique.

📅 Mercredi 12 novembre 2025
📍 Seminario Mar Nossa Sra Da Assunção, Pará, Brésil

Plus d'infos ici

Site web en anglais

¿Habrá un espacio para jóvenes feministas? ¿Un espacio de justicia para personas con discapacidad? ¿Un centro digital/tecnológico? ¿Posibilidad de sentarse café por medio con donantes? ¿Espacios de bienestar y sanación?

Tan pronto como podamos, compartiremos información sobre el programa, los espacios y la forma en que todo el mundo puede participar en su construcción, en camino hacia el Foro y durante el Foro. Sigue con atención las actualizaciones.

Creación conjunta de realidades feministas

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Mientras soñamos con un mundo feminista, hay quienes ya lo están construyendo y viviendo. ¡Esas son nuestras realidades feministas!

¿Qué son las realidades feministas?

Las realidades feministas son ejemplos palpables de los mundos justos que estamos creando conjuntamente. Existen ahora, en las múltiples formas en que vivimos, luchamos y construimos nuestras vidas.

Estas realidades feministas van más allá de la resistencia contra los sistemas de opresión, y nos muestran cómo sería un mundo sin dominación, ni explotación ni supremacía. 

Estas son las historias que queremos descubrir, compartir y ampliar a lo largo de este viaje por las realidades feministas.

Transformar las visiones en experiencias vividas

Mediante esta iniciativa, nosotrxs:

  • Creamos y difundimos alternativas: Creamos juntxs arte y expresiones creativas se centran en celebrar la esperanza, el optimismo, la sanación y la imaginación radical que inspiran las realidades feministas.

  • Construimos conocimiento: Documentamos, demostramos y difundimos metodologías que ayudarán a identificar las realidades feministas en nuestras diferentes comunidades.

  • Promovemos agendas feministas: Expandimos y profundizamos nuestro pensamiento colectivo y nuestra organización para promover soluciones y sistemas justos que encarnen valores y visiones feministas.

  • Movilizamos acciones solidarias: Involucramos a movimientos feministas, de derechos de las mujeres, de justicia de género y aliados para que compartan, intercambien y creen juntos  realidades, narrativas y propuestas feministas en el 14º Foro Internacional de AWID.

El Foro Internacional de AWID

Aunque ponemos énfasis en el proceso que lleva al Foro y en lo que ocurre después, el evento de cuatro días es un espacio importante en el que ocurre la magia que queremos crear, gracias a la energía única que despierta y a las oportunidades que se abren cuando nos reunimos.

Esperamos que el próximo Foro:

  • Les dé fuerza a las Realidades Feministas al nombrarlas, celebrarlas y generar entusiasmo por las experiencias y propuestas que nos muestran de qué somos capaces, alimentando así nuestra imaginación colectiva.

  • Nos llene de esperanza y de energía que son combustibles tan necesarios para la resiliencia y el activismo por los derechos y la justicia

  • Fortalezca las conexiones, la reciprocidad y la solidaridad entre los diversos movimientos feministas, y entre ellos y otros movimientos por los derechos y la justicia

Aquí podrás leer más acerca del proceso del Foro

El próximo Foro de AWID tendrá lugar del 20 al 23 de septiembre de 2021 en Taipéi, Taiwán.

Descubre más

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Crear | Résister | Transform : visite guidée du Festival

Alors que le capitalisme hétéropatriarcal s’acharne à nous contraindre au consumérisme et à la conformité, nous constatons que nos luttes sont cloisonnées et séparées par des frontières aussi bien physiques que virtuelles.

Avec les défis supplémentaires d’une pandémie mondiale à surmonter, cette stratégie du « diviser pour mieux régner » a favorisé l’expansion de l’exploitation dans de nombreux domaines.

Malgré tout, du 1er au 30 septembre 2021, le festival Crear | Résister | Transform : un festival dédié aux mouvements féministes ! de l’AWID nous a emmené·e·s à la découverte de ce que cela signifiait d’incarner nos réalités dans des espaces virtuels. Lors du festival, des activistes féministes du monde entier se sont réuni·e·s non seulement pour partager des expériences de libertés, de résistances et de solidarités transfrontalières durement gagnées, mais aussi pour exprimer ce à quoi pourrait ressembler une forme transnationale d’unité. 

