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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.

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Yelena Grigoriyeva

Yelena Grigoriyeva, a menudo conocida entre sus amigxs como Lena, fue una destacada defensora de los derechos LGBT en Rusia.

Formó parte de movimientos democráticos, anti-guerra y LGBT. En su activismo, fue una crítica feroz del Presidente Vladimir Putin y su administración, y expresó su oposición a la anexión por parte de Rusia de la península de Crimea de Ucrania y al maltrato de prisionerxs.

Yelena se declaró bisexual a principios de 2019. "Su salida del armario fue una sorpresa para mí, y no la aprobé. Le dije: ‘Escucha, Lena, ya estás en la mira por tu actividad política. Te acabas de clavar otro blanco en el pecho’". - Olga Smirnova

Yelena, de hecho, recibió múltiples amenazas de muerte y, según algunxs de sus conocidxs, figuraba en un sitio web homofóbico que instaba a sus visitantes a que persiguieran a las personas LGBT. Yelena denunció las amenazas a la policía, pero el Estado ruso no le proporcionó ningún tipo de protección.

Sin embargo, Yelena, a pesar de vivir en una sociedad en la que la oposición política, así como lxs integrantes de la comunidad LGBT y lxs defensores de sus derechos, se enfrentan a una violencia continua y creciente, siguió haciendo campaña por la justicia social y la igualdad.

"No se perdió ni una sola acción. Y la detuvieron tantas veces que hasta perdí la cuenta", Olga Smirnova (compañera activista de la oposición y amiga).

Yelena fue asesinada el 21 de julio de 2019, cerca de su casa. Las autoridades detuvieron a una persona sospechosa pero, según algunas fuentes, muchxs amigxs y compañerxs activistas creen que es un chivo expiatorio y que, en realidad, se trata de un asesinato político deliberado.

Para los familiares y amigxs de Yelena, su caso sigue sin resolverse aunque la persona sospechosa haya confesado.

En 2013, Rusia aprobó una ley que prohíbe la difusión de lo que describió como "propaganda gay". En 2014, Human Rights Watch publicó un informe al respecto.

Reason to join 4

Voyez grand ! Notre rayonnement international nous permet de combiner notre travail analytique avec des outils politiques et pratiques de plaidoyer et de transformation afin de faire avancer la cause des mouvements féministes à tous les niveaux.

Points d’ancrages thématiques

La cadre des Réalités Féministes du Forum repose sur six points d’ancrages thématiques. Chaque point d’ancrage met les réalités, les expériences et les visions féministes au coeur du continuum entre résistance et proposition, lutte et alternative. Nous cherchons à explorer ensemble ce qui constitue nos réalités féministes et ce qui leur permet de se répandre dans les différentes sphères de nos vies.

Ces réalités se manifestent sous forme de modes de vie pleinement articulés, de rêves et d'idées en devenir, ou encore d'expériences et de moments précieux. 


Plus que des thèmes isolés, les points d’ancrage sont des conteneurs interconnectés à l’effet des activités du Forum. Nous prévoyons de nombreuses activités à l’intersection de ces thèmes, des différentes luttes, communautés et mouvements. Encore provisoires, les descriptions continuent d’évoluer au fur et à mesure que le parcours des Réalités Féministes se poursuit.

Ressources pour les communautés et les mouvements  et justice économique 

Ce point d’ancrage met l’accent sur la façon dont nous répondons à nos besoins fondamentaux et assurons les ressources qui nous sont nécessaires pour prospérer, en tant qu’individus,  communautés et mouvements, d’une manière qui prenne soin des personnes et de la nature en priorité. Nous entendons par “ ressources ” l’alimentation, l’eau et l’air pur, ainsi que l’argent, le travail, l’information, la connaissance, le temps et autres. 

S’appuyant sur la résistance féministe face au système économique d’exploitation et d’extractivisme, ce point d’ancrage met en lumière les propositions, expériences et pratiques féministes puissantes et inspirantes concernant l’organisation de notre vie économique et sociale. L’alimentation et la souveraineté alimentaire ainsi que les visions féministes du travail et des systèmes commerciaux justes et durables ne constituent que quelques-unes des questions qui feront l’objet de notre exploration. Nous ferons courageusement  face aux contradictions qui émergent de la nécessité de survivre dans des systèmes économiques répressifs.  

Ce point d’ancrage intègre le financement et le ressourcement pour les organisations et les mouvements dans une vaste analyse féministe de la justice économique et de la création de richesses. Il examine comment déplacer les ressources là où elles sont nécessaires, de la justice fiscale et du revenu de base à différents modèles de philanthropie et au ressourcement créatif  et autonome des mouvements.

Gouvernance, responsabilisation et justice 

Nous cherchons à créer de nouvelles visions et à amplifier les réalités et les expériences existantes en termes de gouvernance féministe, de justice et de responsabilisation. Face à la crise mondiale et à la montée du fascisme et du fondamentalisme, ce point d’ancrage se concentre sur les modèles, les pratiques et les idées féministes, radicales et émancipatrices d’organisation de la société et de la vie politique, à l’échelle locale et mondiale. 

Ce point d’ancrage explorera les aspects de la gouvernance, depuis les expériences féministes du municipalisme jusqu'à nos visions du multilatéralisme, en passant par la construction d'institutions situées à l’extérieur des États-nations. Nous échangerons nos expériences concernant les processus judiciaires et de responsabilisation au sein de nos communautés, nos organisations et nos mouvements, notamment les modèles de justice réparatrice, communautaire et transformatrice qui rejettent la violence étatique et le complexe carcéro-industriel. 
En nous concentrant sur les expériences de voyages, de migrations et de refuges ainsi que sur l’organisation féministe, nous voulons un monde sans régimes frontaliers mortels; un monde où la circulation y est libre et les voyages passionnants.  

