Philippe Leroyer | Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Special Focus

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

Women Human Rights Defenders

WHRDs are self-identified women and lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LBTQI) people and others who defend rights and are subject to gender-specific risks and threats due to their human rights work and/or as a direct consequence of their gender identity or sexual orientation.

WHRDs are subject to systematic violence and discrimination due to their identities and unyielding struggles for rights, equality and justice.

The WHRD Program collaborates with international and regional partners as well as the AWID membership to raise awareness about these risks and threats, advocate for feminist and holistic measures of protection and safety, and actively promote a culture of self-care and collective well being in our movements.


Risks and threats targeting WHRDs  

WHRDs are exposed to the same types of risks that all other defenders who defend human rights, communities, and the environment face. However, they are also exposed to gender-based violence and gender-specific risks because they challenge existing gender norms within their communities and societies.

By defending rights, WHRDs are at risk of:

  • Physical assault and death
  • Intimidation and harassment, including in online spaces
  • Judicial harassment and criminalization
  • Burnout

A collaborative, holistic approach to safety

We work collaboratively with international and regional networks and our membership

  • to raise awareness about human rights abuses and violations against WHRDs and the systemic violence and discrimination they experience
  • to strengthen protection mechanisms and ensure more effective and timely responses to WHRDs at risk

We work to promote a holistic approach to protection which includes:

  • emphasizing the importance of self-care and collective well being, and recognizing that what care and wellbeing mean may differ across cultures
  • documenting the violations targeting WHRDs using a feminist intersectional perspective;
  • promoting the social recognition and celebration of the work and resilience of WHRDs ; and
  • building civic spaces that are conducive to dismantling structural inequalities without restrictions or obstacles

Our Actions

We aim to contribute to a safer world for WHRDs, their families and communities. We believe that action for rights and justice should not put WHRDs at risk; it should be appreciated and celebrated.

  • Promoting collaboration and coordination among human rights and women’s rights organizations at the international level to  strengthen  responses concerning safety and wellbeing of WHRDs.

  • Supporting regional networks of WHRDs and their organizations, such as the Mesoamerican Initiative for WHRDs and the WHRD Middle East and North Africa  Coalition, in promoting and strengthening collective action for protection - emphasizing the establishment of solidarity and protection networks, the promotion of self-care, and advocacy and mobilization for the safety of WHRDs;

  • Increasing the visibility and recognition of  WHRDs and their struggles, as well as the risks that they encounter by documenting the attacks that they face, and researching, producing, and disseminating information on their struggles, strategies, and challenges:

  • Mobilizing urgent responses of international solidarity for WHRDs at risk through our international and regional networks, and our active membership.

Related Content

Holding up the Skies

A Film Series on Feminist Realities from Africa and the African Diaspora

by Gabrielle Tesfaye

When I created my short animation film, The Water Will Carry Us Home, my mind was plugged into a magical world of fearless resilience and ancestral mermaids who transformed their deepest scars into a new generation of life. Set during the time of the transatlantic slave trade, I was pulled to show this history of African enslavement in a different way than it has ever been told on screen. I wanted to give my ancestors the commemoration they never received. I was motivated to reclaim the history that continues to paint us as helpless victims. Essentially, I wanted to tell the truth. To reclaim and reimagine our history and perspective, means to simultaneously heal our generational traumas that exist today. It is this important work that so many women through the African continent and the African diaspora are doing today, igniting our collective Feminist Realities. 

In the making of the film I researched religiously, and in what was written, I saw what was not. There were many times I felt I was hitting a wall trying to find something that was not there, and it was in those voided places that I realized the storytellers of today are filling the voids. I found the most useful stories in contemporary art, film, and African diaspora folklore. 

“... a truly unique, raw and representation of feminist power in action.”
 
