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

What about the visas?

We are acutely aware of the practical hurdles and emotional distress associated with international travel, particularly from the Global South. AWID is working with TCEB (the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau) to support Forum participants with acquiring visas. More information about this visa assistance will be available upon registration, including contact information for where and how to apply.

WITM - Refreshed Intro Text (FR)

🚨Nouveau rapport disponible en anglais🚨

Où est l’argent ? Un plaidoyer documenté pour soutenir les organisations féministe

Ce rapport révèle la réalité du financement des organisations féministes et de défense des droits des femmes dans un contexte de bouleversements politiques et financiers. S’appuyant sur plus de dix ans d’analyse depuis la dernière étude Où est l’argent ? de l’AWID (Arroser les feuilles, affamer les racines), il dresse un bilan des progrès réalisés, des lacunes persistantes et des menaces croissantes dans le domaine du financement féministe.

Le rapport salue le pouvoir des initiatives menées par les mouvements pour façonner le financement selon leurs propres conditions, tout en alertant sur les coupes massives dans l’aide au développement, le recul de la philanthropie et l’escalade des offensives anti-droits. 

Il appelle les bailleurs de fonds à investir massivement dans l’organisation féministe, infrastructure essentielle pour la justice et la libération, et invite les mouvements à réimaginer des modèles de financement audacieux et autodéterminés, fondés sur le soin, la solidarité et le pouvoir collectif.

Téléchargez le rapport ! (en anglais)

Nos droits en danger : Il est temps d’agir (Rapport OURS 2021)

Rapport

Nos droits en danger : Il est temps d’agir – Rapport sur les tendances 2021 de l’Observatoire sur l’universalité des droits

Le tout dernier rapport de l’Observatoire sur l’universalité des droits (OURs) détricote les discours de « l’idéologie du genre », du « génocide prénatal » et de « l’impérialisme culturel ». Il creuse également la réalité de CitizenGo, de l’Alliance Defending Freedom et des flux de financement antidroits. Vous y trouverez, en outre, une analyse des systèmes régionaux des droits humains et des stratégies féministes victorieuses !

Obtenir le rapport

Annual Report 2009

3 women sitting on a roundtable with dmall thumbnails of women's faces on top and text that reads, "AWID 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.

Download PDF

Love letter to Feminist Movements #8

Dearest Beloved Feminist Movements,

Hello again, and again, and again. I have known and loved you my entire adult life, since I first met you meaningfully, after graduating from university. I’d seen you one time before then. That was you appearing as Betty Friedan on a local TV talk show in the US Midwest, in the late-1960s. At the time, Mrs. Wells, my other mother, and I commented on what wild, far-fetched ideas this woman was trying to convince us about. Decade after decade since then I have fallen more deeply in love with you, Beloved, and understand and witness your political and theoretical brilliance, ethical and moral authority, creativity, joy, and love, above all. Nearly 60 years later, I know we are partners forever.

Love letter to feminist movements from Your dramatically cloaked jungle nymph.

The early years of our acquaintanceship was ok. I was quite self-involved--figuring racial, gender, and sexual identity; getting clear on my core politics, values, and ethics; completing my formal education--and you provided numerous settings, intellectual drop-in centers, and comforting holding environments where and through which I was able to craft the young-adult building blocks of the feminist and human being whom I would become.

The predominantly white women’s movement of Cambridge and Boston, including Daughters of Bilitis, was my starting place. That suited me at the time but soon realized I desired something more. Poof! Like magic (serendipity), I connected with a small group of radical, anti-imperialist, Black, socialist lesbian women and we soon became the Combahee River Collective. 

That early Combahee experience, combined with critical life lessons and particular African-American/Korean immigrant racial politics of early-1990s in the US, prepared me for the journey that has led me to identify and work as a transnational feminist to address militarism and to dedicate myself to imagining other worlds where all living beings will thrive.

The next two critical women’s-movement moments were decades after Combahee years but deeply linked. First was meeting and being invited into the Korean feminist movement organizing against US military bases and supporting the “kijichon women” the Korean women whose lives, including for some, their mixed-race children, revolved around servicing US military personnel in numerous ways in villages and towns adjacent to the bases. Korean Beloved Feminists, especially Kim Yon-Ja and Ahn Il-Soon, the first sisters I met and traveled with, made me see and understand the critical importance of nation as an analytical and organizing principle. The “capstone” was living, working in occupied Palestine. The late Maha Abu-Dayyeh introduced me to the Palestinian women’s movement, with a profound comment, “you can leave Palestine but Palestine will never leave you.” So true. And, all my work and experiences across many borders brought me to AWID--my second home.

