Anti-rights actors have had a substantive impact on our human rights framework and the progressive interpretation of human rights standards, especially rights related to gender and sexuality.

When it comes to the impact of conservative actors in international policy spaces, the overall picture today is of stasis and regressions.

We have witnessed the watering down of existing agreements and commitment; deadlock in negotiations; sustained undermining of UN agencies, treaty review bodies and Special Procedures; and success in pushing through regressive language in international human rights documents.

Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)

The CSW, held annually in March, has long been one of the most contested sites in the UN system. In March 2015, conservative efforts set the tone before events or negotiations even began; the outcome document of the Commission was a weak Declaration negotiated before any women’s rights activists even arrived on the ground.

At 2016’s CSW, the new Youth Caucus was infiltrated by large numbers of vocal anti-abortion and anti-SRHR actors, who shouted down progressive youth organizations. Again, intensive negotiations resulted in a lacklustre text, which included regressive language on ‘the family.’

Precisely when addressing women’s human rights is of urgent importance, the CSW has been rendered a depoliticized and weakened space. Using it to advance rights has become harder and harder since progressives’ energy is taken up trying to hold the ground against conservative backlash.

Human Rights Council (HRC)

As the intergovernmental body responsible for the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe, the HRC is a key entry point for conservative actors. In recent years, this mechanism has been the scene for a number of damaging anti-human rights moves.

In conversation with other anti-rights actors, one strategy of conservative states, and blocs of states, is to aggressively negotiate out positive language and to introduce hostile amendments to resolutions, most often resolutions focusing on rights related to gender and sexuality.

To take one example, during the June 2016 session of the HRC, opposition was mounted towards a resolution on discrimination against women by the member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and allies. During contentious negotiations, multiple provisions were removed, including women’s and girls’ right to have control over their sexuality, sexual and reproductive health, and reproductive rights; and the need to repeal laws which perpetuate the patriarchal oppression of women and girls in families, and those criminalizing adultery or pardoning marital rape.

The HRC has also been the site of pernicious conservative initiatives to co-opt human rights norms and enact conservative “human rights” language, such as that of the Russia-led “traditional values” resolutions, and more recently the “Protection of the Family” agenda.

Human Rights Committee

In 2015, moving their sights to another front, a number of religious right organizations began to target the Human Rights Committee, the treaty monitoring body for the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), a pivotal human rights instrument.

Anti-human rights groups mobilized in hopes of cementing their anti-abortion rhetoric into the treaty.

When the Committee announced it was drafting a new authoritative interpretation of the right to life, over 30 conservative non-state actors sent in written submissions, advocating their misleading discourse on ‘right to life’ - that life begins at conception and that abortion is a violation of the right - be incorporated in the Committee’s interpretation of article 6.

Conservative groups targeting the Human Rights Committee was a shift considering that historically anti-human rights actors have repeatedly attempted to undermine and invalidate the essential work of the treaty monitoring bodies, including the Human Rights Committee.

SDG negotiations and Agenda 2030

Anti-human rights actors were involved in lobbying towards the development of the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, focusing again on rights relating to gender and sexuality. These efforts had limited traction in their attempts to embed regressive language in Agenda 2030.

However, after successfully pushing back against progressive language in the final text, conservative actors then pivoted to another strategy. In an attempt to evade state accountability and undermine the universality of rights, several states have repeatedly made reservations to the Goals.

On behalf of the African Group, Senegal claimed that African states would only “implement the goals in line with the cultural and religious values of its countries.”

The Holy See also made a number of reservations, stating it was “confident that the related pledge ‘no one will be left behind’ would be read” as meaning “the right to life of the person, from conception until natural death.”

Saudi Arabia went one step further, declaring that the country would not follow any international rules relating to the SDGs that reference sexual orientation or gender identity, describing them as running “counter to Islamic law.”

General Assembly (GA)

Anti-rights actors have made increasing headway at the UN General Assembly (GA).  Most recently, during the 71^st session in 2016, the GA was the scene of feverish anti-rights organizing in opposition to the new mandate created by the Human Rights Council resolution on sexual orientation and gender identity in June 2016: the Independent Expert on SOGI. Four separate attempts were made to undercut the mandate in GA spaces.

One approach was to introduce a hostile resolution at the Third Committee^[1], led by the African Group, which in essence aimed to indefinitely defer the new mandate. While this approach was not successful, such an attempt in the GA to retroactively block the creation of a mandate brought forward by the Human Rights Council represented a new and troubling tactic - anti-right actors are now working to directly undermine the HRC’s authority respective to the General Assembly.

Another approach targeted the Fifth Committee (responsible for administration and budgetary matters) as an entry point to attack the mandate. In an unprecedented move a number of States attempted (again, unsuccessfully) to block the funding of UN human rights experts, including the new IE on SOGI^[2],.

While these multiple efforts were unsuccessful in blocking the creation and continuation of the new mandate, the significant support they received, the novel strategizing employed, and the strong alliances built along regional lines through negotiations point to difficulties ahead.

