Gloria Carolina Hernández Vásquez
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
Privacy and cookies - before 25 Apr 2023
AWID Privacy Policy, Your rights to privacy and cookies
This policy governs all pages hosted at www.awid.org, and any other websites under the control of the AWID (the “Website”) and registrations for these sites. It does not apply to pages hosted by organisations other than AWID, to which we may link and whose privacy policies may differ. Please read the following policy to understand our privacy policy regarding nature, purpose, using and sharing of your personal identifiable information that is collected via this website.
1. Types of information collected on this site
Generally, you can browse this website without submitting your personal information to us. However, in some circumstances, we will ask for your personal information.
1.1 Information you provide to us
When you are on the website and are asked for personal information, you are sharing that information only with AWID.
1.1.1 The information you provide to get updates from AWID:
When you register to use the website – for example, subscribe to receive emails from us or apply to become a member - you provide us with the mandatory information about you like Name, country, language to receive email updates and email address. This information is provided by you through secure forms and is stored on secure servers.
1.1.2 The payment information you provide to become member or registering for a paid event:
Also, while becoming a member or registering for events, you may need to provide payment information. AWID doesn’t store any credit card information on its servers and uses payment gateway to process the payment information.
1.1.3 The optional information you chose to give us as AWID member (with consent)
When you communicate with AWID, provide optional information through forms on the website or use the site to communicate with other members, we collect information about your communication and any information you choose to provide.
1.1.4 Information you provide us through contact forms or when you directly communicate with us
When you communicate with us, we collect your communication and any other information you choose to provide us.
1.2 Information that is automatically collected (third party cookies)
In addition, when you interact with the Website, our servers may keep an activity log that does not identify you individually (“Non-Personal Information”). Generally, we collect the following categories of Non-Personal Information:
- We may collect certain demographic data such as age and gender as part of collecting personal information;
- We collect and store certain device information about your computer, mobile device, or other device that you use to access the Website. This information may include IP address, geolocation information, unique device identifiers, browser type, browser language, and other transactional information;
- We automatically log certain usage information about your use of the Website. This information includes a reading history of the pages you view. We use this information to provide you with a more customized experience on the Website;
- We collect and store additional “traffic data” such as time of access, date of access, software crash reports, session identification number, access times, and referring website addresses; and
- We collect and store your search terms and search results.
- We also collect and store certain other information regarding our users’ use of the Website so that third parties may provide us with reports and analysis regarding usage and browsing patterns of the Website.
For more information about cookies, please see www.allaboutcookies.org.
If you do not wish to receive cookies you can easily modify your web browser to refuse cookies, or to notify you when you receive a new cookie, see how here.
2. Use of information collected on this website
AWID uses the information we collect about you to:
- Better understand how you are using our website and what we could do to improve your experience.
- Communicate with you via email to share resources and analysis in the field of women's rights, connect with you and provide opportunities to engage with our work, keep you updated about developments at AWID and with our partners.
- Comply with our legal obligations to:
- Detect and prevent fraud, spam, abuse, security incidents, and other harmful activity.
- Conduct security investigations and risk assessments.
- Verify or authenticate information provided by you (such as to verify your authorization to act as an agent on behalf of a nonprofit organization).
- Conduct checks against databases and other information sources, to the extent permitted by applicable laws.
- Resolve any disputes with any of our users or customers and enforce our agreements with third parties.
- Enforce our Terms of Use and other policies.
3. Distribution of information
If you have subscribed to AWID´s e-newsletters or email updates or you have become a member, we will send you regular communications as specified in the relevant area of the website. You are able to unsubscribe from any of the e-newsletters or email updates at any time by using the unsubscribe information provided in our emails.
4. Accessing, changing and removing information
The accuracy of your individual identifying information is important to AWID. We are always looking for ways to make it easier for you to review and correct the information that AWID maintains about you through our website. If you change your email address, or if any of the other information we hold is inaccurate or out of date, please write to us here.
- Where you have provided AWID with consent to use your personal data, you can withdraw it any time by sending us a communication and specifying which consent you are withdrawing. Please note that the withdrawal of your consent does not affect the lawfulness of any processing activities based on such consent before its withdrawal.
