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

Pas d’économies de soins sans travailleuses domestiques !

Un Manifeste

En tant que mouvements féministes et mouvements pour les droits des travailleur·euses, nous articulons en solidarité les points suivants dans le cadre d’une vision collective des économies des soins qui plaçant les travailleuses domestiques au centre

Notre manifeste est une réponse à un contexte complexe :

Le travail domestique et des soins est sur le devant de la scène depuis la pandémie de COVID-19, car il a permis à tout le monde de continuer à fonctionner pendant les crises mondiales. La Banque Mondiale, le Fond Monétaire International et autres institutions multilatérales reconnaissent également l’importance du travail des soins et domestique dans la pérennisation de l’économie. Cette attention répond cependant généralement à une approche instrumentale - dans laquelle le travail des soins soutient l’économie « productive » - centrée sur la réalisation de profits, qui ne reconnaît pas les soins comme un droit humain et un bien public et ne prend pas en compte les travailleuses qui assurent une grande partie du labeur.

Le manifeste est disponible en anglais, français, espagnol, amharique et thaïlandais.

Téléchargez le manifeste complet

CFA 2023 - Call for Activities is live- ES

¡Comienza la Convocatoria para Actividades!

La fecha límite para proponer actividades se extiende hasta el 1ero de Febrero de 2024.

 

En el espíritu del tema del Foro, invitamos a proponer una diversidad de tópicos y formatos para actividades que: 

  • Faciliten la conexión e interacción genuina entre lxs participantes;
  • Promuevan la sanación y regeneración de distintas formas, como personas individuales, comunidades y movimientos;
  • Nos inspiren y desafíen para florecer juntxs como comunidades y movimientos.

#1 - Sexting like a feminist Tweets Snippet ES

Y mi número 1: porque sabes que la cosa va en serio cuando se invoca a los poderes superiores

Image of a tweet with a woman fainted on a set of stairs. Text says: I want to cum so hard my ancestors awaken and rejoin the struggle.

‘Quiero acabar/venirme/correrme tan fuerte que despierte a mis ancestrxs y haga que vuelvan a sumarse a la lucha’

Movement Building

Related Content

CFA 2023 - Submit Button - ES

Snippet - What's happening at HRC61 Intro

The 61st Human Right Council takes place amid, what has been called by the UN Secretary-General, an ‘imminent financial collapse.’ Powerful member states’ refuse to pay up their contributions to the UN: the United States alone accounts for 95% of the USD 1.6 billion shortfall in the UN’s 2025 budget. This continues to erode the Council’s ability to deliver on its mandate, limiting its capacity to support human rights mechanisms, monitor accountability, and respond to global crises. 

This lack of accountability is starkly obvious with the global surge of military spending and ongoing genocides in Gaza, Sudan and Myanmar. From the farcical “Gaza Peace Plan,” and unbridled imperial intervention in Venezuela, led by the US, the mask that “there is just no money” for people- social support, healthcare, education is off.

Intro to tweets snippet FR

Comme ces tweets le montrent, sextoter comme une féministe est à la fois sexy, drôle – et chaud. Mais sans jamais perdre de vue son engagement en faveur de l’équité et de la justice.

AWID IN 2015: Building Collective Impact

In 2015 AWID grew and diversified.

We ramped up preparations for the 13th AWID international Forum, focused a lot of energy on the Post 2015 Development Agenda and Financing for Development processes, and continued the core work of our priority areas:


A sneak peak inside the report

The context

  • We continue witnessing the rapid breakdown in democracy and democratic institutions, with spaces for dissent shrinking.
  • Multiple and concurrent systemic crises (energy, food, finance and climate) continue to deepen inequalities and pose major challenges.
  • Corporations are a leading power in determining the development agenda.
  • Violence against WHRDs remains an urgent problem.
  • Religious fundamentalisms are pervasive and increasingly powerful.
  • New forms of online gender-based violence have emerged.

In response, we are moving out of our silos.

