Confronting Extractivism & Corporate Power
Women human rights defenders (WHRDs) worldwide defend their lands, livelihoods and communities from extractive industries and corporate power. They stand against powerful economic and political interests driving land theft, displacement of communities, loss of livelihoods, and environmental degradation.
Why resist extractive industries?
Extractivism is an economic and political model of development that commodifies nature and prioritizes profit over human rights and the environment. Rooted in colonial history, it reinforces social and economic inequalities locally and globally. Often, Black, rural and Indigenous women are the most affected by extractivism, and are largely excluded from decision-making. Defying these patriarchal and neo-colonial forces, women rise in defense of rights, lands, people and nature.
Critical risks and gender-specific violence
WHRDs confronting extractive industries experience a range of risks, threats and violations, including criminalization, stigmatization, violence and intimidation. Their stories reveal a strong aspect of gendered and sexualized violence. Perpetrators include state and local authorities, corporations, police, military, paramilitary and private security forces, and at times their own communities.
Acting together
AWID and the Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition (WHRD-IC) are pleased to announce “Women Human Rights Defenders Confronting Extractivism and Corporate Power”; a cross-regional research project documenting the lived experiences of WHRDs from Asia, Africa and Latin America.
We encourage activists, members of social movements, organized civil society, donors and policy makers to read and use these products for advocacy, education and inspiration.
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"Women Human Rights Defenders confronting extractive industries: an overview of critical risks and Human Rights obligations" is a policy report with a gender perspective. It analyses forms of violations and types of perpetrators, quotes relevant human rights obligations and includes policy recommendations to states, corporations, civil society and donors.
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"Weaving resistance through action: Strategies of Women Human Rights Defenders confronting extractive industries" is a practical guide outlining creative and deliberate forms of action, successful tactics and inspiring stories of resistance.
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The video “Defending people and planet: Women confronting extractive industries” puts courageous WHRDs from Africa, Asia, and Latin America in the spotlight. They share their struggles for land and life, and speak to the risks and challenges they face in their activism.
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Challenging corporate power: Struggles for women’s rights, economic and gender justice is a research paper outlining the impacts of corporate power and offering insights into strategies of resistance.
Share your experience and questions!
◾️ How can these resources support your activism and advocacy?
◾️ What additional information or knowledge do you need to make the best use of these resources?
Thank you!
AWID acknowledges with gratitude the invaluable input of every Woman Human Rights Defender who participated in this project. This project was made possible thanks to your willingness to generously and openly share your experiences and learnings. Your courage, creativity and resilience is an inspiration for us all. Thank you!
Related Content
My language is not one of the official survey languages and I am struggling to complete it, what can I do?
AWID is committed to language justice and we regret that, at this point, having the WITM survey available in more languages is not feasible. However, if you need support with translations or want to fill the survey in any other language, please reach out to us at witm@awid.org.
Who we are & what we do
We are excited to share our new Strategic Plan (2023-2027) with the world. AWID will make an announcement to inform our community and members very soon.
The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) is a global, feminist, membership, movement-support organization.
For 40 years, AWID has been a part of an incredible ecosystem of feminist movements working to achieve gender justice and women’s human rights worldwide.
Our vision

AWID envisions a world where feminist realities flourish, where resources and power are shared in ways that enable everyone, and future generations, to thrive and realize their full potential with dignity, love and respect, and where Earth nurtures life in all its diversity.
Our mission
Our mission is to support feminist, women’s rights and gender justice movements to thrive, to be a driving force in challenging systems of oppression, and to co-create feminist realities.
Our tactics
We advance our work through these tactics:
Influencing, advocacy and campaigning
We collaboratively leverage our access, power, resources and relationships to strategically influence policy and practice. We aim to advance feminist agendas through our work with policy makers, funders and activists in regional and global spaces. We also work to influence feminist and women’s rights movements to centre historically oppressed movements as part of efforts to strengthen our collective power and influence.
Convening and connecting
We use our convening power to facilitate dialogue and strategize on key issues. We connect our members and allies with one another, sharing and exchanging resources, ideas and action across relevant issues. We organize and facilitate spaces to strengthen and engage across movements, to imagine and envisage new futures, to develop effective influencing tactics and to co-create powerful agendas and processes.
Solidarity and bridge-building
We work to mobilize our members and the movements we support to strengthen collective action in solidarity with feminist causes and defenders at risk. We build partnerships, engage in active listening and ongoing, long-term, solidarity. We work with defenders to build a body of knowledge and support networks of solidarity on protection and wellbeing.