    - Hers is Ours Collective, organizers of the Outsider Moving Art & Film Festival

The Water Will Carry Us Home carried itself around the world into the hearts of the Diaspora. It also led me here, as the curator of the African and Diaspora film screenings of AWID’s Co-Creating Feminist Realities initiative. Whilst curating this collection of films, I looked for stories that were completely unique, raw and representational of feminist power in action. Consisting of three shorts and one feature, they reveal stories through many communities in Africa and the diaspora, including Ethiopia, Uganda, The Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa and Kenya. These films reposition African women as what they truly are- self governing and empowered through the unfiltered lens of their work. 

“An incredibly beautiful, attentive, finely observed telling of the connection between Africa and its Diaspora formed form the trans Altantic slave trade. The visual universe it creates is just gorgeous… an echo of the fusion of spiritual traditions and non-linear time that speak to how we are still experiencing the moments of the past that formed 'new' worlds of diaspora blackness.”
 
    - Jessica Horn, PanAfrican feminst strategist, writer and co-creator of the temple of her skin


Our short documentary film, Women Hold Up the Sky, created by the WoMin African Alliance, tells the story of women activists in Uganda and the Democractic Republic of Congo who are actively reclaiming their land rights, threatened by mining and other extractives in their homes. The film not only exposes the corruption of extractivism, but finally shares what we have been missing on screen - how grassroots African women are actively organizing, strategizing, and analyzing within their communities to create women-centred and community-driven alternatives. Margaret Mapondera of WoMin explains it beautifully, that they are the “custodians of lands, forests, waters, rivers and territories; the ways in which women hold and transmit the stories / herstories of our past and our futures; the powerful and transformative ways of being that women embody in their relationships to each other, to the environment and in themselves.” 

“A refreshing and much-needed piece of cinema highlighting the many ways African women are coming together to create women-led and community-driven alternatives… The fight is on and
women hold the key.”
 
    - Hers is Ours Collective, organizers of the Outsider Moving Art & Film Festival


Pumzi, created by critically acclaimed director Wanuri Kahiu, bridges Africa and science fiction around climate and environmentalism. Pumzi imagines a futuristic world where humankind has been forced to settle on another planet. While Pumzi seems afro-futuristic and new for Africa on the surface, Kahiu reveals the truth that science fiction and fantasy is something that has always existed in African storytelling, but never recognized. Kahiu creates a world where women are truth seekers and heroes who pioneer us into a new world, the opposite of images that position Africans as victims of war and destruction. Instead, Pumzi writes the narrative of African women being their own saviors and problem solvers, who stop at no cost to follow the cryptic visions they channel in their dreams. 

“A pioneering African sci-fi film, situating women as scribes of the future and opening up our visions about other worlds, other universes we might occupy as Africans - always an important exercise as we imagine our way out of present crises.”
 
       - Jessica Horn, PanAfrican feminst strategist, writer and co-creator of the temple of her skin


Our feature film of the program, Finding Sally is set in 1970’s Ethiopia during the time of The Red Terror war, documenting the striking history of director Tamara Mariam Dawit’s activist aunt, Sally Dawit. Throughout the film we learn of Sally’s incredible journey as a young and courageous woman activist navigating one of the most violent times of Ethiopian history. Sally’s story not only reveals the gravity of this time, but the reflection of her own personal evolution as a young woman. Dawit was intentional to tell the film through the lens of women, untouched by male voices. Due to so much Ethiopian history being told by men, the making of this powerful story preserved its reality of honoring the feminist perspective. Dawit explains, “Women in revolution and war are often only included as someone's spouse or someone who did cooking or typing work. I wanted to look at the activism around the revolution only through the memories and voices of women.” Finding Sally demonstrates the reclamation of history sought by current filmmakers today. It is an igniting of feminist power and our connected realities throughout time.   

“The responsibility falls on us, to remember these women that came before us and their brilliant work so they are not forgotten like the thousands of women already forgotten while fighting the good fight. Sally is such a woman and may she never be forgotten.”