Réalités digitales 

Le rôle de la technologie dans nos vies ne cesse de croître et la frontière entre les réalités en ligne et hors ligne continue de s’estomper. Les féministes se servent largement des technologies et des espaces en ligne pour construire la communauté, apprendre les un-e-s des autres et mobiliser l’action.  Grâce aux espaces en ligne, nous pouvons repousser les limites de notre monde physique. En revanche,, les communications digitales appartiennent majoritairement à des sociétés n’assumant qu’une part de responsabilité mineure vis-à-vis des utilisateurs-trices : l’exploration de données, la surveillance et les atteintes à la sécurité sont devenues la norme, de même que la violence et le harcèlement en ligne. 

Ce point d’ancrage explore les opportunités et les enjeux féministes qui existent au sein des réalités digitales. Nous nous pencherons sur les alternatives qui se présentent face aux plateformes privées qui dominent l’horizon digital, ainsi que sur les stratégies de bien-être pour la navigation d’espaces en ligne et les utilisations de la technologie comme moyen de surmonter les problèmes d’accessibilité. Nous examinerons ce que la technologie peut apporter en termes de plaisir, de confiance et de relations.

Corps, plaisir et bien-être 

Les réalités féministes règnent également en nous-mêmes: il s’agit de l’expérience incarnée. Le contrôle dont font l’objet notre travail, notre reproduction et notre sexualité est toujours au coeur des structures patriarcales, cis-hétéro-normatives et capitalistes. Face à cette répression, des personnes de genre, de sexualité et d’habiletés différentes  organisent des rencontres, créent des espaces et conçoivent des sous-cultures destinées à la joie, à la sollicitude, au plaisir et à une profonde appréciation mutuelle et de soi-même.  

Ce point d’ancrage explorera les idées, les récits, les inventions et les expressions culturelles du consentement, du pouvoir et du désir des femmes, des personnes transgenres, non-binaires, transexuelles et intersexuées dans différentes sociétés et cultures. 

Nous échangerons des stratégies visant à obtenir les droits en termes de santé reproductive et la justice, et exposerons des pratiques sociales facilitatrices et respectueuses de l’autonomie, l’intégrité et la liberté corporelles. Ce point d’ancrage relie différentes luttes et différents mouvements afin de partager nos perceptions et nos expériences de ce que sont le bien-être et le plaisir.

Planète et êtres vivants 

Imaginez une planète féministe. Quel est le son de l’eau, l’odeur de l’air, le contact de la terre?  Quelles sont les relations entre la planète et les êtres vivants, y compris les êtres humains? Les réalités féministes sont celles d’une justice environnementale et climatique.  Les luttes féministes, autochtones, décoloniales et écologiques puisent souvent leurs racines dans des visions transformatives ainsi que dans la relation entre la nature et les êtres. 

Ce point d’ancrage se concentre sur le bien-être de notre planète et s’interroge sur les façons dont les êtres humains ont interagi avec elle et l’ont transformée. Nous voulons explorer les aspects des savoirs traditionnels et de la biodiversité dans le cadre de la préservation d’une planète féministe, et acquérir des connaissances sur les pratiques féministes dans le domaine de la décroissance, la pratique des communs, les modèles d’économies parallèles, l’agro-écologie et les initiatives en termes de souveraineté alimentaire et énergétique.  

Organisation féministe 

Bien que nous considérions tous ces points d’ancrage comme étant reliés, celui-ci est véritablement transversal; nous vous invitons donc à ajouter une dimension organisationnelle à tous les points d’ancrage auxquels les activités que vous proposez sont liées. 

Comment se déroule l’organisation féministe dans le monde aujourd’hui? Cette question porte notre attention sur les acteurs, la dynamique du pouvoir, les ressources, le leadership, les économies dans lesquelles nous sommes intégré-e-s, notre compréhension de la justice et de la responsabilisation, l'ère numérique et les expériences que nous faisons de l'autonomie, du bien-être et des soins collectifs. Nous espérons, à travers tous ces points d’ancrage, créer un espace de réflexion sincère autour de la répartition du pouvoir et des ressources et de la négociation au sein de nos propres mouvements.


Le Forum est un processus collaboratif

Le Forum se veut bien plus qu’un événement de quatre jours. C’est un arrêt de plus dans un parcours de renforcement de mouvement autour des réalités féministes, lequel a déjà commencé et continuera bien au-delà des dates du Forum.

Rejoignez l'aventure

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Snippet FEA Criminalization of sex workers (EN)

Most Member States of the European Union have laws and practices that either criminalize or control sex workers in ways unacceptable to them. Criminalization of sex workers and/or their clients only contributes to increase the vulnerability of sex workers, who are already facing stigma, discrimination and exclusion from society on a daily basis. In Spain for example, the government is currently trying to pass an Organic Law for the Abolition of Prostitution, which will result in more clandestiny and violence. Let’s dive into the stories of sex workers and union organizers fighting to decriminilaze sex work and advance their labor rights.

Não me sinto à vontade para partilhar o nome do meu grupo e as nossas informações de contacto com a AWID. Devo preencher o inquérito ainda assim?