- Where applicable, you may also have a right to receive a machine-readable copy of your personal data. If you would like to have a copy of the personal data we hold on you or if you think that we hold incorrect personal data about you, please write to us.
- You also have the right to ask us to delete your personal data or restrict how it is used. There may be exceptions to the right to erasure for specific legal reasons which, if applicable, we will set out for you in response to your request.
- At any time, regardless of applicable law, you may object to us processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes. You may, at any time, ask AWID to cease processing your data for these direct marketing purposes by Contacting Us.
5. Sharing information
Except as explained below, AWID will not disclose any of your personally identifiable information, and will not sell or rent lists containing your information to third parties. AWID may disclose information when it has your permission to do so or under special circumstances, such as when it believes in good faith that the law requires it.
6. Information security
We are continuously implementing and updating administrative, technical, and physical security measures to help protect your information against unauthorized access, loss, destruction, or alteration. Some of the safeguards we use to protect your information are firewalls and data encryption, and information access controls. If you know or have reason to believe that your AWID membership credentials have been lost, stolen, misappropriated, or otherwise compromised or in case of any actual or suspected unauthorized use of your AWID membership account, please contact us through on Contact Us.
7. Changes to this policy & Contacting us
This policy may change from time to time. The changed policy will be posted on this website and Last updated date at the end of the policy will be updated. There will be an email update sent to you for the revised policy and if you do not agree with the revised policy, you will have the option to cancel you registration(s) with us. You can also write to us here. We welcome your feedback!
Last updated: May 2019
Comment l’AWID a-t-elle débuté ?
L’AWID a fait ses débuts en 1982 et s’est transformée au fil du temps.
Pour mieux connaître notre histoire
Lire « From WID to GAD to Women's Rights: The First 20 Years of AWID » (disponible uniquement en anglais).
What if I can’t attend in-person? Will it be hybrid?
Yes! We are currently exploring innovating technologies to allow for meaningful connection and participation.
Snippet - COP30 Intro - FR
Rejoignez le mouvement féministe pour soustraire l’action climat de l’emprise des multinationales
Alors que la COP29 de l’année dernière avait été marquée par la présence de près de 1 773 lobbyistes du secteur des énergies fossiles, nous voilà en route vers Belém au Brésil, aux côtés d’autres féministes, pour assister à la COP30 du 10 au 21 novembre 2025. Nous continuerons d’y dénoncer les fausses solutions, d’interpeller sur la mainmise des multinationales, et d’exiger aux États qu’ils respectent leurs engagements envers le principe des responsabilités communes mais différenciées (en anglais), et préconiserons des alternatives économiques féministes.
2,7 mille milliards USD pour l’armée. 300 milliards USD pour la justice climatique. Nous sommes là pour inverser la vapeur.
Signez l’appel à l’action
Appel à l’action
Signez l’appel à l’action
Vous voulez vous joindre au nombre croissant de personnes qui disent « ça suffit ! » face aux infiltrations des antidroits à l’ONU ?
Sin trabajadorxs domésticxs no hay economía de los cuidados
Un Manifiesto
Como movimientos feministas y sindicales, juntxs en solidaridad, articulamos los siguientes puntos como una visión colectiva de las economías de los cuidados con los derechos de lxs trabajadorxs domésticxs como eje central.
Nuestro manifiesto responde a un contexto complejo:
El trabajo doméstico y de cuidado estuvo en la primera línea de fuego durante y después de la pandemia de COVID-19, al proporcionar los medios para sobrellevar las múltiples crisis globales que se intersectan. El Banco Mundial, el Fondo Monetario Internacional y otras instituciones multilaterales también reconocen la importancia del trabajo doméstico y de cuidados para el sostenimiento de la economía. Sin embargo, vemos que esta atención adopta un enfoque utilitarista (es decir, el trabajo de cuidados contribuye a sostener a la economía "productiva") centrado en el lucro, sin reconocer los cuidados como un derecho humano y un bien público, ni prestar atención a lxs trabajadorxs que realizan la mayor parte de este trabajo.
Elaine Rosa Salo
Can AWID provide funding for my development project?
No, we regret that AWID is not a funding organization.
We and cannot review funding proposals or requests.
We encourage you to browse our list of donors that may potentially fund your women's rights organizing.
