Flickr/Leonardo Veras (CC BY 2.0)

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.”

 

Related Content

Rapport Annuel 2011

Pour réaliser sa mission, l’AWID travaille par la voie de programmes pluriannuels et interreliés. 

Chaque programme comporte plusieurs volets, y compris le développement et la diffusion de connaissances, la recherche-action, les plaidoyers, l’établissement d’alliances et l’organisation de dialogues stratégiques.

Notre Rapport Annuel 2011 vous proposent un sommaire des principales réalisations pendant l'année, dans le cadre de chacune des programmes de l’AWID.  

#3 - Sexting like a feminist Tweets Snippet FR

Tout le monde apprécie les intentions clairement exprimées.

Image of a tweet with a gif of a man saying "Yes daddy". Text says: No one: (blank). Me: Bae I wanna squeeze your ass like I wanna squeeze misogynists out of corporate hierarchies.

Personne :
 
Moi :
 
@AWID : #SextLikeAFeminist
 
Bae : Je veux te presser le cul aussi fort que je voudrais éjecter les misogynes hors des hiérarchies des entreprises.

Quelle est votre définition du financement extérieur?

Le financement extérieur inclut les subventions et autres formes de financement de la part de fondations philanthropiques, de gouvernements, de financeurs bilatéraux, multilatéraux ou d’entreprise et de donateur·rices individuel·les, qu’elles et ils soient de votre pays ou de l’étranger. Il exclut les ressources que les groupes, organisations et/ou mouvements génèrent de manière autonome (ressource en anglais), telles que les cotisations d’adhésion, contributions volontaires du personnel, de membres et/ou de soutiens, les collectes de fonds communautaires, les locations de salles et ventes de services. Les définitions des différents types de financement, ainsi que de courtes descriptions des différents bailleurs de fonds, sont incluses dans l’enquête pour une meilleure compréhension.

CFA 2023 - what you need to know - ar

ما الذي تحتاج/ين معرفته؟

  • سيتم إعطاء الأولوية للأنشطة التي تسهل وتشجع الاتصال والتفاعل بين المشاركين/ات.
  • إذا كان من الممكن إجراء نشاطك عبر الإنترنت أو بشكل هجين (ربط المشاركين/ات في الموقع وعبر الإنترنت)، يرجى النظر في كيفية توليد مشاركة حقيقية ومشاركة نشطة من المشاركين/ات عبر الإنترنت.
  • نشجع اللقاءات والحوارات والتبادلات بين الحركات والأقاليم وبين الأجيال.
  • يرجى تصميم النشاط بطريقة تسمح بالمرونة في عدد المشاركين/ات. في حين أن بعض الأنشطة قد تقتصر على مجموعات أصغر، إلا أن الأغلبية ستحتاج إلى استيعاب أعداد أكبر.
  • إذا كان نشاطك يناسب عددًا من أشكال التقديم أو لا يناسبه أي شيء، فستتمكن من الإشارة إلى ذلك في نموذج الطلب.

اللغات التي يمكنك إرسال طلبك بها

  •  لغات تقديم الطلبات: سيتم قبول الطلبات باللغات الإنجليزية والفرنسية والإسبانية والتايلاندية والعربية.
  •  لغات المنتدى: سيتم توفير الترجمة الفورية في الجلسات العامة للمنتدى باللغات الإنجليزية، الفرنسية، الإسبانية، التايلاندية والعربية، بالإضافة إلى لغة الإشارة الدولية (ISL)وربما أكثر. بالنسبة لجميع الأنشطة الأخرى، سيتم توفير الترجمة الشفوية في بعض هذه اللغات،  ولكن ليس جميعها، وربما بلغات أخرى، مثل اللغة السواحيلية والبرتغالية. 

AWID in 2016: Co-Creating Feminist Futures

AWID is pleased to share our 2016 Annual Report.

2016 was an incredible year for AWID, we convened the 13th International AWID Forum in Bahia, Brazil, a space for strategizing and alliance building with feminists and other justice movements, which was attended by over 1800 participants from 120 countries and territories across the globe.

We know that women’s rights and feminist movements are key actors in creating sustainable transformative change. Within our movements, organizing, resisting and responding to the challenging context is sharpening, and in our increasingly connected world, the potential for collective action across diverse movements has dramatically grown.

This is the crucial work that AWID seeks to amplify and support every day.


What we achieved in 2016

We expanded solidarity and joint action across diverse movements

A highlight of 2016 was our ground-breaking 13th International Forum with the theme: “Feminist Futures: Building Collective Power for Rights and Justice”, where we harnessed the thinking and energy of nearly 500 partners, presenters, panelists, moderators, artivists, writers, facilitators, IT innovators, and performers, many of them leaders in their movements. We also supported the convening of the first and historical Black Feminisms Forum (BFF) organised by a working group of Black Feminists from across the world.

