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Special Focus

AWID is an international, feminist, membership organisation committed to achieving gender equality, sustainable development and women’s human rights

Women Human Rights Defenders

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WHRDs are self-identified women and lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LBTQI) people and others who defend rights and are subject to gender-specific risks and threats due to their human rights work and/or as a direct consequence of their gender identity or sexual orientation.

WHRDs are subject to systematic violence and discrimination due to their identities and unyielding struggles for rights, equality and justice.

The WHRD Program collaborates with international and regional partners as well as the AWID membership to raise awareness about these risks and threats, advocate for feminist and holistic measures of protection and safety, and actively promote a culture of self-care and collective well being in our movements.

Risks and threats targeting WHRDs  

WHRDs are exposed to the same types of risks that all other defenders who defend human rights, communities, and the environment face. However, they are also exposed to gender-based violence and gender-specific risks because they challenge existing gender norms within their communities and societies.

By defending rights, WHRDs are at risk of:

  • Physical assault and death
  • Intimidation and harassment, including in online spaces
  • Judicial harassment and criminalization
  • Burnout

A collaborative, holistic approach to safety

We work collaboratively with international and regional networks and our membership

  • to raise awareness about human rights abuses and violations against WHRDs and the systemic violence and discrimination they experience
  • to strengthen protection mechanisms and ensure more effective and timely responses to WHRDs at risk

We work to promote a holistic approach to protection which includes:

  • emphasizing the importance of self-care and collective well being, and recognizing that what care and wellbeing mean may differ across cultures
  • documenting the violations targeting WHRDs using a feminist intersectional perspective;
  • promoting the social recognition and celebration of the work and resilience of WHRDs ; and
  • building civic spaces that are conducive to dismantling structural inequalities without restrictions or obstacles

Our Actions

We aim to contribute to a safer world for WHRDs, their families and communities. We believe that action for rights and justice should not put WHRDs at risk; it should be appreciated and celebrated.

  • Promoting collaboration and coordination among human rights and women’s rights organizations at the international level to  strengthen  responses concerning safety and wellbeing of WHRDs.

  • Supporting regional networks of WHRDs and their organizations, such as the Mesoamerican Initiative for WHRDs and the WHRD Middle East and North Africa  Coalition, in promoting and strengthening collective action for protection - emphasizing the establishment of solidarity and protection networks, the promotion of self-care, and advocacy and mobilization for the safety of WHRDs;

  • Increasing the visibility and recognition of  WHRDs and their struggles, as well as the risks that they encounter by documenting the attacks that they face, and researching, producing, and disseminating information on their struggles, strategies, and challenges:

  • Mobilizing urgent responses of international solidarity for WHRDs at risk through our international and regional networks, and our active membership.

Related Content

Type

Building Feminist Economies

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Building Feminist Economies is about creating a world with clean air to breath and water to drink, with meaningful labour and care for ourselves and our communities, where we can all enjoy our economic, sexual and political autonomy.

In the world we live in today, the economy continues to rely on women’s unpaid and undervalued care work for the profit of others. The pursuit of “growth” only expands extractivism - a model of development based on massive extraction and exploitation of natural resources that keeps destroying people and planet while concentrating wealth in the hands of global elites. Meanwhile, access to healthcare, education, a decent wage and social security is becoming a privilege to few. This economic model sits upon white supremacy, colonialism and patriarchy.

Adopting solely a “women’s economic empowerment approach” is merely to integrate women deeper into this system. It may be a temporary means of survival. We need to plant the seeds to make another world possible while we tear down the walls of the existing one.

We believe in the ability of feminist movements to work for change with broad alliances across social movements. By amplifying feminist proposals and visions, we aim to build new paradigms of just economies.

Our approach must be interconnected and intersectional, because sexual and bodily autonomy will not be possible until each and every one of us enjoys economic rights and independence. We aim to work with those who resist and counter the global rise of the conservative right and religious fundamentalisms as no just economy is possible until we shake the foundations of the current system.

Our Actions

Our work challenges the system from within and exposes its fundamental injustices:

  • Advance feminist agendas: We counter corporate power and impunity for human rights abuses by working with allies to ensure that we put forward feminist, women’s rights and gender justice perspectives in policy spaces. For example, learn more about our work on the future international legally binding instrument on “transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights” at the United Nations Human Rights Council.

  • Mobilize solidarity actions: We work to strengthen the links between feminist and tax justice movements, including reclaiming the public resources lost through illicit financial flows (IFFs) to ensure social and gender justice.

  • Build knowledge: We provide women human rights defenders (WHRDs) with strategic information vital to challenge corporate power and extractivism. We will contribute to build the knowledge about local and global financing and investment mechanisms fuelling extractivism.

