Awadia Ajabna
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
حالة التمويل للحركات النسوية ووقائعها تتغير بسرعة. هل هذا الاستطلاع لمرة واحدة؟
كلا. يبني هذا الاستطلاع على المعلومات التي حشدتها جمعية حقوق المرأة في التنمية حول كيفية الحصول على تمويل أكبر وأفضل للحركات النسوية وحركات التغيير الاجتماعي وهذه الدورة الثالثة لاستطلاع "أين التمويل للتنظيمات النسوية". نهدف للقيام بالاستطلاع مرة كل ثلاثة أعوام.
#8 - Sexting like a feminist Tweets Snippet EN
When you’ve just met and need a good opening line.
Snippet - WITM Who should - PT
Quem deve realizar este inquérito?
O inquérito destina-se a grupos, organizações e movimentos que trabalham especificamente ou principalmente pelos direitos das mulheres, pessoas LBTQI+ e pela justiça de género, em todos os contextos, em todos os níveis e em todas as regiões. Se este for um dos pilares principais do seu grupo, da sua comunidade, da sua rede ou de qualquer outro tipo de organização, quer esteja registada ou não, seja nova ou já estabelecida, convidamo-lo a participar neste inquérito.
* De momento, não solicitamos respostas de indivídues ou de fundos feministas e de mulheres.
التعبير عن الرغبة وغيرها من الممارسات السياسيّة الأيديولوجيّة المجسَّدة | Title Snippet AR
التعبير عن الرغبة وغيرها من الممارسات السياسيّة الأيديولوجيّة المجسَّدة
مع منال التميمي وليديوي راسيكوالا ولويز ماليرب حقوق ملكيّة المدوّنة الصوتية: زهور محمود
Snippet - CSW69 - Feminist Solidarity Space - EN
Feminist Solidarity Space
✉️ By registration for larger groups. Drop-ins for smaller groups. Register here
📅 Tuesday, March 11, 2025
🕒 12.00-2.00pm and 4.00-6.00pm EST
🏢 Chef's Kitchen Loft with Terrace, 216 East 45th St 13th Floor New York
Organizer: AWID
Disintegration | Title Snippet EN
Disintegration
Adapted from a tale by Ester Lopes
Photos by Mariam Mekiwi
Costume design and modeling by El Nemrah
Snippet - CSW69 - Challenging the Status Quo - EN
Challenging the Status Quo
A Critical Dialogue on Gender Equality and Human Rights
✉️ Online registration available. Register here
📅 Friday, March 21, 2025
🕒 2.30pm EST
🏢 Church Center of the United Nations, 11th Floor. 777 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017
🎙️AWID speaker: Anissa Daboussi, Manager, Advancing Universal Rights and Justice team
Organizer: IWRAW AP, OURs, AWID, SRI
Moving Conversation | Small Snippet EN
Moving Conversation
"We were finally experiencing that other form of love – that pleasure of being together and listening to each other. For me, these kinds of chats are among the expressions of love that life had only recently allowed me to enjoy..."
Snippet - WCFM type of funding- EN
Type of funding:
Be it core funding, programmes & projects or rapid response/ emergency grants.
Communicating Desire | Small Snippet AR
التعبير عن الرغبة وغ
وغيرها من الممارسات السياسيّة الأيديولوجيّة المجسَّدة
المضيفة: نحن نميل إلى الاعتقاد أنّ التعبير عن الرغبة يقتصر على العلاقة الحميمة داخل غرفة النوم وعلى علاقاتنا الشخصيّة. ولكن هل يمكننا أيضًا اعتبار هذا النوع من التعبير كبُنية، أو ممارسة أيديولوجيّة توجّه عملنا، وما نحن عليه، وكيف سنكون في هذا العالم؟
Snippet WITM survey result - EN
DATA SNAPSHOTS
Where is the money for feminist organizing?
1,174 feminist, women's rights & LGBTQI+ organizations
from 129 countries participated in AWID's 2024 survey.
The data reveals the state of resourcing for feminist movements between 2021-2023, amid current major defunding trends in aid and philanthropy.
Our collective power knows no boundaries, but our bank accounts do.
#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 - COP30 - The People's Summit
The People's Summit
The climate summit by movements, for movements.
📅 November 12 - November 16, 2025
📍 Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém
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."
Snippet - COP30 - Ecozine card - EN
📰 Feminist Transnational Solidarity: an Antidote to Ecocide
This collaborative zine originated from a series of sharing circles that brought together feminists from around the world throughout 2022. The purpose was to exchange ideas and mutually learn how communities are responding to the climate crisis in various local contexts.
Snippet 8 - What's happening at HRC61 Intro
- Independent Expert on foreign debt
Report on International assistance and cooperation - Special Rapporteur on food
Report on land and the right to food - Special Rapporteur on persons with disabilities
Report on equal participation of persons with disabilities in political life - Special Rapporteur on privacy
International collection of personal data
AWID Forum: Co-creating Feminist Futures
In September 2016, the 13th AWID international Forum brought together in Brazil over 1800 feminists and women’s rights advocates in a spirit of resistance and resilience.
This section highlights the gains, learnings and resources that came out of our rich conversations. We invite you to explore, share and comment!
What has happened since 2016?
One of the key takeaways from the 2016 Forum was the need to broaden and deepen our cross-movement work to address rising fascisms, fundamentalisms, corporate greed and climate change.
With this in mind, we have been working with multiple allies to grow these seeds of resistance:
- Our Seed Initiatives, has helped 20 ideas that emerged at the Forum to grow into concrete actions
- The video “Defending people and planet” and guide “Weaving resistance through action” put courageous WHRDs in the spotlight and present concrete strategies they use to confront corporate power.
- With our animations about the State of Our Feminist Movements and Climate and Environmental Justice, movements now have creative tools to support their advocacy work.
- The compiling artistic expressions of our #MovementsMatter series continues to inspire stronger and more creative organizing around the world.
- Movements can also benefit from new methodologies on Visioning Feminist Futures (Coming up soon!)
And through our next strategic plan and Forum process, we are committed to keep developing ideas and deepen the learnings ignited at the 2016 Forum.
What happens now?
The world is a much different place than it was a year ago, and it will continue to change.
The next AWID Forum will take place in the Asia Pacific region (exact location and dates to be announced in 2018).
We look forward to you joining us!
The next AWID Forum will take place in the Asia Pacific region (exact location and dates to be announced in 2018).
We look forward to you joining us!
About the AWID Forum
AWID Forums started in 1983, in Washington DC. Since then, the event has grown to become many things to many peoples: an iterative process of sharpening our analyses, vision and actions; a watershed moment that reinvigorates participants’ feminisms and energizes their organizing; and a political home for women human rights defenders to find sanctuary and solidarity.
Related Content
Annual Report 2009
Our 2009 Annual Report includes highlights of another busy year of action and reflection at AWID as we implement our commitment to boldly, creatively and effectively contribute to the advancement of women’s rights and gender equality worldwide.
In the report you can find out about our programmatic achievements, membership, finances, what to watch out for in 2010, as well as information about our Board and Staff.
Sakine Cansiz
