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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

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

Feminist propositions: Glossary of terms

Capitalism:

An economic system in which production and consumption patterns are based on profit using privately owned capital goods and wage labour. The system builds on individual wealth and capital accumulation at the lowest cost to the investor, with little regard for the societal costs and exploitation of the workforce - both paid and unpaid.

Commodification of land:

The conversion of land and activities related to it (like agriculture) into commodities that can be bought or sold for profit.

International Financial Institutions (IFIs):

Institutions (like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, or regional development banks) that provide loans to countries lacking sufficient money to cover funding shortfalls or to finance development projects. Historically, the lending policies of these institutions have been determined by economically powerful Western countries and private enterprises. Loans to low-income countries in particular typically include conditionalities that prompt economic reforms in these countries to support neo-liberalism.

Neoliberalism:

A set of economic and political theories in which market forces, rather than governments, determine key aspects of the economy with governments acting to support globalized markets and the interests of capital. Neo-liberal economic policies typically include promotion of free trade, privatisation, reduced government spending on social programs, subsidies and tax exemptions for business, deregulation of financial sector and foreign investments, low taxes on the wealthy and corporations, flexible labour and weak environmental protection.

Patriarchy:

Refers to systemic and institutionalized male domination embedded in and perpetuated by cultural, political, economic and social structures and ideologies. Hetero-patriarchy in addition, is a patriarchal system that is also based on the belief that heterosexuality is the only normal and acceptable sexual orientation.

Je suis une jeune féministe. Comment m’impliquer au sein de l’AWID ?

Les jeunes féministes sont au cœur de l’action de l’AWID.

De fait, 38 % de nos membres sont ont moins de 30 ans.

Nous estimons que les jeunes féministes représentent le présent et l’avenir de la lutte pour les droits des femmes. Nous encourageons les jeunes femmes à devenir des leaders du mouvement et notre programme « Activisme des jeunes féministes » est transversal à tous les autres aspects de notre travail.

Dans le même temps, en définissant les jeunes féministes comme l'un de nos domaines prioritaires, nous apportons de nouvelles perspectives aux débats actuels et veillons à ce que les jeunes activistes puissent exprimer clairement leurs priorités et leurs inquiétudes.

En savoir plus sur le programme Activisme des jeunes féministes

Snippet FEA Georgia this is only the beginning (FR)

Géorgie

Syndicat Réseau Solidarité

 

ON NE FAIT QUE

COMMENCER

Snippet - WITM Why now_col 2 - RU

Обеспечение ресурсами феминистских движений имеет основополагающее значение для обеспечения более справедливого и мирного настоящего и свободного будущего.

За последнее десятилетие спонсоры выделили значительно больше средств на обеспечение гендерного равенства, однако лишь 1% средств, выделенных на благотворительность и развитие был направлен непосредственно на поддержку социальных изменений, проводимых под руководством феминисток.

В солидарности с движениями, которые по-прежнему остаются невидимыми, маргинализированными и не имеют доступа к основному, долгосрочному, гибкому и основанному на доверии финансированию, данный опрос освещает фактическое состояние ресурсного обеспечения, выявляет ошибочные решения и указывает на то, как необходимо изменить модели финансирования, чтобы движения процветали и решали сложные задачи современного мира.

Carmen de la Cruz

Carmen had a long career advocating for women’s rights both in NGOs and within the United Nations (UN) system.  

She taught courses in several Spanish and Latin American universities, and published numerous articles and reports on women, gender and peace in developing countries.

Her writing and critical reflections have impacted a whole generation of young women. In her last years, she was responsible for the Gender Practice Area in the Regional Center of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for Latin America, from where she supported very valuable initiatives in favour of gender equality and women's human rights.


 

Carmen de la Cruz, Argentina/ Spain

Key opposition actors

We are witnessing an unprecedented level of engagement of anti-rights actors in international human rights spaces. To bolster their impact and amplify their voices, anti-rights actors increasingly engage in tactical alliance building across sectors, regional and national borders, and faiths.


This “unholy alliance” of traditionalist actors from Catholic, Evangelical, Mormon, Russian Orthodox and Muslim faith backgrounds have found common cause in a number of shared talking points and advocacy efforts attempting to push back against feminist and sexual rights gains at the international level.