  • Create and amplify alternatives: We engage and mobilize our members and movements in visioning feminist economies and sharing feminist knowledges, practices and agendas for economic justice.

“The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling – their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability. Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing”.

Arundhati Roy, War Talk

Related Content

Type

Magaly Quintana

Read in: English French Spanish
Category
Civil & Political Rights
Region
Latin America
Date of birth
Date of death / disappearance
Cause of death / disappearance

Natural

Magaly Quintana was known by many in Nicaragua as ‘La Maga’ (meaning wizard). She was a feminist historian, activist, and an unyielding defender of women’s rights demanding justice for the victims of femicide.

Magaly was committed to documenting and building statistics on women and girls who were killed as a result of sexual violence in the country. 

“She rebuilt the life of each one, of their families, to show those lives that had been torn away.” - Dora María Téllez

Magaly also criticized the government for reforming Law 779 addressing violence against women. A product of the hard work of Nicaraguan women’s movements, this law included important provisions to criminalize femicide before its reform. She argued that legislative reforms weakened the law and limited the definition of femicides to homicides, as a result invisibilizing violent crimes against women.

Magaly’s feminist organizing began in the early 1980s. She was the director of Catholic Women for the Right to Choose, advocating for the right to therapeutic abortion after it was banned in 2006. In 2018, she supported the protests against Daniel Ortega’s government.

Magaly was born in May 1952 and passed away in May 2019.

“See you later, my dearest Magaly Quintana. Thanks so much, thanks for your legacy. We’ll see you again, as strong and powerful as ever.”- Erika Guevara Rosas (American Director of Amnesty International)

CFA 2023 - Suggested Activities Format - EN

Suggested Activity Formats

 

Panel: In Panel discussions, explore an issue or challenge from different perspectives, or share a learning or experience, followed by audience questions if time allows.

Talk Show: Have a more spontaneous conversation in Talk-Show style. Talk Shows can be a conversation among several people, facilitated by a talk-show host. Audience questions can determine the conversation’s direction.

Discussion: These can take the form of world cafes, fishbowls, and other methodologies that facilitate participants’ active involvement in conversations. Highly participatory.

Workshop: Interactive sessions that invite participants to build new skills in any and all areas of life and activism.

Strategy Session: This is an invitation to think through an issue or strategy, in depth, with others. A space to learn from each other: what works, what doesn’t, and how do we develop new and collective strategies to create the worlds we dream of.

Sharing Circle (also known as “Birds of a Feather”): Ideal for small groups, in a more intimate setting, to hear from each other, spark discussion and carefully address topics that may be specific, sensitive and complex.

Arts – Participatory Workshop: Participatory activities involving arts and creative expression. Whether through visual art, theater, film, mural, dance, music, collective craft or artmaking, etc., we welcome all ideas celebrating feminist art and creativity as forms of social change, healing, expression and transformation.

Arts – Performances, Installations and Exhibitions: We welcome submissions that offer Forum participants new experiences and perspectives, expand our horizons, and challenge and inspire us to think, feel and organize in new ways.

Healing: Diverse activities tailored both for groups and individuals, from learning relaxation techniques to discussing burnout prevention, from trauma-informed practices of care for our body, mind and soul to healing rifts within our movements.

#10 - Sexting like a feminist Tweets Snippet EN

I love me some poetry…

Roses are red, violets are blue, the revolution is coming and so are you

Clone of Clone of Snippet - CSW68 Intro - FR

Récuperer Notre Pouvoir Féministe

Cette année, aux côtés de militant.e.s féministes du monde entier, nous serons à la CSW68 à New York. Nous serons là pour contester les discours capitalistes et néolibéraux et les fausses solutions autour de la pauvreté, du développement et de la finance. À travers des événements en présentiel, des lives sur nos réseaux sociaux, un stand d'exposition et bien plus encore, nous visons à nous rassembler, amplifier et soutenir les voix et la participation de nos membres et allié.e.s.

Apprenez-en davantage sur notre programme cette année ci-dessous.

Janet Benshoof

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Category
Derechos civiles y políticos
Region
Norte América
Date of birth
Date of death / disappearance
Cause of death / disappearance

Enfermedad

Janet Benshoof fue una abogada de derechos humanos de los Estados Unidos, y defensora de la igualdad de las mujeres y de los derechos sexuales y reproductivos.

Hizo campaña para ampliar el acceso a los anticonceptivos y al aborto en todo el mundo, y luchó contra las sentencias antiaborto y en el territorio estadounidense de Guam. Fue arrestada en 1990 por oponerse a la ley de aborto más restrictiva de su país. Sin embargo, obtuvo una medida cautelar en el tribunal local de Guam que bloqueó la ley y, finalmente, ganó en el Tribunal de Apelaciones del Noveno Circuito, que llevó a la anulación de la ley para siempre.