Increasingly, women’s rights and other movements worldwide are articulating the systemic and intersectional nature of these and other problems. We are making better connections with the agendas of other social and environmental movements for solidarity, alliance building and collective responses. We are also seeing greater visibility of these movements fighting for justice on the ground.


Our Impact

  • For effective strategizing and advocacy, we need facts
  • To exchange knowledge and join hands in solidarity, we need  a strong online community
  • To build our collective power, we need to work together
  • To influence international processes,  we need to increase our access and voice
  • To reposition power we need to give visibility and emphasize  the important role that feminist and women’s rights movements  are already playing
     

Our Members

As at 31st December, 2015 we had:


Read the full report

 

CFA 2023 - Online and Hybrid - thai

 ใหม่

การประชุมออนไลน์และแบบผสมผสานรูปแบบ

ผู้เข้าร่วมประชุมออนไลน์สามารถดำเนินรายการในโปรแกรมต่างๆ   เชื่อมต่อและสนทนากับผู้อื่น   และสัมผัสประสบการณ์ความคิดสร้างสรรค์ ศิลปะ และการเฉลิมฉลองของเวที AWID ได้โดยตรง ผู้เข้าร่วม         ที่เชื่อมต่อออนไลน์จะได้พบกับกับโปรแกรมที่เข้มข้นและหลากหลาย ตั้งแต่การประชุมเชิงปฏิบัติการ การอภิปราย  ไปจนถึงโปรแกรมกิจกรรมเยียวยาและการแสดงดนตรี  โดยที่กิจกรรมบางอย่างจะเน้น การเชื่อมต่อระหว่างผู้เข้าร่วมออนไลน์ด้วยกัน       ในขณะที่กิจกรรมอื่นๆจะเป็นการเชื่อมต่อแบบผสมผสาน  เพื่อการมีปฏิสัมพันธ์กันระหว่างผู้เข้าร่วมออนไลน์และผู้ที่อยู่กรุงเทพฯ

Clone of Clone of Clone of Publications - Homepage - es

Publicaciones

Enciende tu fuego feminista leyendo nuestras investigaciones y publicaciones varias sobre financiamiento, defensoras de derechos humanos, construcción de movimientos, fundamentalismos, justicia económica, seguimiento y evaluación feminista y más

Leer más

#2 - Sexting like a feminist Tweets Snippet EN

Who doesn’t like a visual cue?

Annual Report 2010

AWID 2010 Annual Report Cover

Our 2010 Annual Report highlights the major accomplishments of each of our strategic initiatives during the year.

Along with activity highlights, we include a brief analysis of the impact of our initiatives as well as reflections from our members and partners that further illustrate the relevance of AWID’s work and its connection to broader women’s rights movements. 

This interactive document is complete with links to our websites and recent publications with in-depth information on the issues we address in the report.

Read online

CFA 2023 - Submit Button - thai

Clone of Snippet - CSW69 spaces to watch out for - FR

Les espaces de la CSW69 sur lesquels garder un œil

Apprenez-en davantage sur les prochains événements CSW69 co-organisés par l'AWID ci-dessous

Manal Tamimi | Snippet ES

Portrait Manal Tamimi

Manal Tamimi es una activista y defensora de los derechos humanos palestina. Tiene cuatro hijxs y posee una maestría en derecho humanitario internacional. Debido a su activismo, fue arrestada en tres ocasiones y sufrió más de una herida, incluso balas explosivas reales, algo prohibido en el plano internacional. Su familia también es blanco de agresiones: sus hijxs han sido arrestados y sufrido heridas con munición activa más de una vez. El último hecho fue un intento de asesinato contra su hijo Muhammad, quien recibió un disparo en el pecho cerca del corazón, unas semanas después de ser liberado de las prisiones de la ocupación en las que había estado dos años. Su filosofía de vida: si tengo que pagar un precio por ser palestina y no por un delito que haya cometido, me niego a morir callada.