The Association for Women’s Rights in Development is pleased to make this statement on behalf of the Observatory on the Universality of Rights.

This joint statement to the 38th Session of the Human Rights Council expresses support for the Working Group on Discrimination Against Women in Law and in Practice and commends the Working Group’s strong report to the Council on reasserting equality and countering rollbacks [A /HRC/38/46]

In September 2017, the European Union and United Nations announced the Spotlight Initiative, the largest single investment toward ending gender-based violence in the world.

This is a joint written contribution by 14 organisations*, including AWID, submitted to the third session of the UN Open-ended intergovernmental working group (IGWG) on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights, on 23 October 2017.

We, the members of the Count Me In! Consortium (CMI!), applaud the European Commission’s investment of EUR 500 Million to the United Nations for women’s rights and ending violence against women. At a time when closing spaces increasingly constrict and threaten women’s rights, these funds are highly promising.

In late May the Guardian released the Facebook Files, leaked internal documents revealing how the company moderates content. Many of us have long called for more transparency around Facebook's content moderation so we can better understand gender-based violence that happens on the platform and provide feedback.

The Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) stands in solidarity with Natalie Jeffers, Founder of ‘Matters of the Earth’ and member of Black Lives Matter UK (BLM UK).

The Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition (WHRD-IC) is calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Atena Daemi from Tehran’s Evin prison. She must also be given immediate access to specialised medical care outside prison.

The WHRD IC is deeply concerned about the recent detention of eight Turkish human rights defenders and two IT trainers and calls for their immediate and unconditional release. Among those who were detained from a human rights workshop are prominent members of the women’s rights movement, which is a clear attempt to destabilize and demoralize women who engage in legitimate and important activism to defend and promote human rights.

The WHRD-IC calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Ebtisam Al-Saegh, and the end to the harassment, intimidation, violence and threats towards her and her family. We ask the Bahraini authorities to end their campaign against all human rights defenders.