Absolutamente, estas perguntas são opcionais, e valorizamos o seu direito de permanecer anónimo. Queira preencher o inquérito independentemente da sua decisão de partilhar o nome do seu grupo, organização e/ou movimento e as respetivas informações de contacto connosco.

Carol Thomas

Carol Thomas était une pionnière de la défense des droits sexuels et reproductifs des femmes en Afrique du Sud. Gynécologue aguerrie et fondatrice du WomenSpace, elle pratiquait et promouvait des modes de prestation de soins aux femmes non traditionnels, en proposant des soins à la fois de haute qualité, empathiques et accessibles.

« Elle inscrivait cela non seulement dans la joie de la grossesse et des nouveaux bébés, mais également dans les angoisses de la stérilité, des accouchements prématurés et des cancers féminins et dans le déchirement des fausses couches et des mortinaissances. » -Helen Moffett

Carol fonctionnait selon de nouveaux paradigmes, mettant au centre de sa pratique les besoins des femmes ayant le moins d’accès aux services et aux droits dans la société :

« L’environnement socioéconomique dans lequel nous nous trouvons majoritairement implique que les femmes supportent un fardeau disproportionné de maladies et du chômage... En tant que femme noire précédemment désavantagée, je comprends très bien ce qui se passe dans nos communautés. » - Carol Thomas

Son entreprise sociale innovante «iMobiMaMa», s’étant mérité de nombreux prix, prend appui sur les kiosques de téléphonie mobile et la technologie interactive pour connecter directement les femmes avec les services, l’information et le soutien en soins prénataux et de santé sexuelle dans les communautés de toute l’Afrique du Sud.

Carol soutenait les femmes à la fois lors des grossesses désirées et non désirées, et a encadré de nombreux·ses infirmier·ère·s et médecins au cours de sa vie.

On la décrivait également comme la gynécologue chez qui se rendre « pour les trans qui souhaitaient des soins trans affirmatifs. Elle savait y faire lorsque tant d’autres butaient sur les pronoms ou les mots à employer. Ses couvertures chaudes, son écoute attentive et ses mots qui tombaient toujours justes étaient vraiment réconfortants. » - Marion Lynn Stevens

On disait de Carol Thomas qu’elle était au point culminant de sa carrière lorsqu’elle est décédée, le 12 avril 2019, des complications d’une double transplantation pulmonaire.

Les très nombreux hommages qui lui ont été rendus suite à son décès inattendu faisaient mention qu’elle était, entre autres :

« un modèle à suivre, une guerrière, une innovatrice, une leader dynamique, une rebelle, une boule d’énergie, une brillante scientifique, une doctoresse bienveillante ».

Nul doute que Carol Thomas restera dans nos mémoires et que nous lui rendrons hommage pour avoir été tout cela, et bien plus.

Our values - Human Rights

Human rights

We believe in a full application of the principle of rights including those enshrined in international laws and affirm the belief that all human rights are interrelated, interdependent and indivisible. We are committed to working towards the eradication of all discriminations based on gender, sexuality, religion, age, ability, ethnicity, race, nationality, class or other factors.

Selection of Forum activities

For each AWID Forum we call for contributions from a wide range of feminist and social justice movements to propose activities and create the Forum program.

For the 14th AWID international Forum, we want to make the program truly representative of the diversity of the movements.

That is why we put in place a new and engaging way to choose the proposals that will generate the final Forum program: the Participatory Selection Process (PSP).

What is the Participatory Selection Process (PSP)?

The Participatory Selection Process is the final step in reviewing the activity proposals and selecting those that will be part of the official Forum program. 

This is how it works: 

  1. Activity proposals have originally been submitted via our Call for Forum Activities, open to everyone - groups and individuals - interested in presenting their feminist reality at the Forum.
  2. Out of all the activities submitted, AWID staff pre-selects the ones best reflecting the Forum theme and presenting a creative approach for audience engagement.
  3. Activities are then reviewed and short-listed by different Forum Committees to ensure a good diversity of regions, movements and ideas.
  4. The selected proposals are then reviewed and rated by individuals and groups whose proposals have also been short-listed. The proposals which receive the most votes from fellow candidates will become part of the final Forum program.

The whole activity selection process at a glance:

Step

 

Step 1: 
Call for Forum Activities: Application submissions

Step 2:
First screening

 

Step 3:
Shortlisting 

 

Step 4:
Participatory Selection Process 

 

Timeline

December 2019 - mid.February 2020

 

January-February 2020

 

Summer 2020

 

timeline to be adjusted

 

People involved Everyone interested in co-creating the Forum program

AWID staff

 

AWID staff; Content and Methodology Committee; Access Committee

Shortlisted applicants

 

Number of activities involved

838 activities submitted

 

306 applications selected

 

126 activities selected

 

50-60 most voted activities selected for the final Forum program


Why did AWID decide to organize a PSP for the 14th AWID Forum activities?

We think a PSP is relevant for the AWID Forum because:

  • It places at the centre of the decision making process the communities who live the feminist realities that will be showcased and discussed at the Forum 

  • It is consistent with our identity and our role as a movement support/ accompaniment organization

  • It is in line with our vision of the Forum as co-created with different feminist and social justice movements, who shape the Forum through their participation in committees (content and methodology, access, artivist and host country), creating and facilitating activities as partners with AWID and also making decisions about the Program through the PSP.

  • It allows for greater diversity in the textures that will make up the Forum fabric (or in the voices that will compose the Forum song). It ensures we go beyond AWID itself and the movement partners that we already know and work with. It opens the door to the unexpected.

