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.”

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What is AWID?
The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) is an international feminist membership organization.
We work to achieve gender justice and women’s human rights by strengthening the collective voice, impact and influence of global women’s rights advocates, organizations and movements.
Puis-je vous contacter si j’ai des questions ou des inquiétudes?
Si vous avez des questions ou des inquiétudes, merci de nous contacter par le biais de ce formulaire, en indiquant « Enquête WITM » dans l’objet de votre message. Vous pouvez également nous écrire à witm@awid.org.
Benoîte Groult
Benoîte était une journaliste, écrivaine et militante féministe française.
Elle a publié plus de 20 romans et de nombreux essais sur le féminisme
Son premier livre « Ainsi Soit-Elle » a été publié en 1975. Le livre explore l’histoire des droits des femmes ainsi que la misogynie et la violence à l’égard des femmes.
Son dernier livre, « Ainsi Soit Olympe de Gouges», a exploré la question des droits des femmes pendant la Révolution française, se concentrant sur la figure de l’ancienne féministe française Olympe de Gouges. De Gouges fut guillotinée en 1793 pour avoir défié l'autorité des hommes et publié la « Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne » deux ans auparavant.
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Sandra Viviana Cuellar Gallego
¿AWID es una organización feminista?
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لبناء وقائع نسوية ترتكز على الأدلة عن كيف يتحرك المال ولمن يصل
Stella Mukasa
Stella began her career at the Ministry of Gender and Community Development in Uganda engaging with policymakers for law reform, including the 1995 Ugandan Constitution, which established some of the most progressive reforms for women in the region.
She is revered throughout the region for her tireless efforts to create and enforce gender-responsive laws and policies. She played a key role in drafting Uganda’s Domestic Violence Act and in mobilizing support for gender-responsive constitutions in both Uganda and in Rwanda.
Through her work with International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), she worked on violence against children, and worked to strengthen the capacities of grassroots organizations addressing gender-based violence. She was a lecturer on gender rights and the law at Makerere University and served on the boards of Akina Mama wa Afrika, ActionAid International Uganda and the Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa.
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Muriel Duckworth
L’AWID est-elle une organisation du Nord ou du Sud ?
L’AWID est une organisation mondiale.
Notre travail est de portée internationale. Nous collaborons étroitement avec nos membres et d’autres organisations pour les droits des femmes et autres allié-e-s, tant au niveau local que national et régional. Nous faisons en sorte que leurs réalités nourrissent notre travail.
- Nous avons des bureaux au Mexique et au Canada.
- Notre équipe est répartie dans plus de 15 pays aux quatre coins de la planète.
- Dix des treize membres de notre conseil d’administration proviennent de pays du Sud.
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لماذا الآن؟

تتواجد الحركات النسوية، حركات حقوق النساء، حركات العدالة الجندرية، حركات مجتمع الميم - عين وحلفاءها/ يفاتها في مفترق شديد الأهمية وتواجه هجمات عصيبة على حقوق وحريات حصلت عليها. فتصاعد الاستبداد في الأعوام الأخيرة، وكذلك القمع العنيف للمجتمع المدني وتجريم النساء والأشخاص المتنوعين/ات جندرياً المدافعين عن حقوق الإنسان، تصاعد الحروب والأزمات في الكثير من أنحاء العالم، استمرار الظلم الاقتصادي والتقاطع بين الصحة، البيئة والأزمة المناخية.
Juana Ramírez Santiago
Juana fue una de las fundadoras y era actualmente integrante de la junta directiva de la Red de Mujeres Ixiles de Nebaj, una organización por los derechos de las mujeres indígenas que es parte de la Iniciativa Mesoamericana de Mujeres Defensoras de Derechos Humanos (IM-Defensoras).
También era partera y madre de siete hijxs. Había recibido amenazas de muerte que fueron denunciadas ante la Fiscalía. Juana es la tercera defensora de derechos humanos indígena asesinada en el área durante 2018. El Ombudsman de Guatemala informa que un total de 20 defensorxs de derechos humanos fueron asesinadxs este año en el país.
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POLÍTICAS INJUSTAS
Ahmal Mahmoud
I have written a paper about an issue related to Women’s Rights and Development. How can I share it with AWID’s members?
Become a member - Spanish (homepage block)
Afíliate
Al unirte a AWID, te sumas a un proceso organizativo feminista mundial, un poder colectivo surgido del trabajo entre movimientos y basado en la solidaridad.