We strengthened knowledge of issues and strategies

We contributed to collective advocacy

AWID, in partnership with other feminist and women’s rights organisations, engaged in advocacy and dialogue to explore better solutions for women’s rights agendas including our work with the Count Me In! consortium .

We increased the visibility of movements

The experiences of women with disabilities, Black and Afro-descendant women, sex workers, Indigenous women, trans and intersex people, domestic workers and how their lives are impacted by multiple oppressions and violence were placed front and center of the Forum process.

We also launched the 2016 WHRD Tribute to commemorate defenders who are no longer with us, during the 16 Days of activism, and thanks to the contributions from our members,

We drove attention to groups and issues that do not usually receive adequate mainstream media coverage through our partnership with The Guardian and Mama Cash.


Our members

 

Manal Tamimi | Snippet EN

Portrait Manal Tamimi

Manal Tamimi is a Palestinian activist and human rights defender. She is a mother of four who holds a master’s degree in international humanitarian law. Due to her activism, she was arrested three times and got wounded more than once, including with live explosive bullets which are banned internationally. Her family is also a target: her children have been arrested and wounded with live ammunition more than once. The last incident was an assassination attempt of her son Muhammad who was shot in the chest, near the heart, a few weeks after his liberation from the occupation prisons where he had spent two years. Her philosophy on life: if I have to pay the price for being a Palestinian and not for a crime I have committed, I refuse to die in silence.

Is the WITM survey accessible for people with disabilities?

Yes, the survey is accessible to people with a diverse range of hearing, movement, sight, and cognitive abilities.

Forum 2024 - FAQ - Travelling to Bangkok EN

Travelling to Bangkok

2021: Feminist Power in Action

In 2021, AWID, along with many other organizations, was coming to grips with the implications of the on-going global pandemic for how we work and our role in this particular time. The year taught us three critical lessons about navigating this moment as a global feminist movement-support organization.

Download the full 2021 Annual review


English language cover for the 2021 AWID Annual Report. It shows a collage of protests fists raised, along with flowers and a silhouette of a person with short hair in the back.

Through dialogue and exchanges critical to their work, AWID connected thousands to feminists from around the world.

Our experience in 2021 reaffirmed the importance of building and sustaining a global feminist community, and AWID’s core mission to support feminist movements as a whole. We believe that at this moment, a strong community bound by a shared vision and collective care is the foundation of all social change and transformation.

Download the full 2021 Annual review

Manal Tamimi | Snippet AR

Portrait Manal Tamimi

منال التميمي، ناشطة فلسطينية ومدافعة عن حقوق الإنسان. أم لأربعة أطفال كما أنها حائزة على ماجستير في القانون الدولي الإنساني. اعتقلت منال ثلاث مرات على إثر نشاطها السياسي وأصيبت أكثر من مرة بالرصاص الانشطاري الحي المحظور دوليا. عائلتها مستهدفة أيضًا: اعتقل وأصيب أطفالها بالذخيرة الحية أكثر من مرة. وكانت الحادثة الأخيرة محاولة اغتيال نجلها محمد الذي أصيب برصاصة في صدره قرب القلب بعد أسابيع قليلة من تحريره من سجون الاحتلال حيث أمضى عامين. فلسفتها في الحياة: إذا كان عليّ أن أدفع ثمن كوني فلسطينيّة، فأنا أرفض أن أموت في صمت.

María Verónica Reina

María was recognized globally for her extraordinary leadership in the disability community.

She represented the International Disability and Development Consortium during the negotiation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2001-2006).

Her work was devoted to the implementation of the goal of the Convention - realization of universal human rights by, for and with persons with disabilities for an inclusive, accessible and sustainable world.

In her words, her leadership was about “...serving the disability community, starting with small tasks that others may not wish to do”.

She passed away on October 27, 2017 in her hometown of Rosario, Argentina.

Read more about María Verónica Reina in her own words 

 


 

María Verónica Reina, Argentina

Forum 2024 - FAQ - Other Questions ES

Otras preguntas

Demo article

Ester Lopes | Snippet AR

Ester Lopes Portrait

إيستر لوبيز  راقصة وكاتبة تركز أبحاثها على الجسد والنوع والعرق والعلاقات الطبقية. هي مدرّبة بيلاتيس ومعلمة فنون. تخرجت إستر في دراسة المسرح المعاصر – العمليات الإبداعية (في FAINC) وفي الرقص والوعي بالجسم (في USCS). يشمل تخصصها الموسيقي الغناء الشعبي والإيقاع. تلقت تدريبًا في “نوفوس برينكانتس” مع فليرا فيرو وماتيوس برادو وأنطونيو مييرا في معهد Brincante في عامي 2015 و 2016.