Holy See

  • Key activities: As the government of the Roman Catholic Church, the “Holy See” uses its unique status as Permanent Observer state at the UN to lobby for conservative, patriarchal, and heteronormative notions of womanhood, gender identities and “the family”, and to propagate policies that are anti-abortion and -contraception  

  • Based in: Vatican City, Rome, Italy.

  • Religious affiliations: Catholic

  • Connections to other anti-rights actors: US Christian Right groups; interfaith orthodox alliances; Catholic CSOs

Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)

  • Key activities: Self-described as the “collective voice of the Muslim world”, the OIC acts as a bloc of states in UN spaces. The OIC attempts to create loopholes in human rights protection through references to religion, culture, or national sovereignty; propagates the concept of the “traditional family”; and contributes to a parallel but restrictive human rights regime (e.g. the 1990 Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam).

  • Based in: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

  • Religious affiliations: Muslim

  • Connections to other anti-rights actors: Ultra conservative State missions to the UN, such as Russia

World Congress of Families

  • Key activities: International and regional conferences; research and knowledge-production and dissemination; lobbying at the United Nations “to defend life, faith and family”

  • Based in: Rockford, Illinois, U.S.

  • Religious affiliation: Predominantly Catholic and Christian Evangelical

  • Connections to other anti-rights actors: Sutherland Institute, a conservative think-tank; the Church of Latter-Day Saints; the Russian Orthodox Church’s Department of Family and Life; the anti-abortion Catholic Priests for Life; the Foundation for African Culture and Heritage; the Polish Federation of Pro-Life Movements; the European Federation of Catholic Family Associations; the UN NGO Committee on the Family; and the Political Network for Values; the Georgian Demographic Society; parliamentarians from Poland and Moldova, etc; FamilyPolicy; the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies; and HatzeOir; C-Fam; among others

Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam)

  • Key activities: Lobbying at the United Nations, particularly the Commission of the Status of Women to “defend life and family”; media and information-dissemination (Friday Fax newsletter); movement building; trainings for conservative activists

  • Based in: New York and Washington D.C., U.S.

  • Religious affiliations: Catholic

  • Connections to other anti-rights actors: International Youth Coalition; World Youth Alliance; Human Life International; the Holy See; coordinates the Civil Society for the Family; the Family Research Council (U.S.) and other Christian/Catholic anti-rights CSOs; United States CSW delegation

Family Watch International

  • Key activities: Lobbying in international human rights spaces for “the family” and anti-LGBTQ and anti-CSE policies; training of civil society and state delegates (for example, ‘The Resource Guide to UN Consensus Language on Family Issues’); information dissemination; knowledge production and analysis; online campaigns

  • Based in: Gilbert, Arizona, U.S.

  • Religious affiliations: Mormon

  • Connections to other anti-rights actors: leader of the UN Family Rights Caucus; C-Fam; Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality (JONAH); the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH); World Congress of Families; CitizenGo; Magdalen Institute; Asociación La Familia Importa; Group of Friends of the Family (25 state bloc)

World Youth Alliance

  • Key activities: Advocacy in international policy spaces including the United Nations, the European Union, and the Organization of American States for “the family”, against sexual and reproductive rights; training youth members in the use of diplomacy and negotiation, international relations, grassroots activities and message development; internship program to encourage youth participation in its work; regular Emerging Leaders Conference; knowledge production and dissemination

  • Based in: New York City (U.S.) with regional chapter offices in Nairobi (Kenya), Quezon City (The Philippines), Brussels (Belgium), Mexico City (Mexico), and Beirut (Lebanon)

  • Religious affiliations: primarily Catholic but aims for interfaith membership

  • Connections to other anti-rights actors: C-Fam; Human Life International; the Holy See; Campaign Life coalition

Russian Orthodox Church

  • Key Activities: The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), capitalizing on its close links to the Russian state, has operated as a “norm entrepreneur” in human rights debates.  Russia and the ROC have co-opted rights language to push for a focus on “morality” and “traditional values”  as supposed key sources of human rights.  Russia led a series of “traditional values” resolutions at the Human Rights Council and has been at the forefront of putting forward hostile amendments to progressive resolutions in areas including maternal mortality, protection of civil society space, and the right to peaceful protest.

  • Connections to other anti-rights actors: Organization of Islamic Cooperation; Eastern European and Caucasus Orthodox churches, e.g. Georgian Orthodox Church; U.S. Christian Right including U.S. Evangelicals; World Congress of Families; Group of Friends of the Family (state bloc)


Other Chapters

Read the full report

I am experiencing violence in one or more of my relationships. Can AWID advocate on my behalf?

