Personal Reflections on the 4th African Feminist Forum.

The Movement for Black Lives, or as it’s more commonly known, #BlackLivesMatter (BLM) in the United States, has grown beyond a call to action in response to police brutality and the extrajudicial killings of Black people—Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner and too many others—to a movement that challenges multiple layers of racial inequality.

AWID spoke to Ana Cernov, program coordinator for Conectas South-South, about the current political crisis in Brazil. Cernov’s analysis aims to help us to understand the long-term effects on civil society and human rights in Brazil.

Video interview with Brazilian activist Jurema Werneck, Medical Doctor and Technical Coordinator at Criola.

Watch video of Brazilian feminist Nilcea Freire. She is running for Councillor in Rio de Janeiro´s municipal election in October 2016

Interview with the writer and feminist activist Schuma Schumaher, executive coordinator of the non-governmental organization REDEH.

The recent AWID Forum that took place in Bahia, Brazil, invited participants to imagine “feminist futures.” But to do so, we must reckon with the extent to which the state and other forces are working to limit our imaginations. This was the focus of the session, Reclaiming Democratic Spaces, in which participants explored the clampdown on resistance taking place across national and international levels.

On 24 May 2017, the divisional court in Ankara overturned a conviction for sexual assault of human rights defender, Kemal Ördek. Instead the three perpetrators were sentenced to seven years and six months imprisonment for the charge of ‘aggravated burglary.’ The man previously convicted and sentenced for the sexual assault was acquitted.

AWID works with partners to share key knowledge, convene civil society dialogues and events, and influence negotiations and outcomes of the 35th session of the Human Rights Council. We met with Meghan Doherty, Cynthia Rothschild and Alejandra Sardá-Chandiramani, who are involved in this process. They reflect on their perspective.

Donald Trump’s ‘global gag rule’ could align US with Iran, Sudan, Syria and other countries targeted by US travel ban at Commission on the Status of Women.