As you know, Beloved, being with you has not been easy or simple. Indeed, you are demanding, consistently riddled with contradictions, and sometimes even hurtful. Nonetheless, you continue to grow and develop, as you are supporting my political, emotional, and spiritual growth and development.  I guess we are growing each other--a very profound process to which I will dedicate the rest of my time in my current form.

The through-line of being with you all these decades is this: 

Feminists Collectively Engaging the Heads, Hearts, Hands, and Spirits to transform our worlds

This is chart with 7 consecutive circles arranged in a circumference. Each one is separated by an arrow which makes the chart a loop. Starting at the top, and following left to right, the circles say: #1 reflecting on individual experiences, #2 story-telling collectively, #3 theorizing, #4 visioning, #5 acting and reflecting, #6 re-visioning, #7 ethic of humility, care, joy, love.

 

So much love, Feminist Movements!

Your Margo
AKA DJ MOR Love and Joy

Wellfleet Massachusetts USA

Cristina Bautista

« Si nous nous taisons, ils nous tuent, et si nous parlons [ils nous tuent] aussi. Alors parlons. »  -  Cristina Bautista, 2019

Cristina Bautista était membre de la communauté autochtone du peuple Nasa, qui vit dans la région nord du Cauca en Colombie. Elle participait à la résistance en tant que leader, défenseuse des droits fonciers, travailleuse sociale et gouverneure de la réserve autochtone Nasa de Tacueyó.

Défenseuse infatigable des droits du peuple Nasa, Cristina s’est exprimée haut et fort contre la violence à l’égard de sa communauté. Dans un discours devant les Nations Unies, elle appelait à protéger les vies des femmes autochtones et à les impliquer dans différents domaines de la vie. En 2017, Cristina était membre du Bureau des Nations Unies pour les droits humains des personnes autochtones. Le Fonds de contributions volontaires des Nations Unies pour les populations autochtones lui a octroyé une subvention en 2019. 

« J’aimerais mettre en lumière la situation actuelle du peuple autochtone en Colombie, le meurtre de leaders autochtones, la répression de la contestation sociale. Au lieu d’aider, l’accord de paix a renforcé la guerre et l’exploitation de territoires sacrés en Colombie… Actuellement, nous travaillons en tant que femmes, dans presque toutes les nations autochtones, à un avenir meilleur pour nos familles. Je ne veux pas voir plus de femmes vivre dans ces conditions en milieu rural. Il nous faut des opportunités qui permettent aux femmes autochtones de participer à la vie politique, à l’économie, à la société et à la culture. J’acquiers une réelle force aujourd’hui, en voyant toutes ces femmes ici, et en voyant que je ne suis pas seule. » - Cristina Bautista, 2019

Cristina a été assassinée le 29 octobre 2019, ainsi que quatre autres membres de la garde autochtone désarmée, dans une attaque potentiellement menée par des membres de « Dagoberto Ramos », un groupe dissident FARC.  

D’après Global Witness, « le nombre d’assassinats de leaders communautaires et sociaux·les a terriblement augmenté en Colombie au cours de ces dernières années ». 

« La communauté nasa a prévenu à maintes reprises les autorités au sujet des menaces qui pèsent sur leur sécurité. Malgré les efforts déployés par les gouvernements colombiens successifs, les peuples autochtones continuent de faire face à d'importants risques, surtout les dirigeants communautaires ou religieux comme Cristina Bautista.» - Point presse des Nations Unies, 1er novembre 2019

Visionnez le discours de Cristina Bautista d’août 2019 où elle dénonce de précédents assassinats de membres de la garde autochtone (en espagnol)

Mi grupo o yo íbamos a participar en el Foro que fue cancelado debido a la pandemia, ¿cómo puedo participar en este Foro?

Volveremos a ponernos en contacto con contrapartes que hayan colaborado en el pasado, para asegurarnos de que se respetan los esfuerzos realizados.Si tus datos de contacto han cambiado desde el último proceso del Foro, por favor, actualízalos para que podamos contactarte.

Snippet - COP30 - The People's Summit - FR

Le Sommet des peuples

Le sommet climat organisé par et pour les mouvements.

📅 12 novembre - 16 novembre 2025
📍 Université fédérale du Pará, Belém

Plus d'infos ici

Site web en anglais

Editor's Note | Lost For Words

Editor's Note

Lost For Words

When our embodied labor becomes profit in the hands of the systems we seek to dismantle, it is no wonder that our sexualities and pleasures are once again relegated to the sidelines – especially when they are not profitable enough. In many instances during the production of this issue, we asked ourselves what would happen if we refused to accommodate the essential services of capitalism. 