Arts and creative expression
We recognize the unique and strategic value of cultural and creative strategies in the struggle against oppression and injustice. We work with artists who centre feminist voices and the narratives of historically oppressed communities. In this emerging tactic, we see art and creative expression helping us envision a world where feminist realities continue to flourish and be celebrated.

Our initiatives
Our initiatives work at the intersections of the sites of change we work to address, the movements we prioritize, and the tactics we use:
Advancing Universal Rights and Justice
We monitor, document and make visible how anti-rights actors are operating and colluding in multilateral spaces and support feminist, women’s rights and gender justice movements and allies to counter their influence and impact.
Building Feminist Economies
Working on extractivism, tax justice and corporate accountability, we build knowledge on corporate power and influence; advocate for corporate accountability and equitable distribution of wealth; and amplify feminist proposals for just economies.
Resourcing Feminist Movements
We develop accessible, action-oriented analysis on the state of resourcing for feminist movements. We aim to influence funders’ policies and practices, deepen and sustain funding for feminist social change, and support movements’ needs and strategies.
In addition to the impact we aim to have in the world, AWID is expressly committed to strengthening our own organizational learning and resilience in order to further strengthen global feminist movements.
Our donors
Thank you!
Without the generous funding and support from our donors, our work would not be possible
Simone Veil
Related content
The Guardian: Simone Veil, Auschwitz survivor and abortion pioneer, dies aged 89
BBC: Simone Veil: French politician and Holocaust survivor dies
Reuters: French Holocaust survivor and pro-abortion campaigner Simone Veil dies at 89
AWID為何決定將論壇舉辦地點從峇里島移師到台北呢?
自2019年年末在印尼發生的一連串事件中,我們觀察到了當地軍事緊張與對同志權益的反彈跡象,AWID希望多元的與會者能在論壇齊聚一堂,但這讓我們自問是否能為與會者維持合理安全和讓人感到被歡迎的環境。
經過仔細商討後,AWID董事會在2019年11月決定將第十四屆AWID國際論壇的舉辦地點由峇里島改至台北。
台北擁有穩健的勤務服務能力,對旅客友善(針對國際論壇參與者提供便利的電子簽證流程)。
更多資訊請見以下 :
- 2019年12月10日發佈的論壇地點變更的公告全文 (In English)
- 選擇台北作為第十四屆AWID論壇舉辦地點的緣由詳情
Snippet FEA Objectives NSS Advocacy (EN)
INCIDENCIA POLITICA

Digna Ochoa
Nuestra agrupación no ha recibido financiamiento externo entre 2021 y 2023, ¿a pesar de ello, deberíamos responder la encuesta?
Sí, aún así deseamos saber de ustedes aunque no hayan recibido financiamiento en los tres, dos o cualquiera de los años comprendidos entre 2021 y 2023.
Recordando a lxs defensorxs que ya no están con nosotrxs
AWID honra a lxs feministas y defensoras de los derechos humanos que han muerto y cuyas contribuciones al progreso de los derechos humanos se echa mucho en falta.
Celebrando a lxs activistxs y las defensoras de derechos humanos
El Tributo de AWID a las defensoras de derechos humanos es una exhibición fotográfica que presenta a activistxs del feminismo, de los derechos de las mujeres y de la justicia social de todo el mundo que ya no están con nosotrxs.
El Tributo fue lanzado por primera vez en 2012, en el 12º Foro Internacional de AWID, en Turquía. Tomó la forma de una exposición física de retratos y biografías de feministas y activistxs que fallecieron. La iniciativa fue descrita por lxs participantes del Foro como una manera única, emotiva y energizante de conmemorar nuestra historia colectiva.
En el 13º Foro Internacional, en Brasil, honramos a lxs activistas y a las defensoras de derechos humanos con una ceremonia de inauguración de un mural en cuatro idiomas, un espectáculo de danza y un ritual brasileño.
Entre los eventos, el Tributo permanece como una galería en línea que se actualiza cada año como parte de la Campaña de los 16 Días de Activismo Contra la Violencia de Género (25 de noviembre al 10 de diciembre).
Contribuciones de todo el mundo
Desde 2012, a través de nuestro Tributo anual a las defensoras de derechos humanos que ya no están con nosotrxs, hemos presentado más de 400 feministas y defensorxs de 11 regiones y 80 países.