     - Hers is Ours Collective, organizers of the Outsider Moving Art & Film Festival

Register here to watch this film from June 18-22


These films have became a part of my own psyche, empowering me to continue building powerful alternatives towards justice from within. They affirm that I am a woman among a world of women, holding up the skies and actively building indestructible Feminist Realities. These films are more than stories of African women - they are globally relatable, inspiring and set the example of Feminist Realities for all of us around the world. 


Gabrielle Tesfaye:

Gabrielle Tesfaye is an interdisciplinary artist versed in painting, animation, film, puppetry and interactive installation. Her work is rooted in the African diaspora, Afro-futurism, ancient art practices and cultural storytelling.

Follow us on Social Media to receive news about upcoming events and screenings:

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2003: le premier Dialogue de haut niveau a lieu

Premier Dialogue de haut niveau sur le financement du développement, 29-30 octobre 2003.

Les  dialogues de haut niveau  de l’Assemble générale des Nations Unies sur le financement du développement, tenus tous les deux ans, sont l’un des mécanismes de suivi de la Conférence de Monterrey. À la suite de ce premier dialogue, huit tables rondes ont été organisées  autour de différentes questions comprenant les subventions agricoles, le commerce, l’allègement de la dette et le financement des OMD. Toutes les discussions se concentraient sur les manières de faire face aux  obstacles structurels qui pesaient sur ces questions et défavorisaient  les nations « en développement ».

D'autres mécanismes de suivi de la Conférence de Monterrey :

  • Les réunions spéciales de haut niveau du Conseil économique et social des Nations Unies (ECOSOC)  tenues  chaque année sur le thème du suivi du Consensus de Monterrey et sous la direction  de la Banque mondiale, du Fonds monétaire international, de l’Organisation mondiale du commerce et de la CNUCED. En outre, au cours de chacune de ses sessions de fond, l’ECOSOC consacre jusqu’à deux jours à des  délibérations portant sur les priorités du FdD.
  • L’organe des Nations Unies consacré aux questions fiscales, le Comité d'experts de la coopération internationale en matière fiscale, traite des différentes questions relatives aux politiques fiscales qui ont été identifiées dans le Consensus de Monterrey. Il constitue un cadre de dialogue visant à améliorer et à encourager la coopération fiscale internationale entre les autorités fiscales nationales.

ما هي لغات استطلاع "أين المال" الرسمية؟

حالياً سيتواجد الاستطلاع على منصة KOBO باللغات العربية، الإنجليزية، الفرنسية، البرتغالية، الروسية والاسبانية. ستكون لديكم/ن الفرصة لاختيار اللغة التي تريدون تعبئة الاستطلاع بها في بداية الاستطلاع.

Snippet FEA Sabrina Sanchez Bio (FR)

Nous vous présentons Sabrina Sanchez, incroyable femme trans, migrante, travailleuse du sexe, organisatrice, transféministe et l'une des fondatrices du syndicat OTRAS.

Originaire de Mexico, elle a émigré en Espagne il y a 17 ans après avoir obtenu son diplôme en communication et a commencé à travailler comme travailleuse du sexe.

Il ne fallut pas longtemps avant qu'elle ne s'implique dans l'activisme trans et l'activisme des travailleur·euses du sexe à Barcelone. Après avoir rejoint l'Association des Professionnel·les du Sexe (Asociación de Profesionales del Sexo, Aprosex), elle a commencé à travailler dans son secrétariat et a fondé le syndicat espagnol des travailleur·euses du sexe OTRAS.

Elle vit actuellement à Amsterdam, où elle travaille comme coordinatrice de l'Alliance Européenne des Travailleur·euses du Sexe.

Fait divers: elle est aussi mécanicienne automobile et adepte de la course à pied!

Forum Theme (Forum page)

Thème du Forum

Le thème du 14e Forum international de l'AWID est «Réalités féministes : notre pouvoir en action».

Ce Forum célébrera et amplifiera les propositions audacieuses autour de nous, à tous les stades de déveoppement ! 