Read more

2023: Fierce Feminisms: Together We Rise

For us at AWID, 2023 was the first year of our new Strategic Plan, “Fierce Feminisms: Together We Rise”, which speaks to the unapologetic drive needed to change the world, and the plurality of feminisms and movements in our ecosystem.

In the course of 2023, the volatile situation in Sudan has escalated greatly. The unspeakable genocide in Gaza, in the context of ongoing colonization and occupation of Palestine, continues as we write these lines. Climate crises, militarization, and extractivism all persist as threats to people and the planet. Building stronger movements and people power is a vision to which we contribute daily, through AWID membership, teach-ins, resourcing advocacy and more.

Download the full 2023 Annual Report


 

Cover image of the 2023 AWID Annual Report. The cover depicts a delicate watercolor illustration of a giant garden with colorful flowers and leaves. People are tending to the garden as if the flowers were large trees.

From centering climate in feminist economies to advocating for resourcing feminist movements - an urgent task, given the chronic underfunding of feminist, indigenous and Global South movements who are on the frontlines of climate crisis - we are finding solutions.

Download the full 2023 Annual Report

Carta de amor a los movimientos feministas #9

El cuerpo es una entidad poderosa. Por ser mujeres, nuestros cuerpos son controlados, oprimidos y vigilados desde que estamos en el útero. Nuestro aspecto, la forma en que nos movemos, nos vestimos, caminamos, hablamos, gesticulamos, reímos. A menudo me he preguntado qué es lo que genera los temores patriarcales respecto del poder de los cuerpos femeninos.

En el lugar de donde provengo, se murmuraba sobre el trabajo sexual y lxs trabajadorxs sexuales con desprecio, asco, fascinación, lástima y condena, todo en simultáneo.

Cartas de amor a los movimientos feministas De Khin Khin

Descubrí el trabajo sexual y a lxs trabajadorxs sexuales cuando tenía 22 años. En conversaciones sencillas, sentadxs en círculo, charlando mientras tomábamos café y té, explorábamos nuestras vidas, experiencias, pensamientos y sentimientos.

Para lxs trabajadorxs sexuales, el trabajo sexual era la opción más conveniente de todas, para pagar las cuentas, para sostener a la familia, para tener un horario laboral más flexible, para tener sexo. Así elegí mi trabajo, como el más conveniente, para pagar las cuentas, para sostener a la familia, para tener un horario laboral más flexible.

Estas personas, mujeres y hombres, me enseñaron que yo tomaba mis propias decisiones sobre mi cuerpo: dónde focalizo su vida y su energía, si lo uso para el placer o para el dolor, si lo comercializo o lo ofrezco en forma gratuita, y cómo quiero sentirme en relación con mi cuerpo. Esta conciencia fue tan excitante como empoderadora.

Crear | Résister | Transform: un festival para movimientos feministas – 2021… ustedes me acompañaron a lo largo de una serie de momentos que cambiaron mi vida (¡!¡!¡!)

Los llamamos «eventos», pero en verdad, para mí, sus espacios de aprendizaje feministas son el lugar adonde llevo un poco de lo que tengo adentro, y de donde me llevo un poco de lo que dicen sus disertantes y algo de las discusiones que penetran más profundamente en nuestra comprensión.

Compartir... Participar... Sumergirse...
en la fortaleza, en la vulnerabilidad, en el placer.

Simplemente siendo la feminista transformadora que soy, sin pretensiones, sin recelos...

Apreciando a la feminista transformadora que siempre he sido, sin siquiera conocer la palabra ni reconocerla de esa manera o en esos términos...

Encontrar un hogar para la feminista ferozmente transformadora que vive dentro de mí...

A pesar de la ira, la rabia y la frustración por no ser tratada como una igual y ser tratada como alguien «menos _ que».

No siempre me consideré feminista ni me reconocí a mí misma dentro del movimiento feminista o del discurso feminista. De verdad, aprecio que las puertas me fueran abiertas, que se me acercaran sillas para sentarme, el reconocimiento como mujer, el reconocimiento de mi feminidad.

Algunas veces desestimé al patriarcado con fastidio, otras veces respondí con frustración y enojo, pero no lo enfrenté... no notaba su toxicidad siniestra e insidiosa... era lo suficientemente privilegiada como para poder trabajar a través de él, para sobrevivir a él, para superarlo, para destacarme a pesar de él... no lo cuestionaba lo suficiente, no lo desafiaba lo suficiente, no sobrepasaba mis límites lo suficiente... no hacía lo suficiente...

