Jean-Marc Ferré | Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
A general view of participants at the 16th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.

Special Focus

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

Human Rights Council (HRC)

The Human Rights Council (HRC) is the key intergovernmental body within the United Nations system responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe. It holds three regular sessions a year: in March, June and September. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is the secretariat for the HRC.

The HRC works by:

  • Debating and passing resolutions on global human rights issues and human rights situations in particular countries

  • Examining complaints from victims of human rights violations or activist organizations on behalf of victims of human rights violations

  • Appointing independent experts (known as “Special Procedures”) to review human rights violations in specific countries and examine and further global human rights issues

  • Engaging in discussions with experts and governments on human rights issues

  • Assessing the human rights records of all UN Member States every four and a half years through the Universal Periodic Review

Learn more about the HRC


AWID works with feminist, progressive and human rights partners to share key knowledge, convene civil society dialogues and events, and influence negotiations and outcomes of the session.

With our partners, our work will:

◾️ Monitor, track and analyze anti-rights actors, discourses and strategies and their impact on resolutions

◾️ Raise awareness of the findings of the 2017 and 2021 OURs Trends Reports.

◾️Support the work of feminist UN experts in the face of backlash and pressure

◾️Advocate for state accountability
 
◾️ Work with feminist movements and civil society organizations to advance rights related to gender and sexuality.
 

Related Content

Snippet - CSW68 - Follow Socials - FR

Suivez-nous!

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.

Ensemble, nous allons Récuperer Notre Pouvoir Féministe et centrer les alternatives et visions féministes autour d'économies basées sur les soins des personnes et de la planète. 

Suivez-nous sur les réseaux sociaux pour plus de détails sur la façon de participer ! Participez aux conversations en utilisant les hashtags #AWIDatCSW68 et #RécupererNotrePouvoirFéministe

Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn | X (Twitter)

Snippet FEA Metzineres activists (FR)

A crowd of people sitting in front of a banner which says ‘support, don't punish”;
Photo of two women talking to each other, one of them is holding a handheld fan.
Crowd of people with a black banner that says Metzineres in yellow.
Photo of four people sitting on the ground and talking
Photo people with plants around them, most of them sitting and clapping to a person who is walking in the middle

 

Des militants de Metzineres en action

Snippet - WITM To share - FR

Pour nous faire part de l’expérience vécue du financement de votre organisation.

Snippet FEA Get Involved 2 (EN)

While in Sao Paulo, Brazil, you can visit the Ocupação 9 de Julho and have a collaborative meal. You can buy their products in their online store from abroad.

Visit the Association of Afro-Descendant Women of the Northern Cauca’s online store where you can find beautiful handcrafted products.

There are several ways to support Metzineres: you can make a financial donation, donate materials and services, or propose a training course, workshop, or activity (for more information, see here).

L’AWID EN 2014 : Renforcer les processus d’organisation en faveur des droits des femmes dans le monde entier

Snippet - WITM Why now_col 1 - ES

¿Por qué ahora?

A monochromatic orange illustration of a woman with curly hair with her hand on her chin. She seems to inquisitive or posing a question.

Los movimientos feministas, por los derechos de las mujeres, la justicia de género, las personas LBTQI+ y demás movimientos aliados de todo el mundo atraviesan un momento crítico en el que se enfrentan a una poderosa reacción contra los derechos y libertades ya conquistados.

Los últimos años han traído el rápido auge del autoritarismo, la represión violenta de la sociedad civil y la criminalización de lxs defensores de los derechos humanos de las mujeres y las personas de género diverso, la escalada de la guerra y el conflicto en muchas partes del mundo, la perpetuación continua de las injusticias económicas y la intersección de crisis sanitarias, ecológicas y climáticas.

Snippet FEA EoS The Ivy (EN)

An illustration of a vine with vine like leaves in neon with purple background

The Ivy
Community and neighborhood

Our Companion Sites

The Young Feminist Wire

An online community for and by young feminists working on women’s human rights, gender equality and social justice around the world.

Visit the site

The Observatory on the Universality of Rights (OURs)

The platform is the go-to place for information and resources on safeguarding the universality of rights in international and regional human rights spaces.

Visit the site

The Young Feminist Fund-FRIDA

Provides funding for young feminist-led initiatives. It aims to strengthen the capacity of young feminist organizations to leverage resources for their work and to increase donors’ and allies’ commitments to resourcing young feminist activism.

Visit the site

Online Directory of Urgent Responses for WHRDs

A go-to site to learn about the urgent responses undertaken to protect women human rights defenders and to find tools and resources to support the work and wellness of WHRDs.