En savoir plus

Navleen Kumar

"She was not a person. She was a power."
- a fellow activist remembering Navleen Kumar

Navleen Kumar was a fervent land rights and social justice activist in India.

With commitment and integrity, she worked for more than a decade to protect and restore the lands of Indigenous people (adivasi) in Thane district, an area taken away by property and land developers using such means as coercion and intimidation. She fought this injustice and crime through legal interventions at different courts, realizing that manipulation of land records was a recurrent feature in most cases of land acquisition. In one of the cases, that of the Wartha (a tribal family), Navleen found out that the family had been cheated with the complicity of government officials.

Through her work, she helped restore the land back to the Wartha family and continued to pursue other cases of adivasi land transfers.

“Her paper on the impact of land alienation on adivasi women and children traces the history and complexities of tribal alienation from the 1970s, when middle class families began to move to the extended suburbs of Mumbai as the real estate value in the city spiralled.

Housing complexes mushroomed in these suburbs, and the illiterate tribals paid the price for this. Prime land near the railway lines fetched a high price and builders swooped down on this belt like vultures, to grab land from tribals and other local residents by illegal means.”
-Jaya Menon, Justice and Peace Commission 

During the course of her activism, Navleen received numerous threats and survived several attempts on her life. Despite these, she continued working on what was not only important to her but contributed to changing the lives and realities of many she supported in the struggle for social justice. 

Navleen was stabbed to death on 19 June 2002 in her apartment building. Two local gangsters were arrested for her murder. 

#MeToo in China

En China, el movimiento #MeToo [«Yo También»] se encendió en enero de 2018, empujado por el ímpetu del movimiento #MeToo de todo el planeta. Fue una respuesta a los problemas culturales y sistémicos relacionados con el género y el poder dentro de China. Las bases del movimiento habían sido establecidas durante décadas, y los muchos años de debate y promoción de la igualdad de género, finalmente, hicieron erupción con tremenda fuerza en toda la sociedad. El movimiento #MeToo fue impulsado fundamentalmente por jóvenes, que incluyen a innumerables mujeres anónimas y sus aliadxs, en busca de oportunidades para hacer realidad el principal «sueño chino»: transformar a China en un país con igualdad de género.
 
En China, el contexto para el movimiento #MeToo es extremadamente adverso: el Estado de derecho, la justicia y la transparencia de las acciones gubernamentales y la libertad de expresión no pueden darse por descontados, pero estos son precisamente los objetivos por los cuales lucha el movimiento. Ha sido, desde el principio, una lucha intensa, y cada víctima o activista que se visibiliza corre enormes riesgos: desde ser silenciadx o humilladx o de sufrir represalias hasta poner en peligro su seguridad. Todos los éxitos del movimiento #MeToo han sido logrados por quienes son lo suficientemente valientes como para asumir los costos de manifestarse y desafiar la censura.
 
La exhibición «#MeToo in China» fue inaugurada en 2019 y recorrió cinco ciudades. Su objetivo es dar mayor prominencia  a las experiencias personales de lxs víctimas y lxs activistas, para inspirar al público a unirse a la lucha a través del contacto con estas historias. La exposición misma se ha convertido en parte de la lucha #MeToo: ha debido enfrentar desafíos en su itinerario por toda China y, en más de una ocasión, fue amenazada con la clausura.

#MeToo China Image
#MeToo China Image
#MeToo China Image

2011: The fifth High-level dialogue kick starts Post-2015 discussions

The Fifth High- Level Dialogue on Financing for Development, 7 – 8 December 2011, marked the beginning of the Post 2015 development agenda discussions, and the link to financing for development. The conference gave a special focus to increasing aid to finance the MDG’s. In his closing remarks, the Secretary General called on members to begin to consider the post-2015 development framework. 

Наша группа не имела ежегодного финансирования в период с 2021 по 2023 год. Можем ли мы пройти опрос?