…conectándome con trabajadorxs sexuales, explorando la sexualidad y las mujeres para tener paz y seguridad…

Hasta que fui plenamente consciente y comprendí las implicancias tanto del privilegio como de la opresión que eran interseccionales.
Hasta que me di cuenta de lo que significaba pelear por la justicia de género y no simplemente por la «igualdad para todxs».

Ya no más practicante y facilitadora: soy una practicante y facilitadora feminista transformadora.

Ser feminista significa que voy a actuar

  • –a través de mis actividades cotidianas: la forma en que vivo, el trabajo que hago, los procesos que se me invita a liderar, los talleres y las conferencias que se me invita a dar–
  • para resistir contra la toxicidad del patriarcado, para desmantelar las estructuras y los sistemas patriarcales,
  • para trabajar con vistas a descolonizar valores, creencias, pensamientos, y destruir los mitos de las normas y las expectativas de género,
  • para enfrentar los desequilibrios de poder impuestos por las creencias y la socialización patriarcales,
  • para fomentar relaciones construidas sobre la base de la inclusión, el holismo, la igualdad, el cuidado, la reciprocidad, la responsabilidad y la justicia,
  • para ponerme de pie y actuar en solidaridad en las primeras líneas de la lucha por la inclusión, la equidad y la justicia.

Zambulléndome en un futuro incierto, frágil, complejo (y posiblemente bastante violento)…

  • quiero descubrirme a mí misma y ser yo misma de forma más íntima, más auténtica y más profunda a través del movimiento...
  • quiero involucrarme más activamente y estar más interconectada a través de esta relación amorosa.

Estoy profundamente agradecida por tenerlxs a ustedes y les prometo continuar siendo implacable al enfrentar y reparar los temas problemáticos relacionados con el género, la raza, la etnia, la clase social, la orientación sexual y la capacidad, y seguir estando presente y siendo fiel a la lucha por la inclusión, la equidad y la justicia.
 
- Khin Khin

Ayanda Denge

“I am a wonder… Therefore I have been born by a mother! As I begin to stutter, my life has been like no other…” - Ayanda Denge  (read the whole poem below)

Ayanda Denge was a transwomxn, sex worker, activist, poet. She was Xhosa, from Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. After travelling through different cities of the country, she moved to Cape Town. 

As a committed and fervent social justice activist, she fought for the rights of sex workers, trans persons, and for those of people living with HIV and AIDS. She was also a motivational speaker on cancer awareness, and campaigned for affordable and social housing, especially for poor and working-class people. Ayanda stood tall as a mountain against different and often abusive faces of discrimination. 

“Being transgender is not a double dose, but it’s a triple dose of stigmatisation and discrimination. You are discriminated against for your sexual identity, you are discriminated against for your work, and you are discriminated against for your HIV status.” - Ayanda Denge, 2016

She was acting chairperson at the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT) and also worked as an Outreach Coordinator at Sisonke, a national sex workers’ movement in South Africa. 

“From us, from our regional head office, to SWEAT where I sit on the board, to Sisonke, a movement of sex workers in Cape Town. We all amalgamate, we have one cry and it’s a cry that is recognised internationally by international sex workers. We want decriminalisation of sex work.” - Ayanda Denge, 2016

She lived in the Ahmed Kathrada House, which was being occupied by the Reclaim the City campaign for social housing. In 2018, Ayanda was elected house leader. On 24 March 2019, she was stabbed to death in her room. The year prior, another resident was killed.

Reclaim the City draws a connection between the safety of the house residents and the Provincial Government withholding electricity and the human right to water: 

“We cannot separate the safety of women and LGBTQI people living in the occupation from the refusal by the Western Cape Provincial Government to turn the electricity and water back on at Ahmed Kathrada House.

The house is pitch black at night. We need lights to keep each other safe. It is as if the Province wishes to punish poor and working class people, whose only crime is that we needed a home. While they may disagree with our reasons for occupying, they should be ashamed of themselves for putting politics before the safety and dignity of residents of this city.

Rest in Peace comrade Ayanda Denge, we shall remember you as we carry the torch forward in the struggle for decent well-located housing.”