AWID quiere agradecer a las familias y organizaciones que compartieron sus historias personales y contribuyeron a este homenaje. Nos unimos a ellxs para continuar con el notable trabajo de estas mujeres y redoblar esfuerzos para asegurar que se logre justicia en los casos que permanecen en la impunidad.
Visite la exhibición en línea del Tributo a las Defensoras de Derechos Humanos
La violencia y las amenazas contra las defensoras de derechos humanos persisten
Además de rendir homenaje a estxs increíbles activistas, el Tributo arroja luz sobre la gravedad de la situación de las defensoras de derechos humanos que han sido asesinadas o están desaparecidas.
Un tercio de las personas presentadas en el Tributo fueron activistas asesinadxs o están desaparecidxs en circunstancias sospechosas. Fueron atacadxs específicamente por ser quiénes eran y por haber desafiado:
- El poder del Estado
- La heteronormatividad
- Los fundamentalismos
- Las corporaciones
- El patriarcado
- La delincuencia organizada
- La corrupción
- La militarización…
Mujeres como Agnes Torres, de México, fueron asesinadas debido a su identidad de género y orientación sexual; o Cheryl Ananayo, una activista ambientalista de Filipinas que fue asesinada mientras luchaba contra una compañía minera; o Ruqia Hassan, una periodista y bloguera independiente siria asesinada por sus críticas al Estado Islámico de Iraq y Levante (EIIL, ISIS en inglés). Y muchas otras.
Con el Tributo a las defensoras de derechos humanos lxs traemos a todxs a nuestra memoria colectiva y llevamos su legado de lucha como nuestra antorcha en los movimientos feministas y por los derechos de las mujeres. Reconocemos que la seguridad y el autocuidado deben ser una prioridad en todas nuestras agendas políticas. Y hacemos un llamamiento a los gobiernos y a los organismos internacionales para que aborden colectivamente la violencia contra lxs feministas y las defensoras de derechos humanos.
Creemos que este es un paso crítico para asegurar la sostenibilidad de nuestros movimientos por la igualdad de género, por los derechos de las mujeres y por justicia para todxs.
Visite la exhibición en línea del Tributo a las Defensoras de Derechos Humanos
Teresa Scalzo, Esq.
Snippet FEA Audio A Caring Economy (FR)
Écoutez cette histoire ici :
Esperanza Pérez Labrador
Vous demandez le nom du groupe, de l’organisation et/ou du mouvement qui répond aux questions de l’enquête, et ses coordonnées – pour quelle raison?
Nous demandons ces données pour faciliter l’examen des réponses, éviter les doublons et pouvoir vous contacter si votre groupe n’a pas pu terminer le questionnaire et/ou vous répondre si vous avez des doutes ou des questions. Des informations sur la manière dont nous utilisons les informations personnelles collectées lors de notre travail sont disponibles ici.
Lutter pour les droits humains et affronter l'injustice en Amérique latine et dans les Caraïbes
Cette année, nous rendons hommage à dix-neuf défenseuses des droits humains originaires de la région Amérique latine et Caraïbes. Parmi elles, seize ont été assassinées, dont six journalistes et quatre défenseuses des droits des personnes LGBT*QI. Nous vous invitons à vous joindre à nous pour commémorer la vie et le travail de ces femmes. Faites circuler les mèmes figurant ci-dessous auprès de vos collègues et amis ainsi que dans vos réseaux et twittez en utilisant les hashtags #WHRDTribute et #16Jours.
S'il vous plaît cliquez sur chaque image ci-dessous pour voir une version plus grande et pour télécharger comme un fichier












Abby Lippman
Abby était une féministe pionnière, militante des droits humains.
Ancienne épidémiologiste de l'Université McGill, Abby était réputée pour défendre les causes sociales et pour ses critiques perspicaces concernant les technologies de procréation humaine assistée et d'autres sujets médicaux. Plus précisément, elle a fait campagne contre ce qu'elle a appelé la « généticisation » des technologies de procréation, contre l'hormonothérapie substitutive et pour des recherches plus qualitatives et plus longues avant l'approbation de nouveaux vaccins comme celui contre le papillomavirus humain.
À la nouvelle de son décès, ses ami-e-s et collègues l'ont décrite avec affection comme une « ardente défenseure » de la santé des femmes.
Snippet FEA In numbers (EN)
IN NUMBERS
Josefina Reyes Salazar
When will survey results be available?
We will analyze the survey responses, derive insights and trends, and present the results during the 15th AWID International Forum in Bangkok, and online, in December 2024. Register to attend the Forum here!