Да, мы хотим получить ваш ответ, независимо от того, сколько раз (один, два или три) вы получали финансирование в период между 2021 и 2023 годами.

Snippet FEA Principles of work Human Rights (EN)

A person speaking in a loudspeaker.

HUMAN RIGHTS

Nadyn Jouny

Lo personal es político, y la apasionada y valiente Nadyn Jouny personificó este mantra feminista. Nadyn experimentó de primera mano el dolor de la violencia estructural de los sistemas legales que despojan a las mujeres de sus derechos.

Cuando Nadyn decidió solicitar el divorcio, los tribunales religiosos chiítas, bajo las Leyes de Estatuto Personal Libanesas, le negaron la custodia de su joven hijo Karam. Nadyn, como tantas otras mujeres del Líbano y de otros países, se vio atrapada entre el dolor imposible de dejar una relación no deseada y abusiva y de perder a la vez los derechos sobre su hijo.  Sin embargo, Nadyn se defendió, y lo habría de hacerlo hasta el último día.

Nadyn utilizó su  habilidad con los medios de comunicación para convertirse en una voz  franca a favor de las mujeres que luchan contra la discriminación en la legislación familiar, en el Líbano y a nivel internacional. Nadyn cofundó el grupo autofinanciado "Protecting Lebanese Women" [Protegiendo a las Mujeres Libanesas] (PLW, por sus siglas en inglés) y se unió a muchas otras madres libanesas que se enfrentaban a problemas similares de custodia. Juntas, trabajaron para crear conciencia sobre las injusticias extremas a las que se enfrentaban, a nivel nacional, protestaron ante los tribunales religiosos por sus derechos y, a nivel internacional, llamaron la atención de los medios de comunicación.

Nadyn también trabajó con ABAAD - Resource Center for Gender Equality [Centro de Recursos para la Igualdad de Género], otra organización por los derechos de las mujeres en el Líbano, para realizar campañas en favor de los derechos de las mujeres, la igualdad en la legislación familiar y relativa a las custodias y contra los matrimonios forzados y precoces.

Para muchxs de sus colegas, Nadyn llegó a "simbolizar la lucha de una madre libanesa contra la supresión y la misoginia de todo tipo" (en inglés), al utilizar "su experiencia personal y trayectoria individual de empoderamiento, dio a otras mujeres esperanza para que ellas también pudieran ser un catalizador para el cambio positivo" - ABAAD - Centro de Recursos para la Igualdad entre los Géneros, Líbano.

El 6 de octubre de 2019, Nadyn murió trágicamente en un accidente de automóvil cuando se dirigía a protestar por los injustos aumentos de impuestos en un país que ya se enfrentaba a una espiral de crisis financiera. Nadyn Jouny tenía solo 29 años en el momento de su muerte.

Nicole Barakat

nicole barakat -verge exhibition april 2018
We transcend time and place (Nous transcendons le temps et le lieu), Papier découpé à la main (2017)
nicole barakat -verge exhibition april 2018
We will remember who we are and We will persist (Nous nous rappellerons qui nous sommes et nous persisterons), Coton lamé brodé coupé à la main sur tissu de laine et soie (2018
nicole barakat -verge exhibition april 2018
​​We will return home (Nous rentrerons au pays), Lamé brodé à la main sur velours de coton (2018)
verge march 18 - document photography
We will heal in the now (Nous guérirons dans l’instant), Soie coupée à la main, laine, lamé, coton, impression numérique directe satin de soie sur lin (2018)

nous sommes infini·e·s

Une exposition de Nicole Barakat qui incarne sa reconnexion avec la diaspora d'objets provenant de ses terres ancestrales dans l'Asie du Sud-Ouest et l'Afrique du Nord.
 
Barakat présente une collection d'œuvres textiles en tant que manifestations de sa démarche consistant à travailler avec des objets déplacés, souvent volés, détenus dans les collections de musées occidentaux, notamment le Louvre, le British Museum et le Nicholson Museum. 
 