How did AWID come up with this PSP idea?

This is the first time AWID is considering such a process.

The initial idea came from AWID’s Co-EDs and staff. Before committing to a decision, we consulted some of the community funds that have been implementing participatory selection processes for years. These included FRIDA: The Young Feminists Fund, the International Trans Fund, UHAI - East Africa’s fund for sexual minorities and sex workers - and the Central American Women’s Fund. We consulted them to learn from their extensive experiences and get their feedback.

 


Pre-selected activities

  • Financial autonomy, breaker of silence
    ORGANISATION DES FEMMES AFRICAINES DE LA DIASPORA (OFAD) ASSOCIATION LES PETITES MERES PRODADPHE ASSOCIATION AMBE KUNKO (AAK)

  • Contribution of feminist organisations to the fight against violent extremism in Niger
    Femmes Actions et Développement (FAD)

  • Self-financing: home banking for women 
    Rassemblement des Femmes pour le développement endogène et solidaire RAFDES

  • Food and food sovereignty for rural women
    Association Song-taaba des Femmes Unies pour le Développement (ASFUD)

  • Feminist leaders, investing in positive masculinity, creating a new balanced social order: how to change mentalities? 
    Une societe cooperative, la chefferie traditionnelle des localites, les autorites administratives et les autres associations feminines ONG Centre Solidarite "Investir dans les Filles et les Femmes

  • Co-creating the sponsorship methodology.
    NEGES MAWON

  • Millennium of opportunities to save the earth (MOST) by supporting climate justice for local and Indigenous communities in Congo Basin. 
    Jeunesse Congolaise pour les Nations Unies (JCNU), Association Genre et Environnement pour le Développement (AGED)

  • Envisioning an Asian Queer Feminist Politics
    ASEAN Feminist LBQ Womxn Network Sayoni

  • Supporting the Self-Managed: Abortion Doulas, Acompanantes, and Radical Networks of support
    inroads

  • Online Feminisms: How Women Are Taking Back The Tech
    Feminism In India

  • Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Sex Workers
    Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW), The International Women's Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific (IWRAW AP)

  • Sustainable Feminist Leadership and Organizing - Personal and Collective Experiences
    HER Fund, Institute for Women's Empowerment (IWE) ,Kalyanamita, AAF

  • Caribbean Realities: Black Sauna Radio
    WE-Change Jamaica

  • Telephone Helplines Care and Women Experience
    Generation Initiative for Women and Youth Network (GIWYN),Youth Network for Community and Sustainable Development (YNCSD), Community Health Rights Network (CORENET)

  • Sensuality as resistance; body movement workshop
    UHAI EASHRI

  • Lesbian Disco Eastern European Style
    Sapfo Collective

  • FitcliqueAfrica Feminist Utopia Installation, Trauma Healing and Self Defense Camp
    FitcliqueAfrica (Fitclique256 Uganda Limited)

  • Queering Communications for an Open Internet
    Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice

  • Is the Way you Think about Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRHR) Ableist? Good Practices for Disability Inclusive SRHR Programmes and Advocacy.
    Asia Pacific Network of Women with Disabilities and Allies

  • Decolonizing Non-Violent Communication
    API Equality-LA, Sayoni, ASEAN Feminist LBQ Womxn Network

  • Feminist centred approaches to prosecuting sexual harassment in the world of work
    Women's Legal Centre

  • Women in Conflict in Myanmar
    Women's League of Burma, Rainfall

  • Caribbean Feminist Spaces, Creative Expressions & Spiritual Practices for Community Transformation
    CAISO: Sex and Gender Justice

  • POP-UPS: Just Power: Popular Education Tools for a Feminist Future
    JASS/Just Associates

  • UnAnonYmous: Queering Black African Diaspora Feminist Practices Sobriety

  • Digital Witchcraft: Magical Thinking for Cyberfeminist Futures
    The Digital Witchcraft Institute

  • Building Womanifestos: Grassroot Women's Agenda for Change in Asia Pacific
    Asia Pacific Forum on Women Law and Development

  • Designing your astral travels
    EuroNPUD, narcofeminists as a loose group

  • Collective Care
    RENFA Rede Nacional de Feministas Antiproibicionistas

  • Music of our movements
    Radical imagination

  • From waste to Ecofriendly coal
    KEMIT ECOLOGY SARL

  • Collective care and insurgency of feminist antiracist movements under authoritarian and violent contexts
    CFEMEA - Feminist Center of Studies and Advisory Services, CRIOLA - black women`s organization, Iniciativa Mesoamericana de Mujeres Defensoras

  • Breaking Patriarchal Religion's Stranglehold on Family Laws that Affect Our Lives #FreeOurFamilyLaws
    Musawah

  • Feminist approach to claim and control over lands within investment
    Badabon Sangho, APWLD

  • Women's Global Strike: Our resistance, our future
    Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law & Development, ESCR-Net, Women's March Global

  • Towards an Inclusive ‘Mother Earth’
    Disability Rights Fund, Open Society Foundation

  • From Inclusion to Infiltration: Strategies for Building Intersectional Feminist Movements
    Mobility International USA (MIUSA)

  • The hidden stories of women with invisible disabilities: Art in action
    The Red Door, Merchants of Madness, Improving Mental Wellbeing through Art

  • Public-Private Partnership and Women´s Human Rights: learnings from case studies in the Global South
    Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN)

  • The Interconnected Journey: Our Bodies, Our Sci-Fi! <3
    The Interconnected Journey Project, Laboratorio de Interconectividades