Unfortunately, no. AWID is not a direct service or individual advocacy organization.

It would be better for you to seek legal advice and contact a women’s shelter or referral centre in your area.

The HotPeachPages is an online resource that offers links to women’s shelters around the world. AWID cannot vouch for the accuracy or quality of its listings, but it may be a good place to start if you don’t know of organizations in your area.

Snippet FEA collaborator and allies Photo 1 (EN)

The photo shows Sopo Japaridze, one of the co-founders of the Solidarity Network Union. Sopo has long brown hair, with bangs, and brown eyes, and wears a red mask of the Solidarity Network Union. The picture is taken at night.

Snippet - WITM Acknowledgements - RU

Слова благодарности

AWID выражает признательность всем тем, чьи идеи, аналитические работы и вклад в развитие легли в основу исследования «Где деньги?» и его дальнейшей адвокации.

Прежде всего, мы выражаем глубочайшую благодарность членам AWID и активисткам(-там), которые участвовали в консультациях, и провели этот опрос вместе с нами, щедро поделившись своим временем, аналитикой и теплом.

Мы выражаем признательность феминистским движениям, союзницам(-кам) и феминистским фондам, включая (но не ограничиваясь ими) Black Feminist Fund, Pacific Feminist Fund, ASTRAEA Lesbian Foundation for Justice, FRIDA Young Feminist Fund, Purposeful, Kosovo Women’s Network, Human Rights Funders Network, Dalan Fund and PROSPERA International Network of Women's Funds , за ваше тщательное исследование состояния ресурсного обеспечения, вдумчивый анализ и постоянную адвокацию для достижения более объемного и эффективного финансирования для феминистских организаций и движений за гендерную справедливость во всех контекстах.

Присоединяйтесь к глобальному феминистскому сообществу, которое освещает состояние ресурсного обеспечения, требуя большего финансирования и влияния для феминисток(-ов) во всем мире

Efua Dorkenoo

Conocida afectuosamente como «Mama Efua», su trabajo con el movimiento para terminar con la mutilación genital femenina (MGF) se extendió a lo largo de tres décadas y ayudó a llamar la atención internacional y a generar acciones para erradicar esta práctica dañina.

En 1983, Efua fue una de las fundadoras de FORWARD (The Foundation for Women’s Health, Research and Development, La fundación para la salud de las mujeres, la investigación y el desarrollo), que se convirtió en una organización líder en la batalla por crear conciencia sobre la MGF. Su libro de 1994, Cortar la rosa: mutilación genital femenina, es considerado el primer libro sobre MGF y aparece en la lista de «Los 100 mejores libros africanos del siglo XX» de la Universidad de Columbia.

Originaria de Ghana y enfermera de profesión, Efua se incorporó a la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) en 1995 y con empeño logró la inclusión de la MGF en las agendas de los Estados miembros de la OMS. También trabajó estrechamente con el Gobierno nigeriano en la elaboración de una política nacional integral que sentó las bases para las leyes contra la MGF de Nigeria, que todavía están vigentes. Su trabajo pionero culminó en una campaña liderada por África, «La generación de las niñas», dedicada a terminar con la MGF en el plazo de una generación.

Efua demostró que una persona puede convertirse en una voz unificadora para un movimiento y ahora resultan más relevantes que nunca sus sabias palabras: «la identidad compartida puede ayudar a reunir a activistas que vienen de contextos diferentes y a que tengan un sentido de propósito en común».


 

Efua Dorkenoo, Ghana

Defendiendo nuestra tierra del poder corporativo

Estas industrias 'extraen' materias primas de la tierra: minería, gas, petróleo y madera son algunos ejemplos.

Este modelo económico explota desenfrenadamente la naturaleza e intensifica las desigualdades norte, donde sus grandes corporaciones se benefician y sur, de donde extraen los recursos.

Contaminación del agua, daño irreparable al medioambiente, comunidades forzadas a desplazarse son algunas de las consecuencias inmediatas.

Lee nuestro reporte de INDUSTRIAS EXTRACTIVAS

Hay alternativas sostenibles para el medioambiente y los derechos humanos de la mujer.

