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 - AWID at CSW Post - EN

Image with purple background. The words: AWID at CSW - Reclaiming Feminist Power. New York.

Snippet FEA Occupation’s kitchen (FR)

Photo of a wall with a graffiti which says “Luta’
Photo of people in facemasks and aprons cooking together
Photo of a black woman in a red apron and black facemask, holding a book
Photo of a group of 4 of people wearing facemasks, demonstrating food and books

Femmes et collaborateurs à la cuisine de l'Ocupação 9 de Julho

Photo of two black women cooking

Snippet - WITM why - EN

Why should I take this survey?

Snippet FEA NORTH CAUCA Left (EN)

NORTH CAUCA, COLOMBIA

Asociación de Mujeres Afrodescendientes del Norte del Cauca

 

WE DESERVE

MORE!

Snippet - WITM To Strengthen - FR

Pour renforcer notre voix et notre pouvoir collectifs en faveur de davantage de financement de meilleure qualité pour l’organisation des mouvements féministes, de défense des droits des femmes, des personnes LBTQI+ et des mouvements alliés dans le monde entier.

Snippet FEA ASOM’s activists in encounters (ES)

 
Black woman in a white headscarf and gray t-shirt, she is smiling and is holding a vessel above her head
People demonstrating and holding a long blue poster
Black woman speaking in a mic, there is a black girl standing next to her and a man sitting at the table
Photo of five black women in the front on a demonstration, wearing facemasks and holding posters
Photo of three women sitting around the table and talking in mics.

Activistas de ASOM en encuentros, desfiles y eventos

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

Snippet - WITM about research - EN

About Where is the Money? research

The global survey is a key pillar of the third iteration of our action-oriented research: “Where is the Money for Feminist Organizing?” (in short, Where is the Money or WITM). The results of the survey will be further elaborated and explored through in-depth conversations with activists and funders and cross-referenced with other existing analysis and research on the state of funding for feminists and gender equality globally. 

The full “Where is the Money for Feminist Organizing” report will be published in 2026.

To learn more how AWID has been shining a light on money for and against feminist movements check out the work of our Resourcing Feminist Movements Initiative here.

Snippet FEA Aura Roig (FR)

Venez rencontrer Aura Roig, militante féministe visionaire, anthropologue, directrice et fondatrice de la coopérative Metzineres.

Elle a consacré les deux dernières décennies à la recherche, à la conception et à la mise en place de politiques de soutien aux personnes qui se droguent, basées sur la réduction des méfaits, les droits humains et le féminisme intersectionnel.

Après avoir expérimenté et appris des communautés qui consomment des drogues dans le monde entier, elle est retournée à Barcelone pour créer la Xarxa de Dones que Usen Drogues (le Réseau des Femmes qui Consomment des Drogues, XADUD). XADUD était un espace d'entraide et de solidarité avec la lutte pour les droits des groupes marginalisés, qui plus tard deviendra la coopérative Metzineres.

Aujourd'hui, Aura travaille à étendre le modèle Metzineres pour prendre en charge des groupes plus grands, tout en documentant de manière approfondie son parcours et son apprentissage prolifiques.

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