Advancing Universal Rights and Justice
Uprooting Fascisms and Fundamentalisms
Across the globe, feminist, women’s rights and gender justice defenders are challenging the agendas of fascist and fundamentalist actors. These oppressive forces target women, persons who are non-conforming in their gender identity, expression and/or sexual orientation, and other oppressed communities.
Discriminatory ideologies are undermining and co-opting our human rights systems and standards, with the aim of making rights the preserve of only certain groups. In the face of this, the Advancing Universal Rights and Justice (AURJ) initiative promotes the universality of rights - the foundational principle that human rights belong to everyone, no matter who they are, without exception.
We create space for feminist, women’s rights and gender justice movements and allies to recognize, strategize and take collective action to counter the influence and impact of anti-rights actors. We also seek to advance women’s rights and feminist frameworks, norms and proposals, and to protect and promote the universality of rights.
Our actions
Through this initiative, we:
- Build knowledge: We support feminist, women’s rights and gender justice movements by disseminating and popularizing knowledge and key messages about anti-rights actors, their strategies, and impact in the international human rights systems through AWID’s leadership role in the collaborative platform, the Observatory on the Universality of Rights (OURs)*.
- Advance feminist agendas: We ally ourselves with partners in international human rights spaces including, the Human Rights Council, the Commission on Population and Development, the Commission on the Status of Women and the UN General Assembly.
- Create and amplify alternatives: We engage with our members to ensure that international commitments, resolutions and norms reflect and are fed back into organizing in other spaces locally, nationally and regionally.
- Mobilize solidarity action: We take action alongside women human rights defenders (WHRDs) including trans and intersex defenders and young feminists, working to challenge fundamentalisms and fascisms and call attention to situations of risk.
Related Content
CFA FAQ - Travelling to Bangkok - Thai
การเดินทางไปยังกรุงเทพมหานคร
ماذا عن العدالة المناخية، هل هذا حقًا هو الوقت المناسب للعديد من الرحلات الجوية الدولية؟
ونحن نسأل أنفسنا نفس السؤال، ونعتقد أنه لا توجد إجابات بسيطة. بالنسبة للعديد من المشاركين/ات، قد يكون منتدى جمعية حقوق المرأة في التنمية (AWID) أحد الرحلات الدولية القليلة التي يقومون بها في حياتهم/ن. علمتنا الجائحة الإمكانيات والقيود التي تفرضها المساحات الافتراضية لبناء الحركة: لا يوجد شيء أفضل من الاتصال الشخصي. تحتاج الحركات إلى التواصل عبر الحدود لبناء قوتنا الجماعية في مواجهة التهديدات التي نواجهها، ولا سيما أزمة المناخ. نعتقد أن منتدى حقوق المرأة في التنمية القادم يمكن أن يكون مساحة استراتيجية لعقد هذه المحادثات واستكشاف بدائل للسفر الدولي. ويشكل العنصر المختلط للمنتدى جزءًا مهمًا من هذا الاستكشاف.
Snippet - CSW68 - Feminist Community Evening - EN
🎤AWID's Feminist Community Evening
a gathering for feminist activists attending CSW68
(with special guests!)
📅Tuesday, March 12
🕒6-9.30pm EST
🏢 Blue Gallery, 222 E 46th St, New York
RSVP required
Snippet - WITM To Strengthen - EN

To strengthen our collective voice and power for more and better funding for feminist, women's rights, LBTQI+ and allied organizing globally
Annual Report 2010