 

 


Descubre además cómo nos afecta económicamente

El impacto de los flujos financieros ilícitos en los derechos de las mujeres y la justicia de género a nivel global

Conoce qué son los FLUJOS FINANCIEROS ILÍCITOS

2007: se intensifica la participación de la sociedad civil con la creación del WWG sobre FpD

En octubre de 2007 se creó el Women’s Working Group on Financing for Development [Grupo de Trabajo de Mujeres sobre Financiación para el Desarrollo, WWG on FfD en inglés], una alianza entre organizaciones y redes por los derechos de las mujeres cuyo objetivo es defender y promover avances en cuanto a igualdad de género, empoderamiento de las mujeres y derechos humanos en los procesos de la ONU relacionados con la FpD.

Tercer Diálogo de Alto Nivel sobre la Financiación para el Desarrollo, 23 al 25 de octubre de 2007

  • En el tercer panel de alto nivel, la participación de la sociedad civil se incrementó exponencialmente. Además de las seis mesas redondas, hubo audiencias para la sociedad civil y el sector empresarial.
  • AWID leyó en plenaria la declaración de la sociedad civil que pedía a los gobiernos prestar una mayor atención a la importancia de las organizaciones por los derechos de las mujeres como agentes del desarrollo y a la necesidad de promover nuevos mecanismos de financiación para las mujeres en los países en desarrollo y los menos desarrollados. Esta declaración exhortó a los gobiernos a brindar un mayor apoyo a la arquitectura de género de la ONU para que el sistema en su conjunto pudiera avanzar en sus compromisos en materia de igualdad de género, empoderamiento de las mujeres y derechos humanos, incluyendo los derechos económicos, sociales, culturales y ambientales de todas las personas.

Snippet FEA Workers demonstrations in Georgia 2 (ES)

La imagen muestra una protesta en la que una multitud sostiene una pancarta en georgiano que dice: "8 de marzo para las mujeres trabajadoras".

O nosso grupo, organização e/ou movimento não está registado - devemos participar no inquérito mesmo assim?

É claro que sim, queremos saber mais sobre si e sobre a sua experiência com o financiamento.

Zita Kavungirwa Kayange

Zita était une défenseure des droits des femmes de la région du Grand Kivu.

Elle a été la première directrice exécutive d’UWAKI, une organisation de femmes bien connue. Par son travail avec le Réseau des Femmes pour la Défense des Droits et la Paix (RFDP) et le Caucus des femmes du Sud-Kivu pour la paix, elle a consacré sa vie à rétablir la paix dans l'est de la RDC. Elle a très fermement dénoncé l'utilisation de la violence sexuelle comme arme de guerre.

En 2006, elle s'est présentée comme candidate aux premières élections démocratiques en RDC. Bien qu’elle n’ait pas gagné, elle a continué à défendre les droits des femmes et la communauté du Sud-Kivu se souvient d’elle avec affection.


 

Zita Kavungirwa Kayange, Republic Democratic of Congo

Framework & Theme

The theme of the 14th AWID International Forum is: “Feminist Realities: our power in action”. 

In our 14th Forum, we will celebrate and amplify Feminist Realities that are around us, in all stages of development. 

We want to make this Forum our Feminist Reality - a place where you can inhabit a different world, where you bring your victories, the solutions you have devised; what makes you feel stronger, hopeful and ready to go on. It will be different from any other convening you have previously attended. 

We urge you to join us in co-creating this world. It will be worth it!


Each Forum has a theme that reflects the needs of our membership and movements, and responds to our analysis of the current context.

The global context

Currently fascisms, fundamentalisms, authoritarianism and unfettered corporate power are gaining momentum globally. We see these threats converging with the State to shape public norms, narratives, and policies,  entrenching a culture of fear, hate and incitement to violence in public discourse. States, previously the target of advocacy and rights claims, in many cases no longer feel accountable and in some cases themselves don’t have the power to uphold rights.

This time of volatility, complexity and uncertainty requires creativity in how we organize across movements, coherence in what we demand and daring in what we propose. 

From Feminist Futures to Feminist Realities

AWID’s 2016 Forum centered on Feminist Futures and the conditions needed to bring such futures about. It was clear then, and remains evident now, the enormous challenge for many social justice movements to think outside of the current system for structural solutions. Imaginations can become narrowed from long experiences of inequality and oppression. But what we also heard then and we see all around us is that feminist movements are indeed living and promoting rights-and justice-oriented realities and solutions in big and small ways. 