  • Compiling and Building: Alternative feminist vision to challenge the dominant world economic order
    IWRAW Asia Pacific

  • Self-publication as a feminist act
    International Women* Space

  • Good Practices of legal protection for gender & sexual minorities in Pakistan and their Intersectionality
    Activists Alliance Foundation, Khawja Sirah Society, Wajood Society, Wasaib Sanwaro

  • Feminist Approaches to Counter Trafficking
    IWRAW Asia Pacific, Business & Human Rights Resource Center

  • Critiquing individualism and state policies: transnational organizing against targeted violence
    Masaha: Accessible Feminist Knowledge

  • Decolonizing Intimacy: How Queer Identities Challenge Heteronormative Family Structures
    WOMANTRA

  • Yeki Hambe - Sex worker theatre
    Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Task Force

  • Creating the Indigenous feminist reality: honoring the sacred feminine and building new paths for Indigenous women
    Cultural Survival, International Funders in Indigenous Peoples

  • Eyes on Anti-prohibitionism by Brazillian Women
    Mulheres Cannabicas, Tulipas do Cerrado

  • Black Feminist Truth Commission: Addressing Injustices to Revolutionize Intersectional Feminism as the New Reality
    Black Women in Development

  • Community care is self care: true stories are told in safer spaces
    Eurasian Harm Reduction Association, Metzineres, Urban Survivor’s Union, Salvage women and children from drug abuse

  • NO MOVES BARRED:Dancing connections between Disability,trans & sexual rights against violence
    National Forum of Women with Disabilities, Autonomy foundation, Nazyk kyz

  • The Impact of Corporate Capture on Feminist Realities: Developing Tools for Action
    ESCR-Net | Economic, Social, Cultural Rights Network

  • Reimagining AIDS: building a feminist HIV response
    Frontline AIDS, Aidsfonds, IPPI (Indonesian Network of Women Living with HIV), UHAI-EASHRI (East African Sexual Health and Rights Initiative)

  • Advancing Economic Justice towards Realizing Our Vision of a Feminist Planet
    International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, ESCR-Net

  • Sex Workers Cafe
    Hydra e.V.

  • Adopting an ecofeminist approach in dealing with climate change and food security
    Umphakatsi Peace Ecovillage, Human Rights Educational Centre

  • Connecting the grassroots with the international: experience from creative sex worker mobilisation in Europe
    International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe, STRASS - French Sex Worker Union, APROSEX, Red Edition

  • Experiment with how innovative tech can help us feel safer when navigating our cities
    Soul City Institute for Social Justice, Safetipin, Womanity Foundation

  • question “Are hierarchies within organisations UNfeminist?”
    Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya National, Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission

  • We all are different, but we do have joint shared values
    UNWUD (Ukrainian network of women who use drugs), JurFem Association, Women's Prospects

  • A World Without Class
    Bunge La Wamama Mashinani (Grassroots Women's Parliament)

  • Women Empower the Community
    Institute for Women's Empowerment (IWE), Solidaritas Perempuan, ASEC Indonesia, Komunitas Swabina Pedesaan Salassae (KSPS)

  • Feminist Organizing: Transformational Leadership - Women Workers in Latin America Creating a Feminist Labor Movement and a Feminist World of Work
    Solidarity Center

  • Acting Out, Acting Up : Disability-Feminism decolonising narratives of Stigma thro' Participatory theatre
    Rising Flame, National Indigenous Disabled Women Association, Nepal, The Spectrum & Union of Abilities, The Red Door

  • Valuing and centering rest, pleasure and play
    ATHENA Network

  • The African feminist judgment project
    The Initiative for strategic Ligation in Africa (ISLA)

  • Voices from the frontlines: Bolstering collective power to end the incarceration of women worldwide
    International Drug Policy Consortium, Equis Justicia para las Mujeres, National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, Women and Harm Reduction International Network

  • Queer Youth Organising: imagining in an era of human rights and sustainable development
    African Queer Youth Initiative, Success Capital Organisation

  • Our Struggles Our Stories Our Strengths
    Oriang Lumalaban, Pambansang Koalisyon ng Kababaihan sa Kanayunan

  • Breaking barriers for collective Indigenous climate action in Southeast Asia
    Cuso International, Asia Indigenous Peoples' Pact

  • Love Positive Women: Going beyond romantic love to deep community love and social justice
    Eurasian Women's Network on AIDS

  • Intersex and Feminism
    Intersex Russia

  • Understanding the reproductive health experiences and needs of transgender and gender diverse people
    Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN)

  • Because She Cares: Critical conversations on HIV activism as (un)caring work
    Because We Care Collaborative

  • The Mississippi Food Systems Manifesto
    Center for Ideas, Equity & Transformative Change, National Council of Appropriate Technology - Gulf South, MS Food Justice Collaborative, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement

  • Kurdish Women's Movement co-presidency experience as an example of a radical feminist realization: Co-presidency is our PURPLE line!
    The Free Women’s Movement (TJA)

  • WOES -"Walking on Egg Shells"
    Eldoret Women For Development (ELWOFOD), Mama Cash, Young women against Women Custodial Injustices Network

  • FREEDOM

  • Prison Isn’t Feminist: Exploring the impact and alternatives to reliance on police and incarceration
    Migrant Sex Workers Project, Showing Up For Racial Justice

  • Bondo without Blood: A Feminist Reimagining of Sierra Leonean Rites of Passage
    Purposeful

