#16 Days: Conflict in Iraq and Syria Plays Out on Women’s Bodies

by Mégane Ghorbani, Susan Tolmay

FRIDAY FILE: As we commemorate the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence (25 November to 10 December) under the theme “let’s challenge militarism and end gender-based violence”, AWID speaks to Lisa Davis, Human Rights Advocacy Director at MADRE, and to Nurcan Baysal, Kurdish activist and writer for the Turkish electronic journalT24, to learn more about the sexual and other violations of women’s and girls’ rights with the insurgency of the self-proclaimed "Islamic State in Iraq and Syria” (ISIS).

Land Day 2015: Activism and Challenges for Palestinian Women and Girls

FRIDAY FILE: Palestinians, and people globally who stand in solidarity with Palestine, commemorate Land Day every March 30. On this day in 1976 thousands of Palestinians embarked on a general strike and protests against the Israeli government’s announcement to confiscate large portions of Palestinian lands for new Israeli settlements. The protests resulted in six Palestinians being killed, and hundreds injured and arrested by Israeli forces. Land Day has been commemorated every year since. 

By Mégane Ghorbani

Carving A Space: Reflections On The 2nd MenEngage Symposium

by Srilatha Batliwala

Challenging the Power of the One Percent

by Lydia Alpízar Durán

When you are faced with the task of moving an object but find it is too heavy to lift, what is your immediate and most natural response? You ask someone to help you lift it. And it makes all the difference.

And so in the face of unprecedented economic, ecological and human rights crises, we should not hunker down in our silos, but rather join together and use our collective power to overcome the challenges.

FGM stops when the holistic recognition of girls’ and women’s rights begins

by Nelly Bassily, AWID Young Feminist Activism Program Associate

Her name is Suhair al-Bata’a. The 13-year-old Egyptian girl dreamt of one day becoming a journalist. In 2013, she was taken by her father to Dr Raslan Fadl Halawa’s clinic to undergo female genital mutilation, also known as FGM. She senselessly died at the hands of Halawa.

Fighting Hate: Exposing Extremist Groups in the U.S.

The Southern United States in the early 1970s was a time of both possibility and disappointment. As a result of the work of civil rights activists, the 60s had seen the creation of new laws seeking to guarantee racial equality across the country. But after these victories had been achieved, legislative changes often did not do enough to change people’s lived realities – particularly for black communities in the South.

The Libyan Youth Movement: Acting Today, Shaping Tomorrow

AWID recently spoke with Ayat Mneina, co-founder of the Libyan Youth Movement, on the evolving civil war in Libya following the uprising, and subsequent fall of Gaddafi.

Invisibility is not a shield to save us from lesbophobia

FRIDAY FILE: The first Lesbian March in Rosario, Argentina, to commemorate the Lesbian Visibility and Fight Against Lesbophobia Day, took place on March 7, and gathered more than a hundred people. AWID spoke to activists about the relevance of this day

By Gabby De Cicco

El Salvador: Guadalupe’s Pardon a Victory, But Still a Long Road Ahead

by Gabby De Cicco

FRIDAY FILES: On February 18 Guadalupe Vázquez[1], one of at least 17 women unjustly imprisoned for allegedly having an abortion, was released from prison after being granted a pardon by El Salvador's Legislative Assembly.

By Gabby De Cicco

Proposed reparations make violence against trans* people visible in Argentina

FRIDAY FILE: A bill making provisions to economically compensate victims of gender identity-based institutional violence was submitted past November in Argentina. AWID interviewed trans activist, and one of the bill’s authors, Marlene Wayar[1], on its scope and some of the pending debates in the country on discrimination and criminalization.

By Gabby De Cicco

Progressive laws on LGBTIQ in Argentina