Poem by Ayanda: 

I am a wonder…
Therefore I have been born by a mother!
As I begin to stutter,
My life has been like no other.
Born in pain
Nourished by rain
For me to gain
Was living in a drain.
As I shed a tear
I stand up and hold my spear.
Voices echo, do not fear
Challenges within a year,
Challenges of hurt are on my case;
Community applauds as they assume I have won my race;
But in reality my work strides at a tortoise pace;
On bended knee I bow and ask for grace.
For the Lord
Is my Sword;
To remind humanity
That he provides sanity.
Why Lord am I this wonder?
The Lord answers me with the rain and thunder,
For questioning my father
Who has in the book of lambs
A name called Ayanda.
From the streets my life was never sweet
The people I had to meet;
At times I would never greet;
Even though I had to eat;
I’d opt to take a bow
Rather than a seat

Listen to the poem in Ayanda’s voice

“For my life represents that of a lotus flower, that out of murky and troubled waters I bloomed to be beautiful and strong...” - Ayanda Denge, watch and listen 


Tributes: 

“Ayanda, I want to say to you that you are still a survivor, in our hearts and minds. You are gone but you are everywhere, because you are love. How beautiful it is to be loved, and to give love. And Ayanda, that is the gift that you have given us. Thank you for all of the love, we truly did need you. Going forward, I promise to you that we will all commit to continue with the struggle that you have dedicated so much energy and your time to. And we will commit ourselves to pursuing justice in this awful ending to your life.” - Transcript of a message, in a farewell Tribute to Ayanda

“Ayanda was an activist by nature. She knew her rights and would not mind fighting for the rights of others. For me, it was no shock that she was involved with many organizations and it was known that she was a people’s person. It did not need to be the rights of LGBTI but just the rights of everyone that she stood for.” - Ayanda’s sister
 

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Pour toute question supplémentaire, veuillez utiliser notre formulaire de contact. Nous continuerons d’actualiser ce document en fonction des questions que nous recevrons de votre part !

Snippet - COP30 - Resistance Hubs Section Column 1 - EN

As world leaders gather in Brazil, it’s vital that feminist movements especially from the Global Majority have autonomous spaces to gather, strategize, and disrupt.

These Hubs challenge the elitism of climate talks, center lived experiences, and aim to build collective power across borders. They offer a critical counterbalance to top-down, often exclusionary international negotiations. The Hubs aim to foster community-driven solutions, amplify feminist demands, and ensure that feminist principles of care and solidarity shape the climate agenda. It’s not just about being present at COP30, it’s about reshaping the conversation on climate justice on feminist terms.

Snippet Kohl - Plenary | She is on her way: Alternatives, feminisms and another world

Plenary | She is on her way: Alternatives, feminisms and another world

with Dr. Vandana Shiva, Dr. Dilar Dirik, and Nana Akosua Hanson.

YOUTUBESOUNDCLOUD

Inna Michaeli

Biography

Inna est une activiste et sociologue féministe queer comptant de nombreuses années d'engagement profond dans les luttes féministes et LGBTQI+, l'éducation politique et l'organisation par et pour les femmes migrantes, ainsi que la libération de la Palestine et la solidarité avec cette dernière. Inna a rejoint l'AWID en 2016 et occupé différents postes, dont celui de directrice des programmes plus récemment. Basée à Berlin, en Allemagne, elle a grandi à Haïfa, en Palestine/Israël, et est née à Saint-Pétersbourg en Russie. Elle porte ces territoires politiques et cette résistance au passé et au présent colonial dans son féminisme et sa solidarité transnationale.

Inna est l'auteure de « Women's Economic Empowerment: Feminism, Neoliberalism, and the State » (« L'autonomisation Économique des Femmes : Féminisme, Néolibéralisme et l’État », Palgrave Macmillan, 2022), un ouvrage basé sur une thèse qui lui a valu un doctorat de l'Université Humboldt de Berlin. En tant qu'universitaire, elle a enseigné des cours sur la mondialisation, la production de connaissances, l'identité et l'appartenance. Inna est titulaire d'un master en études culturelles de l'Université hébraïque de Jérusalem. Elle a été membre du conseil d'administration de +972 Advancement of Citizen Journalism, et l’est actuellement pour Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East (en Allemagne). Auparavant, Inna a travaillé avec la Coalition des Femmes pour la Paix et est une passionnée de la mobilisation des ressources pour l'activisme populaire.

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Codirectrice Exécutive
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Le monde est venu chez moi : l’histoire de Tidinha

Image de Coverture: Le monde est venu chez moi : l’histoire de Tidinha

 

Comment réagir quand on sent que le monde nous tombe dessus ? Pour Tidinha, ça a été l’occasion de sentir qu’on pouvait l’écouter lorsqu’elle questionnait le choix du lieu, de découvrir qu’elle partageait des visions et des rêves avec d’autres participantes et de réaliser qu’elle n’était pas seule.

Téléchargez cette histoire


De sa propre voix : regardez l'interview de Tidinha


Découvrez toutes les histoires Télécharger le rapport complet