[1] The Third Committee of the GA deals with agenda items relating to a range of social, humanitarian affairs, and human rights issues.  Each year it discusses and issues resolutions on issues including the advancement of women, the protection of children, family, and youth.

[2] While UN Special Procedures experts (i.e. Special Rapporteurs, Working Group members and Independent Experts) work pro bono, some funds are generally allocated to facilitate country visits on the invitation of the national government, and support staff.

Other Chapters

• Key opposition actors
• Key opposition discourses
• Key opposition strategies and tactics

Read the full report

Other Chapters

• Key opposition actors
• Key opposition discourses
• Key opposition strategies and tactics

Read the full report

Lignes de travail :

CONTRE

Women's Forum on Financing for Gender Equality

• The Forum took place on 10 July 2015 in Addis Ababa and convened feminists, grassroots women, gender advocates, academics and representatives of women’s rights organizations/networks with specific inputs by UN representatives and other policy makers.
• The objectives of the Women's Forum were to: share information on the state of play in the latest FfD negotiations; jointly analyze the FfD panorama and follow-up; build a common women’s rights positioning; and strategize on how to meaningfully and substantively engage from a feminist perspective at the Addis FfD Conference.
• The Women's Forum was organized by the Women's Working Group on FfD, in collaboration with FEMNET, African Women's Development Fund (AWDF) and the Post 2015 Women's Coalition with support from UN Women.
• Read the Women's Working Group reaction to the Addis Ababa Action Agenda

CSO FfD Forum

• The CSO FfD Forum took place in Addis Ababa on 11-12 July 2015 and aimed to: inform participating CSOs on the state of play of the official process and coordinate civil society participation in the 3rd FfD Conference; develop a collective CSO Forum Declaration as well as the CSO messages for the FfD Conference Roundtables, the CSO FfD Group-led side events and any other opportunities that might emerge; and plan and organize future areas of CSO engagement on Financing for Development, beyond the 3rd FfD Conference.
• Read the Declaration from the Addis Ababa Civil Society Forum on Financing for Development
• For more information, please visit the CSO FfD Group's website or contact the Addis Ababa CSO Coordinating Group (addiscoordinatinggroup@gmail.com).

The Third UN International Conference on Financing for Development

• The third Conference on Financing For Development took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 13-16 July 2015 and focused on: assessing the progress made in the implementation of the 2002 Monterrey Consensus and the 2008 Doha Declaration; addressing new and emerging issues, including in the context of the recent multilateral efforts to promote international development cooperation. Taking into account: the current evolving development cooperation landscape; the interrelationship of all sources of development finance; the synergies between financing objectives across the three dimensions of sustainable development (economic, social and environmental); and the need to support the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015; and reinvigorating and strengthening the financing for development follow-up process.
• The Addis Ababa Action Agenda was adopted on 15 July 2015 by Heads of State, Governments and High Representatives at the UN.
• The feeling however from developing countries, CSOs and more specifically women's organisations was that the Addis Ababa Action Agenda failed to meet the target. The Women's Working Group expressed its strong disappointment and demanded structural changes in the global economic governance and development architecture. Read their reaction to the outcome document. Hundreds of civil society organizations and networks from around the world also expressed deep concerns and reservations. Read their response to the outcome document.

AWID en los medios

Compilación de noticias sobre la organización y/o el trabajo de AWID

• Presentan disco con canciones para reír y reivindicar. La Nación, may 2018
• Día Internacional de la Mujer: la realidad de las mujeres latinoamericanas. La opinión digital, mar 2018
• Para fortalecer la resistencia global, hay que dar recursos a lxs jóvenes feministas. Open Global Rights, nov 2017
• Llamado mundial a las mujeres frente a la reunión de la OMC. Bilaterals, nov 2017
• Tejiendo la resistencia a través de la acción: Las estrategias de las Defensoras de Derechos Humanos contra las industrias extractivas. Movimiento 4, sep 2017
• Romani: banca internacional habilita a que se “lave olímpicamente” el dinero del narcotráfico. La diaria, ago 2017
• Global: Nueva guía y reporte sobre acciones de defensoras de derechos humanos ante proyectos extractivos empresariales. Business and human rights resources, ago 2017
• Cumbre sobre el Mundo del Trabajo: Un futuro mejor para las mujeres en el trabajo. Organización Internacional del Trabajo, jun 2017
• “Los Movimientos Importan”, arte visual colectivo en favor de las mujeres. El heraldo de Saltillo, mar 2017
• Violencia de género contra las mujeres en los medios, y la necesidad del activismo cotidiano. IFEX, dic 2016
• Ahora más que nunca. La razón, sep 2016
• Brasil: Cerró ayer la mayor conferencia sobre derechos de las mujeres. Fondo indígena, sep 2016
• Alerta Máxima Feminista ante involución de derechos de las y los migrantes en la 46 ª Conferencia de Población y Desarrollo. Calala, may 2015
• Todas las personas podemos ser defensoras de los Derechos Humanos de las mujeres. ALC noticias, ene 2015

Notas de prensa

Notas de prensa, dosieres y kits

Kits de social media

• Un Tributo a lxs defensorxs de derechos humanos que ya no están con nosotrxs
• Serie de arte visual digital «Los Movimientos Importan»
• Foro de AWID 2016

Contacto para medios

Email de contacto

+1 416 594 3773

El tema del 14° Foro Internacional de AWID es «Realidades feministas: nuestro poder en acción».