Pour contourner les gardiens et pénétrer dans les vitrines contenant ces objets ancestraux, Barakat récupère des formes de connaissances précoloniales, non linéaires et réceptives qui sont souvent dévaluées et rejetées par les institutions coloniales et patriarcales. Elle utilise ainsi la cafédomancie, le travail du rêve, l'écoute intuitive et les conversations avec les objets eux-mêmes (source).

À propos de Nicole Barakat

Nicole Barakat portrait
Nicole Barakat est une artiste queer femme de la région d’Asie du Sud-Ouest et d’Afrique du Nord, née et vivant à Gadigal (dite Sydney, en Australie). Elle emploie des processus intuitifs et d’écoute profonde visant à transformer les conditions de la vie quotidienne. Son travail fait appel à des approches non conventionnelles de la création artistique, créant des œuvres complexes qui incarnent l'amour et la patience et caractérisent les pratiques textiles traditionnelles. 

Ses œuvres comprennent des dessins en tissu et en papier cousus et découpés à la main, des formes sculpturales réalisées avec ses propres cheveux, du tissu et des matériaux végétaux, ainsi que des œuvres en direct où elle utilise sa voix comme matériau.

La pratique créative de Nicole s'enracine dans la re-mémoration et le re-couvrement de son savoir ancestral, y compris la cafédomancie et, plus récemment, le travail avec des plantes et des essences de fleurs pour le soin et la guérison de la communauté.

Avril 2015: tienen lugar las audiencias interactivas con empresarios y sociedad civil

  • El 8 y 9 de abril de 2015, en la sede de la ONU en Nueva York se realizaron audiencias interactivas oficiosas con el sector empresarial y la sociedad civil, respectivamente.
  • Las organizaciones por los derechos de las mujeres y otras organizaciones de la sociedad civil (OSC) plantearon sus preocupaciones acerca de la participación limitada de los Estados Miembros durante las audiencias con las OSC, por lo cual el CSO Coordinating Group [Grupo Coordinador de las OSC, ACG en inglés] envió una carta a los facilitadores sobre este asunto.
  • La segunda sesión redactora del Documento Final de la Conferencia de Adís Abeba tuvo lugar del 13 al 17 de abril de 2015 en la sede de la ONU. Sus discusiones tuvieron como base el Borrador Cero.
  • En las diferentes sesiones oficiales y eventos paralelos, el WWG presentó recomendaciones sobre las áreas temáticas de la FpD a los Estados Miembros. Algunas de las principales preocupaciones de las mujeres giraban en torno al hecho de que el Borrador Cero no ponía suficiente énfasis en los impactos enormes y negativos de la crisis financiera producto de la inestabilidad en los sistemas financieros internacionales sobre el desarrollo, la igualdad y los derechos humanos, particularmente los derechos de las mujeres.

Porque é que são necessários o nome e as informações de contacto do grupo/organização e/ou movimento que preencher o inquérito?

Pedimos estes dados para facilitar a revisão das respostas, para evitar respostas duplicadas e para poder entrar em contacto com o seu grupo caso não tenha conseguido completar o inquérito e/ou tenha dúvidas ou perguntas adicionais. Para mais informações sobre como utilizamos as informações pessoais que recolhemos através do nosso trabalho, clique aqui.

Snippet FEA Title Main (ES)

 

 

 

Las Economías Feministas

QUE AMAMOS

 

 

FRMag - Freeing the Church

Liberar a la Iglesia, descolonizar la Biblia para las mujeres de Papúa Occidental

por Rode Wanimbo

«Señor, somos indignas. Somos las que pecaron, porque Eva comió el fruto en el Edén. Solo somos mujeres que cultivan batatas, cuidan cerdos y dan a luz niñxs. Creemos que tú moriste en la cruz para liberarnos. Gracias, en el nombre de Jesús, amén». (...)

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< arte: «Offerings for Black Life» [Ofrendas para las vidas negras], Sokari Ekine