Indeed we see an urgency to mobilize from a place of hope, rather than from a lowest common denominator - hope that is grounded in the certainty that across the globe, however imperfectly, are experiences and practices that embody more just ways of being in the world and that by sharing, strengthening and building on these experiences, we can help them grow their influence.

These are not impossible dreams, but lived realities. This sense of possibility is a spark to re-examine and re-appreciate the transformative dimensions in our work. 


A few examples of Feminist Realities across the globe

At AWID, we understand feminist realities as the living, breathing examples of the worlds we know are possible.  We understand these diverse feminist realities as reclamations and embodiments of hope and power. They are embedded in the multiple ways  that show us that there is a different way of living, thinking and doing-- from the daily expressions of how we live and relate to each other, to alternative systems of governance and justice. Feminist Realities resist dominant power systems such as patriarchy, capitalism, and white supremacy. 

These are powerful propositions that orient us toward a vision of what is possible, and show how feminist organizing is blazing a path toward justice in movements and communities around the world. 

  • In a deeply marginalized Black community in Jackson, Mississippi, an experiment in solidarity and cooperative economics is taking place through Cooperation Jackson. An ambitious plan to build community ownership outside of capitalist modes of production.

  • In West Africa, women farmers are resisting land grabbing and refusing industrialized agriculture projects, boldy claiming We Are The Solution, in a campaign to build agro-ecological solutions that center women farmers and their knowledges as the solutions to feed communities and mitigate climate change

  • Similarly, in India, 5,000 women have come together to develop community-based food sovereignty systems based on local knowledge, including grain and seed banks

  • Women in Mexico have created a moneyless economy project created by and for women and everyone they know. In El Cambalache everything has the same value: people exchange things they no longer need for things they want as well as knowledge, abilities and mutual aid that people would like to share. El Cambalache was built on the anti-systemic, anti-capitalist values of local social movements

  • In Rojava, Kurdish people are building democracy without the state and Kurdish women offer Jineology as a framework for challenging patriarchy, capitalism and the state, creating systems and institutions to put this framework into practice

  • In the UK, Anarcho Agony Aunts are a sex and dating advice show, covered from a feminist, antifascist, anarchist perspective. Hosts Rowan and Marijam are reclaiming space from the alt-right in giving people (mostly men) a space to ask tricky questions in a judgment-free zone. 

  • The African Feminist Judgment Project drafts and disseminates alternative judgments for important African landmark cases on a range of legal issues. At the heart of the project is propositional feminist judicial practice and alternative feminist judgments that contribute to African jurisprudence, legal practice and judicial decision-making 

  • The Usha Cooperative in India was founded when mainstream banks refused services to sex workers in Sonagachi. Sex workers self-organized to prioritize their economic concerns and set up their own financial institution. The Usha Cooperative is cooperative bank of over 20,000 sex workers and has provided over USD 4.7M in loans to 7,231 sex workers in a span of one year. With a membership entirely of sex workers, the bank provides real ownership and influence over the cooperative’s governance and management, pioneering ways for individuals and communities on the margins to build economic power on their own terms. 

  • In Puerto Rico, a community land trust is helping to transform an informal settlement around a polluted and flood prone river channel into a sustainable community. It provides a new model for improving informal settlements in cities without them then becoming unaffordable for the original residents.

  • In several Latin American countries activists are providing peer-to-peer counselling and accompaniment on medical abortion, reclaiming women´s right to decide over their bodies as well as to medical knowledgde. (for safety reasons, no links are provided.


The 14th AWID international Forum

The AWID Forum will be organized around 6 thematic anchors:

  • Resources for Communities, Movements and Economic Justice
  • Governance, accountability and justice
  • Digital Realities 
  • Bodies, pleasure and wellbeing
  • Planet and living beings
  • Feminist organizing 

Learn more about these anchors

Building on those realities, we expect the 2020 Forum to:

  • Build the power of Feminist Realities, by naming, celebrating, amplifying and contributing to build momentum around experiences and propositions that shine light on what is possible and feed our collective imaginations
  • Replenish wells of hope and energy as much needed fuel for rights and justice activism and resilience
  • Strengthen connectivity, reciprocity and solidarity across the diversity of feminist movements and with other rights and justice-oriented movements

The Forum is a collaborative process

The Forum is more than a four-day convening. It is one more stop on a movement strengthening journey around Feminist Realities that has already begun and will continue well beyond the Forum dates.

Join us on this journey!

2013: le sixième Dialogue de haut niveau examine les progrès des OMD