The outcome of the 21^st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Paris from November 30th to December 11th 2015, has reinforced the reasons why women must be at the heart of decisions and mobilization to advance climate justice. This week AWID looks at some of the challenges and opportunities of integrating women into these processes.

There is cause for celebrating commitments made for women and girls by UN heads of state in adopting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as a sense of relief as it became evident that prolonging the negotiating process would only result in a watered-down text. But this feeling is bittersweet.

Untreated trash borders on a large-scale health disaster and, undeniably, should be dealt with in a timely and urgent manner. However, as Lynn and Shant best expressed years ago, our struggles are constantly relegated to the sidelines. As young feminists, we find ourselves in the waiting rooms of “crises,” as if awaiting instructions for the “right time” to take action.

Neha Sood, Policy and Advocacy Officer at Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights and part of the Sexual Rights Initiative, explains the basics about two recent UN Human Rights Council (HRC) resolutions on the protection of the family.

On International Women Human Rights Defenders Day, the Young Feminist Wire brings you the story of Nahed Sherif Abdel Hamid, one of the young WHRDs who were recently released in the pardon. We also speak with Amal Elmohandes, who works with Nazra for Feminist Studies. Amal closely followed Nahed’s case and says the violations against WHRDs in Egypt are systemic.

The moment was symbolically powerful on multiple levels. As thousands of women marched to the National Congress, the seat of formal political power in Brazil, chanting slogans of resistance— “I do not accept my place in the kitchen”, “I want to be in the revolution”—you could not un-see us or un-hear us. At one point, you could not see the streets for all the people filling it.

As part of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign, AWID spoke with two Algerian activists to learn more about violence against women in the country and the strategies and challenges of the feminists working to end it.   

In a lecture in Argentina, Ariel Dulitzky, president of the United Nations’ Working Group on Forced or Involuntary Disappearances, said that Working Group currently has 43,000 cases of disappeared persons across the world. AWID spoke with journalist Marta Dillon and popular feminist educator Claudia Korol to learn more about the history of this phenomenon and how it affects women in particular.

This Tribute honours and celebrates the women human rights defenders who are no longer with us. They advocated and struggled for the rights of women, workers, indigenous peoples, Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) people, the protection of land and environment rights, sex workers and their activism bears witness to the collective struggles of all our social movements.

The Philippines, and more specifically Mindanao, the second largest and southernmost major island, rich in natural resources and minerals, is being plundered by trans- and multi-national companies carrying out extractive operations with impunity for the human rights violations they commit.