Visit the site

IM-Defensoras (Mesoamerican Initiative for Women Human Rights Defenders)

A regional initiative created to prevent, respond, document and make public all cases of violence against women human rights defenders in the Mesoamerican region.

Visit the site

The WHRD International Coalition

The WHRD IC is a resource and advocacy network for the protection and support of women human rights defenders worldwide.

Visit the site

Post-2015 Women´s Coalition

A Coalition of feminist, women´s rights, women´s development, grassroots and social justice organisations working to challenge and reframe teh global development agenda. 

Visit the site

Women´s Major Group on Development

The role of the Women’s Major Group is to assure effective public participation of women’s non-governmental groups in the UN policy processes on Sustainable Development, Post2015 and Environmental matters. 

Visit the site

Women Working Group on Financing for Development

An alliance of women’s organizations and networks to advocate for the advancement of gender equality, women’s empowerment and human rights in the Financing for Development (FfD) related UN processes.

Visit the site

2019: Feminist Realities in a changing world

AWID began preparing this annual report just as the global pandemic began to unravel how we gather, organize and live our lives. It is impossible to review what we have done without COVID-19 tinting our assessment. 

Download the full 2019 Annual review


frmagazine cover eng

 

 

Co-Creating Feminist Realities is no longer just an AWID Forum theme - it is a rallying cry in response to a pandemic that has laid bare the failures of social, political and economic systems.

It is an urgently needed affirmation that there are other, more just ways of organizing our lives. During 2019 hundreds of groups shared their experiences and proposals for feminist realities with us, ranging from radical networks of community support in Latin America facilitating self-managed abortion, to practices of community-centered economies in Indonesia and community-centered food systems in India and the US, to a  re-imagination and new practice of harm-free rites of passage in Sierra Leone. These are the experiences that will chart a path forward for a “new normal”. 
Yet long histories of oppression and violence can make it difficult to imagine the possible. A key part of our work in 2019 was to spark these explorations through a toolkit AWID launched to support groups interested in unearthing the stories and aspirations that are the building blocks of feminist propositions.

While we focus on our proposals for a different world, we recognize the challenging context around us.

Through the Observatory on the Universality of Rights, Feminists for a Binding Treaty, Count Me In! and other alliances, AWID has continued to push back against unfettered corporate power and fascist and fundamentalist agendas that undermine women’s rights and gender justice. With dim prospects for transformative change through multilateral processes  and limited responsiveness from most states, we are redoubling our efforts  to ensure that feminist movements, in all their diversity, are resourced in ways that match the critical roles they play - supporting their communities, demanding rights and responding to crises. In 2019 we introduced feminist principles and approaches to ground-breaking funds like the Spotlight Initiative and the Equality Fund, and succeeded in leveraging resources through feminist reality seed grant funding from feminist funders.

As we look ahead, it is clear that the context is calling for a transformation of our organizing strategies:

  • we are learning to navigate global advocacy confined to online channels,
  • we grapple with the uncertainty of when and how we can convene in person, and
  • we use the tools at our disposal to tighten connections across local to global spheres.

AWID is embarking on a new membership model that lowers barriers to access and emphasizes opportunities for engagement and cross-member connection. We will continue to experiment with different online tools and processes for building community. Cross-movement engagement will stay at the center of our work. AWID’s actions in solidarity with oppressed movements and identities, even and especially where these are marginalized in feminist movements, are important to drive change and support broad and inclusive movements for all.

Crisis is not new to feminist and social movements.

We are resilient, we adapt, and we show up for each other. And we have to keep doing better. Thank you to all who are part of the journey with us.

Download the full 2019 Annual review

Download the full 2019 Annual review

Snippet - WITM Our objectives - ES

Los objetivos de nuestra investigación

1

Brindar a lxs afiliadxs de AWID, sus aliados y donantes un análisis actualizado, potente, basado en evidencias y orientado a la acción acerca de las realidades de la dotación de recursos para los movimientos feministas y el estado actual del ecosistema de financiamiento feminista.

2

Determinar y demostrar las oportunidades para cambiar hacia un mayor y mejor financiamiento para las organizaciones feministas, impugnar las falsas soluciones y desmantelar aquellas tendencias por las que el financiamiento omite u opera en contra de la justicia de género y las agendas interseccionales feministas.

3

Expresar las perspectivas, propuestas y agendas feministas para dotar de recursos a la justicia.

Snippet FEA Ecofeminism (ES)

África del Oeste

NOUS SOMMES LA SOLUTION
Somos la Solución

 

ECOFEMINISMO:

El respeto por todo lo que nos rodea

English article

English article created from Spanish site