  • Liberated Land & Territories: A Pan-African Conversation
    Thousand Currents (USA), Abahlali baseMjondolo (South Africa), Nous Sommes la Solution (west Africa/regional), Movilización de Mujeres Negras por el Cuidado de la Vida y los Territorios Ancestrales (Colombia), and Articulation of Black Rural Quilombola Communities (Brazil)

  • Popular Education and Organizing for a Feminist Economy
    Jamaica Household Workers Union (JHWU), United for a Fair Economy, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha (CTUL)

  • So You Wish To Mobilise With An Empty Wallet? Let’s Make It Happen!
    Breakthrough India

  • Experience sharing establishing a network for women human rights defenders in East Africa: Ugandan perspective
    Women Human Rights Defenders Network Uganda

  • Tech clinic
    Stichting Syrian Female Journalists Netowrk

  • Building Inclusive Movements: Going Beyond Tokenism
    Rising Flame

  • Justice & Healing for Survivors of GBV: an interactive debate on restorative justice and the anatomy of an apology
    One Future Collective

  • Collective actions to ending transphobia through a feminist lens
    Asia Pacific Transgender Network, Iranti, Transgender Europe

  • LBQ women & Asylum
    Sehaq

  • Abortion and Disability: Towards an Intersectional Human Rights-Based Approach
    Women Enabled International

  • Learn how to support the self-organizing of undocumented, migrant, and criminalized and sex workers communities
    Buttrerfly (Asian and Migrant Sex Workers Support Network)

  • Self Care: A Fundamental Tool for Sustaining LGBTQI & Feminist Organizing
    United and Strong Inc., S.H.E Barbados, Lez Connect

  • Reclaiming Young African Feminist VOICES-REALITIES-POWER for climate justice
    Young Feminist organization Gasy Youth Up, Young African Feminist Dialogues

  • Women in action & solidarity: performing our realities (Asia & Africa)
    Young Feminist organization Gasy Youth Up ( co-founder) , Young African Feminist Dialogues ( member)

  • Women in action & solidarity: performing our realities (Asia & Africa)
    Women Performing the World (Asia/Africa)

  • Challenging patriarchy: Workers in entertainment sector
    Women Forum for Women in Nepal (WOFOWON)

  • The non-citizens: issues of women's citizenship in the context of migrant, vulnerable communities in South Asia
    NEthing

  • Visioning for voice in migration and climate crises
    Women's Refugee Commission, The Feminist Humanitarian Network, ActionAid

  • In It Together: Women's Funds and Feminist Movements Co-Creating Feminist Realities
    Mama Cash, Global Fund for Women, Urgent Action Fund - Africa

  • Co-creating magic with young feminist movements - participatory practices that spark joy
    Feminist organizing, FRIDA The Young Feminist Fund (Community), Teia

  • Protection right of woman’s in difficult realities 3 organizations of women from marginally communities
    NGO Asteria, Ermolaeva Irena and Bayazitova Renata. NGO Ganesha Musagalieva Tatiana. NGO Ravniy Ravnomu Kucheryavyh Tanya

  • Feminnale - traditions against art and expression
    Bishkek Feminist Initiatives

  • Resistance through knowledge, arts and activism: creation of a feminist library in Armenia
    FemHouse, Armenia

  • Conquering the UN System with Feminist Strategies (You Don’t Need to be a Lawyer to Have Fun)
    Kazakhstan Feminist Initiative "Feminita", IWRAW Asia Pacific, ILGA World

  • Data. Huh. What is it good for? Feminist data and organizing for feminist outcomes
    International Women's Development Agency, Women's Rights Action Movement, Fiji Women's Rights Movement

  • Criminalized Women’s voice, leadership and influence on laws, policies and practices in Kenya
    Keeping Alive Societies Hope-KASH, Katindi Lawyers and Advocates, Vocal Kenya

  • From Colombia to the world, African women's changing force
    Proceso de Comunidades Negras en Colombia -PCN, Solidarité Féminine por la Paix el le Develppment Integral -SOFEPADI,

  • Afro Queer Listening Lounge and Story-Telling Booth
    AQ Studios, None on Record, AfroQueer Podcast

  • Reclaiming Bodily Integrity
    GBV Prevention Network : Coordinated by Raising Voices

  • Learning from diversity
    Circulo de Mujeres con Discapacidad -CIMUDIS, Alianza Discapacidad por nuestros Derechos -ADIDE, Fundación Dominicana de Ciegos -FUDCI, Filial Puerto Rico de Mujeres con Discapacidad

  • Football as a feminist tool
    Fundación GOLEES (Género, Orgullo, Libertad y Empoderamiento de Ellas en la Sociedad)

  • Migratory constellations
    LasVanders

  • Ecofeminist dialogues to defend territories
    CIEDUR (Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios sobre el Desarrollo), Equit, Foro permanente de Manaos y Amazonia

  • La Frida BikesMoviment
    La Frida Bike

  • Witchcraft, shamanism and other insurgent knowledge against patriarchy.
    Colectiva Feminista MAPAS-Mujeres Andando Proceso por Autonomías Sororales

  • Experiences, learnings and challenges in managing holistic security of horizontal feminist organisations and of gender-dissidence in times of social and political crisis. The experience of the popular uprising in Chile of 18 October.
    Fudación Comunidades en Interfaz

  • Food that we all know about
    Las Nietas de Nonó, Parceleras Afrocaribeñas por la Transformación barrial (PATBA)