C’est précisément cette unité qui a le potentiel de dépasser les frontières, permettant de tisser une vision de l’avenir qui est transformatrice parce qu’abolitionniste et anticapitaliste. À travers des infrastructures numériques que nous avons investies avec notre queerness, notre résistance et nos imaginaires, le festival a présenté un moyen de se détourner des systèmes qui nous rendent complices de l’oppression des autres et de nous-mêmes. 

Si Audre Lorde nous a appris que « les outils du maître ne détruiront jamais la maison du maître », Sara Ahmed nous a montré en revanche que nous pouvons en faire mauvais usage. Le fait d’avoir à créer un espace de rassemblement, en dépit de toutes les autres contraintes pesant sur nos emplois du temps, nous a permis d’imaginer une façon de rompre avec la réalité du capitalisme hétéropatriarcal. 

Maintenant, si nous comprenons le rassemblement comme une forme de plaisir, il devient alors possible de faire le lien entre le plaisir transgressif et la résistance transnationale/transdigitale; entre les types de plaisir qui bousculent les frontières d’une part, et la queerness, la théâtralité, la lutte pour la terre et les autochtones, l’anticapitalisme et l’organisation anticoloniale d’autre part.

La présente édition a tenté de donner une idée de la manière dont l’exercice de rassemblement du festival a revêtu de multiples formes et imaginations. Au-delà des collaborations directes avec certain·e·s de ses orateurices et rêveur·se·s, nous avons fait appel à une pléthore d’autres voix du Sud mondial pour aborder plusieurs de ces sujets et thématiques. Vous trouverez ci-dessous une carte de certains des panels du festival qui nous ont le plus inspiré·e·s.

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CFA 2023 - Intro - EN

“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” - Maya Angelou

 

Welcome to the 15th AWID International Forum!

The AWID International Forum is both a global community event and a space of radical personal transformation. A one-of-a-kind convening, the Forum brings together feminist, women’s rights, gender justice, LBTQI+ and allied movements, in all our diversity and humanity, to connect, heal and thrive. The Forum is a place where Global South feminists and historically marginalized communities take center stage, strategizing with each other and allied movements, funders and policy-makers, in order to shift power, make alliances, and usher in a different, better world.

When people come together on a global scale, as individuals and movements, we generate a sweeping force. Join us in Bangkok, Thailand in 2024. Come dance, sing, dream and rise with us.

When: 2–5 December 2024
Where: Bangkok, Thailand; and online
Who: Approximately 2,500 feminists from all over the world participating in-person, and 3,000 participating virtually

Learn more about the forum:
Read our Frequently Asked Questions

Snippet Kohl - Panel “un”Inclusive Feminism: The voiceless girls in the Haitian feminist movement

Globe “un”Inclusive Feminism

with Naike Ledan and Fédorah Pierre-Louis.

YOUTUBE

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Expose corporate capture. Understand false solutions. Build alternatives. Everything you need to run your own "Whose COP Is It?" campaign.

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CFA 2023 - Forum Theme - EN

Rising Together: Connect, Heal, Thrive

The Forum theme––Rising Together––is an invitation to engage with our whole selves, to connect with each other in focused, caring and brave ways, so that we can feel the heartbeat of global movements and rise together to meet the challenges of these times.

Feminist, women’s rights, gender justice, LBTQI+ and allied movements around the world are at a critical juncture, facing a powerful backlash on previously-won rights and freedoms. Recent years have brought the rapid rise of authoritarianisms, the violent repression of civil society and criminalization of women and gender-diverse human rights defenders, escalating war and conflict in many parts of our world, the continued perpetuation of economic injustices, and the intersecting health, ecological and climate crises.

Our movements are reeling and, at the same time, seeking to build and maintain the strength and fortitude required for the work ahead. We can't do this work alone, in our silos. Connection and healing are essential to transforming persistent power imbalances and fault lines within our own movements. We must work and strategize in interconnected ways, so that we can thrive together. The AWID Forum fosters that vital ingredient of interconnectedness in the staying power, growth and transformative influence of feminist organizing globally.