Our 2010 Annual Report highlights the major accomplishments of each of our strategic initiatives during the year.
Along with activity highlights, we include a brief analysis of the impact of our initiatives as well as reflections from our members and partners that further illustrate the relevance of AWID’s work and its connection to broader women’s rights movements.
This interactive document is complete with links to our websites and recent publications with in-depth information on the issues we address in the report.
Why should I consider responding to the survey?
There are many reasons why your response to the WITM survey matters. The survey offers the opportunity to share your lived experience of mobilizing funding to support your organizing; claim your power as an expert on how money moves and who it reaches; and contribute to collective and consistent advocacy to funders moving more and better funding. Over the last two decades, AWID’s WITM research has proven to be a key resource for activists and funders. We wholeheartedly invite you to join us in its third iteration to highlight the actual state of resourcing, challenge false solutions, and point out how funding must change for movements to thrive and meet the complex challenges of our times.
Sara AbuGhazal
Sara AbuGhazal is a Palestinian feminist living in Beirut. She is a co-founder of Sawt al-Niswa, a collective that produces knowledge in Beirut. She is the co-director of The Knowledge Workshop, a feminist organization based in Beirut that works on feminist oral history and archiving. Sara is currently the Regional Coordinator of the Regional Coalition for Women Human Rights Defenders in the Middle East and North Africa.
Sara strives to help create spaces of feminist transformation and solidarity. Her work is mostly centered on building sustainable movements in the MENA region. She is invested in knowledge production, feminist transformation, and Palestine. She publishes regularly in sawtalniswa.org and her fiction also appears in Romman e-magazine.
Should I do any preparation to respond to the survey?
As the WITM survey is focused on resourcing realities for feminist organizations, most questions ask about your group’s funding between 2021–2023. You will need to have this information with you to fill out the survey (e.g., your annual budgets and key sources of funding).
Debbie Stothard
During her 38-year career, Debbie Stothard, has worked with diverse communities and activists to engage states, IGOs and other stakeholders throughout Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas on human rights and justice. Her work is focused on the thematic priorities of business and human rights, atrocity prevention, and women’s leadership. Accordingly, she has either facilitated or been a resource person at nearly 300 training events in the past 15 years. Most of these were grassroots-oriented workshops delivered in the field, focused on human rights advocacy, economic literacy and business and human rights, and transitional justice and atrocity prevention. Her work in transitional justice and atrocity prevention has mainly focused on Burma/Myanmar, however she has provided advice on responses to other country situations around the world.
During 1981 – 1996, Debbie worked as a crime reporter, student organizer, policy analyst, academic, government advisor and food caterer in Malaysia and Australia while volunteering for human rights causes. In 1996, she founded ALTSEAN-Burma which spearheaded a range of innovative and empowering human rights programs. This includes ALTSEAN’s ongoing intensive leadership program for diverse young women from Burma, which in the past 22 years, has helped strengthen and expand women’s leadership in conflict-affected zones. She served as a member of the Board of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) for 9 years as Deputy Secretary-General (2010-2013) and Secretary-General (2013 – 2019) during which she promoted the mission and profile of FIDH at approximately 100 meetings and conferences per year.
Snippet - Intro WITM - RU
Основываясь на 20-летней истории привлечения более объемного и качественного финансирования для достижения социальных изменений под руководством феминисток(-ов), AWID приглашает вас принять участие в новом опросе:
«Где же деньги для феминистских объединений?»
(далее – «Где деньги?»)
Пожалуйста выберите язык, на котором вы хотите отвечать на вопросы в правом верхнем углу страницыWhat is AWID?
The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) is an international feminist membership organization.
We work to achieve gender justice and women’s human rights by strengthening the collective voice, impact and influence of global women’s rights advocates, organizations and movements.
Snippet - WITM to claim - PT

Para reivindicar o seu poder como especialista sobre o estado dos recursos de movimentos feministas;
I have written a paper about an issue related to Women’s Rights and Development. How can I share it with AWID’s members?
Snippet - WITM Survey will remain open - PT
A pesquisa está disponível até 31 de julho de 2024
April 2015: Interactive hearings with the business sector and civil society take place
Informal interactive hearings with the business sector and civil society took place on 8 and 9 April 2015 respectively at UN headquarters in New York.
- Women’s rights organizations and other CSOs raised concern about the limited participation of Member States during the CSO hearings and thus the Addis Ababa CSO Coordinating Group (ACG) issued a letter to the Co-facilitators
- The second drafting session of the Addis Ababa outcome document was held from 13 – 17 April 2015 at the UN Headquarters. The basis of discussion was the Zero Draft.
- The WWG on FfD presented recommendations on the FfD themes to Member States in different official sessions and side events. Among the key areas of concern for women was the fact that the zero draft did not give sufficient emphasis to the enormous, negative impacts of financial crises caused by instability in international financial systems on development, equality and human rights, particularly women’s human rights.
Snippet - WITM Acknowledgements - AR
شكر
ان جمعية حقوق المرأة في التنمية ممتنة للعديد من الأشخاص الذين/ اللواتي ساعدت أفكارهم/ن، تحليلاتهم/ن ومساهماتهم/ن على تصميم استطلاع "أين المال" على مدار السنوات.
نشكر جزيل الشكر أعضاء/ عضوات AWID والنشطاء/ الناشطات الذين/ اللواتي شاركوا/ن في استشارات استطلاع "أين المال؟" وقاموا/ن بتجربة الاستطلاع وأعطونا بسخاء من وقتهم/ن وتحليلاتهم/ن وقلوبهم/ن.
نقدر بشكل عميق الحركات النسوية، الحلفاء/ الحليفات والصناديق النسوية بمانقدر بشكل عميق الحركات النسوية، الحلفاء/ الحليفات والصناديق النسوية وهنا بعض منها وليس جميعها: Black Feminist Fund, Pacific Feminist Fund, ASTREA, FRIDA Young Feminist Fund, Purposeful, Kosovo Women's Network, Human Rights Funders Network, CEECCNA Feminist Fund e PROSPERA, على بحثكم/ن الرائع عن وضع التمويل، تحليلكم/ن الدقيق والمناصرة المستمرة لتمويل وقوة أكبر وأفضل للحركات النسوية وتنظيمات العدالة الجندرية في جميع السياقات.
انضموا/من للمجتمع العالمي من النسويات/ين اللواتي/ اللذين يرفعن/وا صوتهم/ن ويتحدثن/وا عن التمويل، ويطالبن/وا بتمويل وبقوة أكبر وأفضل للنسويات/ين في كل مكان
How can I fund my participation in the AWID Forum? Many activists will not be able to afford the cost of the Forum – is AWID doing anything to provide assistance?
Please visit the "Funding ideas" page to get some ideas and inspiration for how you can fund your participation at the next Forum, including the limited support AWID will be able to provide.
Я являюсь индивидуальной(-ым) активисткой(-том), не сотрудничающей(-им) в данный момент ни с какой группой, организацией и/или движением – могу ли я принять участие в опросе?
Нет, мы очень ценим вашу работу, но в данный момент мы не собираем информацию об отдельных активистках(-тах).