  • Practices of resistance against climate change of Indigenous women in Peru and Guatemala
    Thousand Currents, Red de Mujeres Productoras de la Agricultura Familiar, Asociación de Mujeres Ixpiyakok (ADEMI, Ixpiyakok Women's Association)

  • Building Feminist Cities
    CISCSA, Articulacion Feminista Marcosur

  • Stand in my place
    Alianza Discapacidad por nuestros Derechos - ADIDE, Circulo de Mujeres con Discapacidad -CIMUDIS

  • Clearing the way for women's fullness of life, healing collective and historical traumas
    Grupo de Mujeres Mayas Kaqla

  • Zapoteca Indigenous women challenged by nature

  • Houses of Care and Healing for Women Human Rights Defenders as part of Integral Feminist Protection: A Feminist Reality
    Iniciativa Mesoamericana De Defensoras de Derechos Humanos, Consorcio Oaxaca para el Diálogo Parlamentario y la Equidad A.C, Red Nacional De Defensoras De Derechos Humanos en Honduras, Coletivo Feminista de Autocuidado

  • Healing your unicornix voice: Weaving ancient and digital technologies to sharpen the tongue

  • Feminist trajectories for an assisted motherhood protocol for women with disabilities
    Circulo emancipador de mujeres y niñas con discapacidad de Chile, CIMUNIDIS, WEI

  • School for trans feminist children
    Fundación Selena

  • REDTRASEX: Experience of Organization and Struggle for the Rights of Women Sex Workers in Latin America and the Caribbean
    RedTraSex Red de mujeres trabajadoras sexuales LAC

  • Gender based violence and the world of sex work in Mexico
    Brigada Callejera de Apoyo a la Mujer, "Elisa Martínez", A.C., Red Mexicana de Organizaciones Contra la Criminalización del VIH. Red Mexicana de Trabajo Sexual

  • Migration forces us to draw the path as we walk
    Asociación de Trabajadoras del Hogar a Domicilio y de Maquila. ATRAHDOM

  • New narratives for Black women: body, healing and pleasure

  • Weaving memories and networks - Black Feminists strengthening Black feminisms in LAC
    Red de Mujeres Afrolatinoamericanas, Afrocaribeñas y de la Diáspora, Articulação de Organizações de Mulheres Negras Brasileiras (AMNB), Voces Caribeñas

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Snippet FEA Unio Otras Photo 3 (ES)

Foto de Sabrina Sánchez hablando junto a una pantalla del encuentro de Ilga World

متى ستكون نتائج الاستطلاع جاهزة؟

سنقوم بتحليل الردود على الاستطلاع للوصول للاستنتاجات الأساسية والنتائج خلال المنتدى العالمي ل AWID في بانكوك، وعن طريق الانترنت في ديسمبر (كانون الأول) 2024. الرجاء التسجيل هنا لحضور المنتدى.

Janet Benshoof

Janet Benshoof was a human rights lawyer from the United States and an advocate for women’s equality, sexual and reproductive rights.

She campaigned to broaden access to contraceptives and abortions across the world, and battled anti-abortion rulings and in the American territory of Guam. She was arrested in 1990 for opposing her country’s most restrictive abortion law, but won an injunction at the local court in Guam that blocked the law and eventually won at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, striking down the law for good.

“The women in Guam are in a very tragic situation. I never intend to be quiet about that.” - Janet Benshoof for People Magazine

Janet established landmark legal precedents including the US Food and Drug Administrations’ approval of emergency contraception, as well as the application of international law to ensure the rights of rape victims in the Iraqi High Tribunal’s prosecution of Saddam-era war crimes. 

Janet was President and founder of the Global Justice Center, as well as founder of the Center for Reproductive Rights, the world’s first international human rights organization focused on reproductive choice and equality. She served 15 years as Director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Reproductive Rights Project, where she spearheaded litigation shaping US constitutional law on gender equality, free speech, and reproductive rights.

“Janet was known for her brilliant legal mind, her sharp sense of humor, and for her courage in the face of injustice.” - Anthony D. Romero

Named one of the “100 Most Influential Lawyers in America” by the National Law Journal, Janet was the recipient of numerous awards and honors. 

She was born in May 1947 and passed away in December 2017. 

Membership why page - Kirthi Jayakumar quote

Participé en una actividad solo para afiliadxs, y lo que me conmovió en particular fue ver cómo había espacio para que todas compartieran, y que no había ningún juicio al respecto. Toda la sesión fue enérgica y vibrante.- Kirthi Jayakumar, fundadora de The Gender Security Project, India

Kunyit Asam: The Roots of Love and Resilience

By Prinka Saraswati, Gianyar, Bali

The menstrual cycle usually lasts between 27 and 30 days. During this time, the period itself would only go on for five to seven days. During the period, fatigue, mood swings, and cramps are the result of inflammation.

In traditional Javanese culture, this is the moment for women to rest and take care of themselves. During this moment, a woman would take Kunyit Asam, a jamu or herbal drink to soothe the inflammation. This elixir consists of turmeric and tamarind boiled together in a pot.

I still remember my first period - it was one day before graduation day in elementary school. I remember pedaling my bike feeling something warm running between my thighs. When I arrived home I did all I could to clean myself and then put on a menstrual pad. My mother came home from work about four hours later. I told her what had happened. She looked me in the eye and asked how I felt. I told her that it was painful, that my body was swollen in every place. Then she asked me to go with her to the backyard. I followed her to our little jungle, my mother sat down on the soil and smiled.

