Amelia Rokotuivuna
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
Snippet - COP30 - Mutual Aid and Community Care - EN
AWID Member Exclusive: Mutual Aid and Community Care Crafting Workshop
AWID members will explore and critically evaluate the role that mutual aid can play in resourcing our movements, through collective collage making.
📅 Wednesday, November 12, 2025
📍 The People’s COP Space
#1 - Sexting like a feminist Tweets Snippet AR
مفضّلتي: لا مزاح في حضرة القوى العظمى
عزمي الوصول الى الذروة الجنسية، كفيلة بإيقاظ الأجداد من مثواهم الأخير وإعادتهم الى صفوف الثورة التقدميّة
Snippet Welcome Message_Fest (EN)
Welcome message
Hakima Abbas, AWID
"We're using the tools that we have to share our resistance, strategies and continue to build our power to take action and create new brave and just worlds."
Lieutenant Nigar
Festival Film Club: Leitis in Waiting & Latin/Central American Program
In this selection of films you will find the voices of filmmakers who are not content with simply recording the feminist realities that palpitate in every corner of this vast and diverse territory. These are works that from their very conceptualization are questioning for what, by whom, and how films and videos are made. They understand film to be an instrument of struggle, something more than images to be enjoyed on a screen. These are individual or collective filmmakers who see film and video making as an instrument to promote discussion, open a debate, and thus serve as a resource for popular and feminist pedagogies.
Consol Casals
Vale Lesley Hall
Florita Nang Flor Caya
AWID IN 2014: Strengthening Women’s Rights Organizing Around the World
Gloria Casarez
Ritu
Biography
Ritu is a feminist technologist who brings her experience in the non-profit sector, driven by a passion for utilizing innovative approaches to finding feminist technological solutions. Holding a Master's in Technology in Computer Applications from the Indian Institute of Technology, her role at AWID encompasses a diverse range of responsibilities. From overseeing digital security and server management to database administration, capacity building, technology evaluation, software implementation and cloud solutions, Ritu ensures that AWID's IT infrastructure is resilient and effective. Prior to joining AWID, she played a pivotal role in advancing technological initiatives in the Health Promotion and Environment sectors, fueled by her dedication to leveraging technology for social good.
Position
IT Manager
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Maria Auxiliadora Escalante Diaz
Joanne Kobuthi-Kuria
Biography
Joanne is an African feminist who is passionate about dismantling gender inequalities on the African continent. Joanne has worked with a number of global organizations, media and think tanks including Amnesty International, Wrthy, Local Development Research Institute, BBC, East African Community (EAC) among others.She serves on a couple of boards including Freely in hope-an NGO based in Kenya and Zambia that seeks to equip survivors and advocates to lead in ending sexual violence and Msingi Trust-a movement of activists that meet at the confluence of faith and human rights. She has a Masters in Business Administration, Masters of Public Policy and a Bachelor of Laws. She is a book junkie with a penchant for fiction.
Position
Manager, Membership and Constituency Engagement
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Yelena Bonner
Ekaete Judith Umoh
Biography
Ekaete Judith Umoh is an international disability rights advocate and inclusive development expert with astute analysis of issues regarding gender, disability and inclusive development. Her dream is to see increased visibility of women and girls with disabilities in the global feminist movement, as well as in all development efforts around the world.
Ekaete enjoys activism and politics, and went on to become the first elected female President of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD) in Nigeria, where she led Organizations of Persons with disabilities in the struggle to sign the Nigerian Disability Bill into Law in 2019, after over 17 years of consistent advocacy. Thereafter, she joined CBM Global as a pioneer Country Director and led her team for about 3 years, contributing towards ending the circle of poverty and disability in Nigeria. Aside from disability activism, Ekaete has served as consultant to several development agencies, providing technical assistance on disability inclusion in program and project design.
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Dora Alicia Recinos Sorto
Is AWID a feminist organization?
Maria Margarita Che Chub
2003: First High-level Dialogue is held
First High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development, 29-30 October 2003
One of the follow up mechanisms to the Monterrey conference are the UN General Assembly High-level Dialogues on Financing for Development held every two years. In total eight roundtable meetings took place following the Dialogue on various issues including agricultural subsidies, trade, debt relief and funding of the MDGs. All the discussions focused on dealing with the structural hindrances on these issues that disadvantaged ‘developing’ nations.
Other follow up mechanisms to Monterrey included:
- The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) special high-level meeting, held annually, with the leadership of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization and UNCTAD on the follow-up to the Monterrey Consensus. ECOSOC also devotes up to two days to deliberate the FfD agenda item during its substantive session.
- Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters, the specialized United Nations tax body, addresses the various tax policy issues identified in the Monterrey Consensus and provides a framework for dialogue with a view to enhancing and promoting international tax cooperation among national tax authorities.