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Protection of the Family

The Issue

Over the past few years, a troubling new trend at the international human rights level is being observed, where discourses on ‘protecting the family’ are being employed to defend violations committed against family members, to bolster and justify impunity, and to restrict equal rights within and to family life.

The campaign to "Protect the Family" is driven by ultra-conservative efforts to impose "traditional" and patriarchal interpretations of the family, and to move rights out of the hands of family members and into the institution of ‘the family’.

“Protection of the Family” efforts stem from:

  • rising traditionalism,
  • rising cultural, social and religious conservatism and
  • sentiment hostile to women’s human rights, sexual rights, child rights and the rights of persons with non-normative gender identities and sexual orientations.

Since 2014, a group of states have been operating as a bloc in human rights spaces under the name “Group of Friends of the Family”, and resolutions on “Protection of the Family” have been successfully passed every year since 2014.

This agenda has spread beyond the Human Rights Council. We have seen regressive language on “the family” being introduced at the Commission on the Status of Women, and attempts made to introduce it in negotiations on the Sustainable Development Goals.

Our Approach

AWID works with partners and allies to jointly resist “Protection of the Family” and other regressive agendas, and to uphold the universality of human rights.

In response to the increased influence of regressive actors in human rights spaces, AWID joined allies to form the Observatory on the Universality of Rights (OURs).  OURs is a collaborative project that monitors, analyzes, and shares information on anti-rights initiatives like  “Protection of the Family”.

Rights at Risk, the first OURs report, charts a map of the actors making up the global anti-rights lobby, identifies their key discourses and strategies, and the effect they are having on our human rights.   

The report outlines “Protection of the Family” as an agenda that has fostered collaboration across a broad range of regressive actors at the UN.  It describes it as: “a strategic framework that houses “multiple patriarchal and anti-rights positions, where the framework, in turn, aims to justify and institutionalize these positions.”

 

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About the AWID International Forum

More than an event!

The AWID International Forum is a truly global space that gives participants an opportunity to network, build alliances, celebrate, and learn in a stimulating, emotive and safe atmosphere. 

AWID International Forum in Costa de Sauipe, Brazil, 2016

More and more, we are trying to bring the Forum process outside of the convening’s borders. Engaging with partners and deepening relationships all year round, connecting with local movements to better understand problems and co-create solutions. The Forum event itself, held every three to four years in a different region of the world, is just a crystallization of all these alliances that we are building as part of our work.

The AWID Forum dissolves our inner and external boundaries, fosters deep discussion, personal and professional growth, and strengthens our movements for gender justice and women’s rights.

As a convening, it is a response to the urgency to promote stronger and more coordinated engagement and action by feminists, women’s rights and other social justice advocates, organizations and movements. We also believe that the Forum is more than just an event – it can facilitate a process to influence thinking and set agendas for feminist movements and other related actors.

Evolving from a national conference of around 800 people, the event now brings together around 2000 feminists, community leaders, social justice activists, and donor agencies from around the world. 

The 14th AWID International Forum will take place 11-14 January 2021 in Taipei, Taiwan.

Find out more!

The past Forums

2016 - Feminist Futures: Building Collective Power for Rights and Justice (Costa de Sauipe, Brazil)

Participants at the Black Feminisms Forum in Brazil, 2016

Given the complex world that we face today, the 2016 AWID Forum did not focus on a particular “issue”, but rather on creating more effective ways of working together!

Despite the challenging contexts in which the 2016 Forum took place (the Zika epidemic, a strike by Brazilian foreign-service workers, the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff and subsequent turmoil), it succeeded in bringing together over 1800 participants from 120 countries and territories across all regions of the world.

What happened at the 13th AWID international Forum:

  • For 96% of participants who responded to the post Forum evaluation survey, the Forum was a major source of inspiration and energy.

  • 98% of participants considered it an important convening space for feminist movements and expressed hope that AWID continues to organize forums.

  • 59% of Forum evaluation survey respondents declared to be very satisfied with the Forum and 34% somewhat satisfied.

  • Over 150 sessions were delivered in different formats on a variety of topics ranging from bodily integrity and freedoms, to gender-based violence in the workplace, to strategies for building collective power.