“See this slender leaf? This is the leaf of Kunyit, *empon-empon that leaves the yellow stain on your fingers. What’s most important is not the leaf, but the roots. You dig the soil and slowly grab the roots.”, my mother showed me how to pick Kunyit or Turmeric roots. Then we went to the kitchen where she boiled water along with some tamarind. While waiting for it to boil, she showed me how to wash and grate the orangey-yellow root. Then, we put the grated turmeric into the boiling tamarind water. “Tomorrow, you can make it for yourself. This will help you to feel better!”.

I remember the first time I tasted it - a slightly bitter taste but also sour. My mother always served it warm. She would also put some in a big bottle which I would place on my stomach or lower back for further relief. For days after, my mother’s hands and mine were yellow. My friends could always tell every time I got period because my hands would be yellow.

A year after my first period, I found out that you could get the bottled version in convenience stores. Still, I made my own Kunyit Asam every time I had my period because the one in the convenience stores was cold. It did not smell of wet soil and warm kitchen.

Fast forward, I am a 26 year old woman who casually makes this drink for friends when they have their periods. I’ve made some for my housemates and I’ve delivered some for friends who live in different towns. I do not grow turmeric roots in my garden, but I have grown and shared the love from my mom. What was once from garden to cup is now from *pasar to cup.

A couple of days ago, I asked my mother who taught her how to make the jamu.

“Who else? Yang Ti*! Your grandmother was not just a teacher”, said my mom. I was never close to my grandmother. She passed away when I was eight. All I knew from my mom was that she was a math teacher who had to teach courses after work. I had this image of my grandmother as a hard worker who was kind of distant with her children. My mom did not disagree with that but explained it came from her survival instinct as a mother. “She tried to make time. She tried. She taught me how to make jamu so I could take care of myself and my sisters”.

My mother is the second child out of seven, six of whom are girls. The reason my grandmother taught her is so that all of her children could take care of each other. While my mother was taught how to make the drink, my mother’s older sister was taught how to plant turmeric. Yang Ti knew which one loved the smell of soil more and which one loved the smell of the kitchen. My mother was the latter. She learned how to plant from my aunt, her older sister.

My grandfather worked in a bank but he got laid off when he was in his 40s. So, my grandmother had to do a side-hustle to support their children. My mother was in high school at that time when Yang Ti woke her and her older sister up at dawn. “Would you help me to pick some roots?”. Of course nobody said no. Especially if it was your mother, especially if you were born in Javanese culture where saying “no” sounded like a bad word. Together, the three of them went to the backyard, and they harvested empon - empon, rhizome, that was buried inside the soil. She grew many kinds of rhizome; temu lawak, temu putih, ginger, galangal, kunci, kencur, and kunyit. That was the day where my mother realized that her mother was never far away from her.

That was the day where she could spend more time with her mother. There, in the garden. There, in the kitchen.

“We’re sending these for Ibu Darti, the lady who lives across the river. Kunyit Asam for her and her daughters.”, said my grandmother to my mother and my aunt that day. They poured the Turmeric-Tamarind warm drink into a tall thermos and later my grandmother would deliver it on the way to school.

Over time, my grandmother got more orders for jamu. Everybody in the family helped her to make and deliver her jamu. The small business lasted only a few years, but that was what paid for my mother and her siblings’ education.

Today, my mother, who got laid off just a few days before I wrote this piece, harvested Turmeric and other roots. She’s making her Turmeric Tamarind drink from her kitchen.

My phone rang in the middle of this afternoon, a couple minutes after I boiled the rest of my grated turmeric. Today is one day after my period.

“Ingka, have you washed your pot after boiling those turmeric? It would forever be yellow if you don’t wash it right away!”


  • *empon-empon = roots like ginger, turmeric, etc. coming from the Javanese word “Empu” which means, something or someone that has deep knowledge.

  • *jamu = Indonesia’s traditional elixir made of roots, barks, flowers, seeds, leaves, and fruits.

  • *Yang Ti = Javanese term for grandmother, taken from the term “Eyang Putri” the female you look up to.

  • *pasar = the word for traditional market in Indonesian.

 


“Feminist Movement”

by Karina Tungari, Hamburg, Germany  (@_katung_)

The more women support other women, the quicker we’ll see progress. Together we are stronger and make even more impact.

Karina Tungari, Hamburg, Germany  (@_katung_)


 

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Snippet FEA Linda Porn Bio (FR)

Linda Porn est une autre héroïne de l'organisation syndicale féministe et de l'activisme des travailleur·euses du sexe au niveau national (en Espagne) et transnational.

Originaire du Mexique, elle vit en Espagne depuis les années 2000. Elle est travailleuse du sexe, militante, mère célibataire et artiste multidisciplinaire.

Puisant dans ces différentes identités, elle utilise la performance, l'art vidéo et le théâtre pour rendre visibles les luttes aux intersections du transféminisme, du travail du sexe, de la migration, du colonialisme et de la maternité. Elle combine l'art et le travail du sexe tout en prenant soin de sa fille en tant que mère célibataire.

Linda appartient également à des groupes de travailleur·euses du sexe qui luttent pour leurs droits, comme le syndicat OTRAS et CATS Murcia. Elle a également cofondé le groupe 'Madrecitas' - qui rend visible et dénonce la violence institutionnelle raciste contre les familles migrantes. Violence à laquelle elle et sa fille ont été soumises en tant que travailleuse du sexe et mère célibataire migrante.

Ne ratez pas son travail artistique ici!