"Las mujeres de Guam están en una situación muy trágica. No tengo intención de callarme al respecto." - Janet Benshoof para la revista People.

Janet sentó precedentes jurídicos históricos, entre ellos, la aprobación de la anticoncepción de emergencia por parte de la Administración de Alimentos y Medicamentos de los Estados Unidos, así como la aplicación del derecho internacional para garantizar los derechos de las víctimas de violación en el Tribunal Superior de Iraq, durante el procesamiento de los crímenes de guerra de la época de Saddam.

Janet fue Presidenta y fundadora del Centro de Justicia Global, y fundadora también del Centro de Derechos Reproductivos, la primera organización internacional de derechos humanos del mundo centrada en la elección y la equidad reproductiva. Durante 15 años se desempeñó como directora del Proyecto de Derechos Reproductivos de la Unión Americana de Libertades Civiles, donde encabezó litigios que dieron forma a las leyes constitucionales de los Estados Unidos sobre igualdad de género, libertad de expresión y derechos reproductivos. 

"Janet era conocida por su mente jurídica brillante, su agudo sentido del humor y su coraje ante la injusticia". - Anthony D. Romero

Nombrada una de las "100 Abogadas más influyentes de América" por el National Law Journal, Janet recibió numerosos premios y honores.

Nació en mayo de 1947 y falleció en diciembre de 2017. 

CFA 2023 - Tiytle Hybrid like never before: in person - EN

Hybrid like never before

For the first time, the AWID Forum offers three modes of participation

#6 - Sexting like a feminist Tweets Snippet ES

¡Está siempre dispuestx a explorar nuevas experiencias! 

Image of a tweet with the photo of American tv Host Steve Harvey. Text says - Me: Sir, have you tried pegging? Him: No, I haven't. Me: Think about it, cuz I would love to screw you the way the workplaces screw employees out of a livable wage.

Yo: Señor, ¿probó por el culo? 
Él: No, no probé.
Yo: Piénselo, porque me gustaría cogérmelo / joderlo tal como a lxs trabajadorxs nos cogen / joden en los trabajos cuando lo que nos pagan no alcanza para vivir.

Snippet 8 - What's happening at HRC61 Intro

Juli Dugdale

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Category
Droits économiques, sociaux et culturels
Region
Pacifique
Date of death / disappearance
Cause of death / disappearance

Naturelle

Juli Dugdale était une féministe australienne pratiquant un leadership intergénérationnel ancré dans les principes du féminisme, de l’inclusion et de l’égalité. Elle était une leader, une pair et une encadrante pour de nombreuses femmes, et particulièrement des jeunes femmes du monde entier.

Juli a été une membre dévouée de l’équipe de l’Association des jeunes femmes chrétiennes (YWCA), bénévole et fervente défenseure du leadership des jeunes femmes pendant plus de 30 ans.

Elle assurait un lien très fort entre le mouvement australien du YWCA et le bureau international. Sa confiance dans les capacités de leadership des jeunes femmes a entre autres donné lieu à un partenariat pluriannuel avec le ministère australien des Affaires étrangères et du Commerce, de même qu’à la rédaction du manuel Rise Up, un guide mondial pour le leadership transformationnel des jeunes femmes, lancé en 2018.

Juli est décédée à Genève, en Suisse, le 12 août 2019.

Hommages :

« Pour celles et ceux qui ont travaillé avec Juli, ce fut un privilège. Pour celles et ceux qui n’ont pas travaillé avec elle, sachez que son héritage perdure dans le travail que nous faisons tous les jours, et dans la mission du mouvement des YWCA. » – YWCA Australie

« Juli Dugdale occupera toujours une place privilégiée dans le cœur de nombreuses personnes du mouvement du YWCA, particulièrement ici en Aotearoa et dans le Pacifique. Juli entretenait une relation particulière avec le Pacifique, et soutenait de manière remarquable les jeunes femmes de la région. De nature humble, aimable, aimante, affectueuse, dévouée et passionnée, elle avait un cœur généreux. Elle incarnait la vision du « leadership transformationnel » du YWCA avec une vision et une clairvoyance extraordinaires, et a de plus aidé à renforcer les capacités de générations de jeunes femmes leaders dans le monde. » – YWCA Nouvelle-Zélande

CFA 2023 - Forum Theme - ar

النهوض معًا: تواصل، شفاء، ازدهار

إن موضوع المنتدى – “النهوض معًا” – هو دعوة للتفاعل مع أنفسنا بالكامل، والتواصل مع بعضنا البعض بتركيز واهتمام وبشجاعة، حتى نتمكن من الشعور بنبض الحركات العالمية والنهوض معًا لمواجهة تحديات هذه الأوقات.