More resources are available from the Priority Area “Resourcing Feminist Movements”
¿Qué hay de la justicia climática? ¿Es realmente el momento adecuado para tantos vuelos internacionales?
Nos hemos hecho la misma pregunta y creemos que no hay respuestas simples. Para muchas personas, el Foro de AWID puede ser uno de los pocos viajes internacionales que realicen en su vida. La pandemia nos enseñó las posibilidades pero también las limitaciones de los espacios virtuales para la construcción de movimientos: no hay nada como la conexión en persona. Los movimientos necesitan conexiones transfronterizas para construir nuestro poder colectivo frente a las amenazas que enfrentamos, especialmente la crisis climática. Creemos que el próximo Foro de AWID puede ser un espacio estratégico para abordar estas cuestiones y explorar alternativas al viaje internacional. El formato híbrido del Foro es una parte importante de esta exploración.
Snippet - COP30 - International Eco-Socialist Encounter - FR
Rencontre internationale éco-socialiste
Panels, ateliers, sessions plénières et espaces d’échanges entre collectives, activistes et organisations en lutte pour prendre collectivement le chemin vers un agenda et un programme de lutte pour l’éco-socialisme.
📅 Du 8 au 11 novembre 2025
📍 Buenos Aires, Argentine
En espagnol et en portugais
Ghiwa Sayegh Snippet
Ghiwa Sayegh est une écrivaine anarcho-queer, éditrice indépendante et archiviste. Elle est la rédactrice fondatrice de Kohl : la Revue de Recherche sur les Corps et le Genre et la cofondatrice d’Intersectional Knowledge Publishers. Elle a une maîtrise en études de genre de l’Université Paris 8 Vincennes – Saint-Denis. Elle est passionnée par la théorie queer, les circulations transnationales et les histoires imaginaires ou inconnues. Ses influences sont Audre Lorde et Sara Ahmed.
¿Publican un informe anual?
Sí. AWID publica informes anuales.
Todos nuestros informes anuales estan disponibles en línea.
ours 2021 - chapter 2 es
Capítulo 2
Entender el contexto de las amenazas anti-derechos
El creciente poder de los actores anti-derechos no se está desarrollando en un vacío. Entender el auge del ultranacionalismo, del poder corporativo irrestricto, del incremento de la represión y de la disminución del espacio cívico resulta clave para contextualizar las amenazas anti-derechos que enfrentamos actualmente.
Snippet - COP30 - Resistance Hubs Section Column 2 - EN
The following partners are organizing COP30 hubs:
- Caribbean Feminist Climate Justice Movement, Barbados
- Gender Interactive Alliance (GIA), Pakistan
- Women’s Initiative for Sustainable Environment (WISE), Nigeria
- Réseau des Acteurs du Développement Durable (RADD)*, Cameroon
- MASIPAG, The Phillippines
*Website in French
Snippet Kohl - Panel | Liberated Land & Territories: A Pan-African Conversation
with Luam Kidane, Mariama Sonko, Yannia Sofia Garzon Valencia, and Nomsa Sizani.
Olabisi Olateru-Olagbebi
J’ai rédigé un article en rapport avec les droits des femmes et le développement. Comment puis-je le partager avec les membres de l’AWID ?
CFA 2023 - Hubs - ES
Nuevo
Participación en nodos: viaje espacial a través de las fronteras
Lxs participantes se reunirán físicamente en varios lugares fuera de la sede de Bangkok, en diferentes partes del mundo, durante cada día del Foro. Todos estos lugares autoorganizados se conectarán en forma virtual con la sede del Foro en Bangkok. Como en el caso de las personas que se conecten en línea, lxs participantes de los nodos podrán facilitar actividades, unirse a conversaciones y disfrutar de un programa rico y diverso.
En 2024, informaremos sobre las localizaciones de los nodos.
Snippet - COP30 - Deckgame card - EN
🎯 Deckgame: Organize. Strategize. Mobilize.
A hands-on deckgame for collectives to explore feminist economic alternatives and systems of care as crisis response. This deckgame is for all movements navigating global climate crises through play and strategy based on real-life scenarios. A creative avenue to strategize in meetings, workshops, and community gatherings!