  • The first-time Black Feminisms Forum (BFF), held just before the main AWID Forum, brought together 250 Black feminists from all over the world to co-create a powerful space to build and strengthen ongoing, intergenerational, transnational connections

Read more about what the 2016 AWID Forum achieved:

Download the Forum evaluation report

2012 - Transforming Economic Power to Advance Women's Rights and Justice (Istambul, Turkey)

AWID International Forum, in Cape Town, South Africa, 2008

The 12th AWID Forum was the largest and most diverse AWID Forum to date, bringing together 2239 women’s rights activists from 141 countries. Of these participants, around 65% were from the Global South and close to 15% were young women under 30, and 75% attended an AWID Forum for their first time.

The Forum program focused on transforming economic power to advance women’s rights and justice and featured over 170 different kinds of sessions including feminist economics toolbox skills-building sessions, breakout sessions representing all 10 Forum themes, in-depth sessions, and solidarity roundtables. 

Building on the momentum of the 2012 Forum, we transformed the website into a resource and learning Hub, which builds on the content generated by participants by featuring multi-media resources on all Forum components. 

Visit the 2012 Forum web archive

All AWID Forums

  • 2016: Feminist Futures: Building Collective Power for Rights and Justice (Costa de Sauipe, Brazil). Read the 2016 Forum Evaluation report
  • 2012: Transforming Economic Power to Advance Women's Rights and Justice (Istanbul, Turkey)
  • 2008: The Power of Movements (Cape Town, South Africa). Read our 2008 Forum Report
  • 2005: How does change happen? (Bangkok, Thailand)
  • 2002: Reinventing Globalization (Guadalajara, Mexico)
  • 1999: Leading Solutions for Equality and Justice (US)
  • 1996: Beyond Beijing From Words to Action (US)
  • 1993: Joining Forces to Further Shared Visions (US)
  • 1991: Working Together/Learning Together: A South North Dialogue (US)
  • 1989/1990: Global Em-Powerment for Women (US)
  • 1987: Moving Forward: Innovations in Development Policy, Action and Research (US)
  • 1985: Women Creating Wealth; Transforming Economic Development (US)
  • 1983: ‘Women in Development’ (Washington D.C, US)

Snippet FEA São Paulo City Center (EN)

São Paulo’s City Center

Source: Centro de população de rua da cidade de São Paulo

A woman sitting on the floor on a piece of cloth and a cup for change in front of her
    

Abandoned / Unoccupied Buildings
Illustration of an abandoned, run down building to depict the housing crisis

Population living in the streets 
 

31,000

  

40.000

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After the gallery

Some English aside content

Snippet FEA Occupation’s kitchen Instagram (EN)

Campaña publicitaria de Ocupação 9 de Julho:

Photo of Cozinha Ocupação 9 de Julho team in aprons
Yellow square that says "As mulheres sustentam o cuidado" or Women sustain care in Portuguese.
Yellow square that says "O cuidado sustenta a vida" or "Care sustains life" in Portuguese.
Yellow square that says "A vida sustenta a economia" or "Life sustains the economy" in Portuguese.
Yellow square that says: "Mas quen cuida das mulheres?" or "But who is taking care of women?" in Portuguese.
A yellow square that says "Nenhuma a menos" which translates to "Not another woman less"
Yellow square that says "Juntas, Juntos, Juntes" which translates to "Together, together, together"
Yellow square announcing Sunday Lunch at the Occupation's Kitchen

Las Mujeres Sostienen el Cuidado | El Cuidado Sostiene la Vida | La vida Sostiene la Economía | ¿Quién Cuida a las Mujeres? | Ni Una Menos1 | Juntas, Juntos, Juntes | Almuerzo de Domingo

1Nenhuna a menos se traduce literalmente como "ni una menos" en español, un eslogan feminista famoso en América Latina que surgió en Argentina como respuesta a la creciente violencia de género.

Defending LGBTQI Rights

Student, Writer, Leader, Advocate. Each of the four women honored below had their own way of activism but what they had in common is that they all promoted and defended Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer and Intersex rights. Join us in remembering and honoring these Women Human Rights Defenders, their work and legacy by sharing the memes below and tweeting by using the hashtags #WHRDTribute and #16Days. 