Entendemos las realidades feministas como los diferentes modos de existir y ser que nos muestran lo que es posible, a pesar de los sistemas de poder dominantes, y en desafío y resistencia contra ellos. Entendemos estas realidades feministas como recuperaciones y corporizaciones de esperanza y poder, multidimensionales, dinámicas, y arraigadas en contextos y momentos históricos específicos.

Leer más sobre las realidades feministas

Find and create connections. There are over 9,000 AWID members, all working to address complementary, interconnected issues. This diversity supports the sustainability of feminist movements and actors.

Download the full guide

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Download "Toward a feminist funding ecosystem" (PDF)

Download the individual infographics

Where we are now	Where we want to be	Current funding by sector
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Siempre hemos trabajado para garantizar que nuestros Foros sean desarrollados conjuntamente con nuestrxs afiliadxs, los movimientos, y nuestros colectivos prioritarios.

Para el Foro 2020 queremos profundizar y fortalecer este espíritu y esta práctica de creación conjunta y colaboración. También reconocemos la necesidad de mejorar el equilibrio entre la inclusión de muchas voces y experiencias y el espacio para que lxs participantes y el equipo respiren, se tomen una pausa, y disfruten de un poco de tiempo de inactividad.

Este Foro será diferente en cuanto a que:

• Tendremos muchas menos actividades organizadas, porque queremos que la gente tenga tiempo para relacionarse y hablar entre sí, experimentar, procesar, etc. Es fundamental que sepas que puedes venir al Foro, participar y ser muy activx, y no facilitar ninguna actividad organizada (o «sesión»).
• Tendremos Espacios Abiertos (al menos una tarde entera sin ninguna actividad organizada), y también espacios físicos disponibles durante todo el Foro para que la gente organice sus propias reuniones.
• Tendremos un Comité de Contenido y Metodología compuesto por feministas de distintas regiones con experiencia en metodologías participativas, para apoyar al equipo de AWID y a quienes lideren actividades en el Foro en el uso de formatos creativos e interesantes para las actividades del Foro.

Solidaridad

Nos solidarizamos unxs con otrxs, y con las distintas luchas por la justicia y las libertades. Procuramos movilizar y fortalecer la acción colectiva, y practicamos formas significativas de trabajar en conjunto.

Si has recibido correos electrónicos de integrantes del equipo de AWID, nos gustaría que tengas presente lo siguiente:

• La información contenida en esta comunicación es confidencial y está destinada exclusivamente la persona que lo recibe.

• Esta comunicación podría contener información que es propiedad de la Asociación para los Derechos de las Mujeres y el Desarrollo (AWID, por sus siglas en inglés). Esta información no puede reproducirse ni diseminarse  ni parcialmente ni  en su totalidad sin el consentimiento escrito de AWID.

• AWID no garantiza que la información aquí contenida sea completa o correcta. Esta comunicación no es una oferta para elaborar ningún tipo de acuerdo y no es una confirmación de ningún acuerdo descrito en este documento, a menos que el contexto indique claramente lo contrario.

• AWID no está actuando en calidad de asesora de ningún acuerdo que pueda surgir de este documento, y esta comunicación no constituye una recomendación, guía o propuesta para elaborar un acuerdo.

• AWID no garantiza o asegura los resultados esperados de cualquier acuerdo. Esta comunicación puede contener puntos de vista y opiniones que pueden no corresponderse con aquellos de AWID.

• No tendrá derecho a utilizar la información contenida en esta comunicación con fines de llegar a cualquier tipo de propuesta de acuerdo u otro. 

Por favor consulta la página «Financiamiento» para obtener algunas ideas sobre cómo puedes financiar tu participación en el próximo Foro. Esto incluye el limitado apoyo que AWID podrá brindar.

Justice et changement systémique

Nous œuvrons en faveur d’un monde fondé sur la justice sociale, environnementale et économique, ainsi que sur l'interdépendance, la solidarité et le respect. Nous travaillons au démantèlement des systèmes de pouvoir oppressif et contre toutes ses manifestations, y compris tout forme de patriarcat, de fondamentalisme, de militarisme et de fascisme, et le pouvoir des entreprises qui menacent nos vies et notre monde. Nous voulons un monde juste où le partage des ressources et celui du pouvoir permettront à chacun·e de s'épanouir.

معلومات عامة