تمر الحركات النسوية وحقوق المرأة والعدالة الجندرية ومجتمع الميم عين والحركات الحليفة في جميع أنحاء العالم بمرحلة حرجة، وتواجه ردة فعل قوية على الحقوق والحريات المكتسبة سابقًا. لقد جلبت السنوات الأخيرة صعوداً سريعاً للأنظمة الاستبدادية، والقمع العنيف للمجتمع المدني، وتجريم النساء والمدافعين عن حقوق الإنسان من مختلف الأنواع الاجتماعية، وتصاعد الحروب والصراعات في أجزاء كثيرة من عالمنا، واستمرار الظلم الاقتصادي، والمشاكل الصحية والأزمات البيئية والمناخية المتقاطعة.

إن حركاتنا تترنح، وفي الوقت نفسه، تسعى إلى بناء والحفاظ على القوة والثبات اللازمين للعمل الذي ينتظرنا. لا يمكننا القيام بهذا العمل بمفردنا، في صوامعنا. يعد الاتصال والشفاء ضروريين لتحويل اختلالات القوة المستمرة والتصدعات داخل حركاتنا. ويجب علينا أن نعمل ونضع الاستراتيجيات بطرق مترابطة، حتى نتمكن من تحقيق النجاح معًا. يعزز منتدى جمعية حقوق المرأة في التنمية هذا العنصر الحيوي المتمثل في الترابط في البقاء أقوياء/ قويات وتأثير النمو والتحول للتنظيم النسوي على مستوى العالم.

Communiquer le désir et autres pratiques politiques incarnées | Title Snippet FR

Communiquer le désir et autres pratiques politiques incarnées

avec Manal Tamimi, Lindiwe Rasekoala et Louise Malherbe
Crédit podcast : Zuhour Mahmoud

Snippet - WD2026 - Membership Booth_EN

AWID Membership Booth: Resist, Rest, Reimagine

📅 Throughout | April 27 - 30
🏢 Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Booth B17

Lina Ben Mhenni

Read in: English French Spanish
Category
Civil & Political Rights
Region
Africa
North Africa
Date of birth
Date of death / disappearance
Cause of death / disappearance

Disease

“I want to tell all Tunisians: We have to unite to say no to censorship and opinion trials.” - Lina Ben Mhenni (2013 interview)

Lina Ben Mhenni was a Tunisian blogger, activist and linguistics lecturer. She was vocal against internet censorship, defended the freedom of expression and was an advocate for women’s and human rights. Lina also fought for the release of students arrested under former President Zine El Abidine. 

“It’s true that information and the internet are important but being on the ground is crucial for a revolution. Some people here in Tunisia think that change can occur just by clicking like on the internet. I believe you have to be active on the ground. And of course, join actions on the field with the action on the web.” - Lina Ben Mhenni (Interview in POCIT)

In 2010, she co-organized a protest that challenged the government suppression of media and internet censorship. Lina was widely known for her blog “A Tunisian Girl” and recognized for her work during the Tunisian revolution in 2011. In her blog, she reported on the news from the uprising, shared images documenting protests and was among the few voices who spoke about the killings and crackdown on protesters in Sidi Bouzid. Lina blogged using her real name instead of a pseudonym to protect her identity, one of only a few bloggers to do so. 

“Our freedom of expression is in real danger. I am afraid that we are losing the unique fruits of the revolution: the disappearance of fear and our freedom of speech. We have to keep on fighting to protect and preserve this right.” — Lina Ben Mhenni (2013 interview)

Lina was only 36 years old when she passed away on 27 January 2020, as a result of complications from an autoimmune disease. 


"Freedom, better education and health - that's all we wanted. When we failed, she pushed us." Lina’s school teacher Hala.

 

Informe Anual 2012

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Nuestro informe anual 2012 destaca los momentos clave de nuestro trabajo durante el año para contribuir al avance de los derechos de las mujeres y la igualdad de género de manera audaz, creativa y efectiva en todo el mundo. 

¡Disfruta mirando videos, fotografías y relatos sobre nuestras contribuciones!
 
Visite el sitio web de nuestro Informe Anual 2012  

 

Forum 2024 - FAQ - General Information

General Information

Communicating Desire | Small Snippet EN

Communicating Desire

and Other Embodied Political Praxes

We tend to think about communicating desire as something that is limited to the private intimacy of the bedroom and our personal relationships. But can we also think of this kind of communication as a structure, a praxis that informs our work, and how we are, how we do in the world?

Read more