Please click on each image below to see a larger version and download as a file

 

Snippet FEA LINES OF ACTION (FR)

Sur quoi travaillent-iels?
Illustration of a hand with a pencil writing on white paper

Droits humains et ethno-territoriaux

Assurer la défense des droits humains et des droits de la Nature par la construction d'alliances avec des acteur·rices et organisations locales, nationales, régionales et mondiales.
A person holding a plant in a pink pot in their hands

Développement Durable

Garantir que toutes les activités économiques, culturelles et environnementales contribuent au développement durable, à la sécurité alimentaire et à la génération de revenus, dans le respect de l'autodétermination et de l'autonomie gouvernementale des communautés afro-descendantes.
Three women sitting next to each other

Education and training

Former les femmes et leur donner les moyens d'exercer la défense de leurs droits dans différents espaces politiques, sociaux et économiques.

Pour plus d'informations, cliquez ici!

Los derechos de las personas trans* requieren una mayor protección

Estas mujeres trans* fueron asesinadas por su activismo y por su identidad de género. Son escasas las leyes que reconocen los derechos de las personas trans* e, incluso donde están vigentes, es muy poco lo que se ha hecho para salvaguardar sus derechos. Únete a AWID para honrar a estas defensoras de derechos humanos, su trabajo y su legado, compartiendo los memes aquí incluidos con tus colegas, amistades y redes; y tuiteando las etiquetas #WHRDTribute y #16Días.

Por favor, haz click en cada imagen de abajo para ver una versión más grande y para descargar como un archivo.  

 

Snippet FEA Metzineres activists (EN)

 
A crowd of people sitting in front of a banner which says ‘support, don't punish”;
Photo of two women talking to each other, one of them is holding a handheld fan.
Crowd of people with a black banner that says Metzineres in yellow.
Photo of four people sitting on the ground and talking
Photo people with plants around them, most of them sitting and clapping to a person who is walking in the middle

Metzineres activists in action

1. Concentra los recursos

En esta sección se enumeran los principales recursos con los que AWID te recomienda contar para poder realizar la investigación WITM.

En esta sección

Personas que se necesitan

  • 1 o más personas que coordine/n la implementación de la metodología de investigación en general y garanticen que todos los componentes se completen en tiempo y forma (Secciones 2-11);
  • 1 o más personas que formule/n los principales objetivos de la investigación y las preguntas-guía;
  • 1 o más personas que pula/n e implemente/n la metodología de investigación; esto incluye recoger la información;
  • 1 o más personas que realice/n análisis cualitativos y cuantitativos relevantes a partir de la información recogida;
  • 1 o más personas que documente/n los resultados de la investigación y los preparen para presentarlos a la o las audiencias a las que quieras llegar con el mensaje;
  • 1 o más personas que edite/n los productos finales;
  • 1 o más personas que difundan la investigación y hagan incidencia utilizando los resultados.

Volver al comienzo

Gastos posibles

  1. Salarios del personal de la organización y/o personas externas;
  2. Programas para analizar grandes volúmenes de datos si esto va a estar a cargo de la propia organización.
    Las opciones son:
    - SPSS
    - Stata
    - R (gratis)
  3. Costos de producir publicaciones y otros productos de la investigación;
  4. Incentivos que quienes participen en la investigación pueden recibir por haber respondido la encuesta (optativo);
  5. Incentivos para las personas que sean consultadas acerca de la investigación (optativo).

Volver al comienzo

Duración estimada

  • Para el proceso de investigación: 6 a 18 meses, según el volumen de información y la capacidad del personal;
  • Para la incidencia: 1-2 años, según las metas la tu organización.

Volver al comienzo

Recursos necesarios

  • Lista de organizaciones, donantes y activistas a quienes se puede consultar;
  • Lista de espacios virtuales y eventos/redes donde difundir la encuesta y presentar sus resultados;
  • Lista de donantes, activistas y organizaciones por los derechos de las mujeres a quienes entrevistar;
  • Preguntas para las entrevistas preparadas por anticipado;
  • Lista de publicaciones a utilizar para la investigación secundaria.

Volver al comienzo

Recursos con que cuento

Herramientas en línea

Una vez que hayas reunido todos estos recursos, podrás calcular los costos de la investigación utilizando nuestra Planilla «¿Estoy listx?»

Volver al comienzo

Paso previo

Antes de comenzar

Paso siguiente

2. Prepara el marco para la investigación

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¡INVOLÚCRATE!

Siga el trabajo de estos colectivos en sus cuentas de redes sociales y sitios internet: