Over the past few years, a troubling new trend at the international human rights level is being observed, where discourses on ‘protecting the family’ are being employed to defend violations committed against family members, to bolster and justify impunity, and to restrict equal rights within and to family life.
The campaign to "Protect the Family" is driven by ultra-conservative efforts to impose "traditional" and patriarchal interpretations of the family, and to move rights out of the hands of family members and into the institution of ‘the family’.
“Protection of the Family” efforts stem from:
rising traditionalism,
rising cultural, social and religious conservatism and
sentiment hostile to women’s human rights, sexual rights, child rights and the rights of persons with non-normative gender identities and sexual orientations.
Since 2014, a group of states have been operating as a bloc in human rights spaces under the name “Group of Friends of the Family”, and resolutions on “Protection of the Family” have been successfully passed every year since 2014.
This agenda has spread beyond the Human Rights Council. We have seen regressive language on “the family” being introduced at the Commission on the Status of Women, and attempts made to introduce it in negotiations on the Sustainable Development Goals.
Our Approach
AWID works with partners and allies to jointly resist “Protection of the Family” and other regressive agendas, and to uphold the universality of human rights.
In response to the increased influence of regressive actors in human rights spaces, AWID joined allies to form the Observatory on the Universality of Rights (OURs). OURs is a collaborative project that monitors, analyzes, and shares information on anti-rights initiatives like “Protection of the Family”.
Rights at Risk, the first OURs report, charts a map of the actors making up the global anti-rights lobby, identifies their key discourses and strategies, and the effect they are having on our human rights.
The report outlines “Protection of the Family” as an agenda that has fostered collaboration across a broad range of regressive actors at the UN. It describes it as: “a strategic framework that houses “multiple patriarchal and anti-rights positions, where the framework, in turn, aims to justify and institutionalize these positions.”
Related Content
Snippet Watch Stories (EN)
En savoir plus sur l'impact du forum à travers ces histoires.
Film club - Tenderness is the sharpest resistance
Our first Feminist Film Club program is now available to view: “Tenderness is the Sharpest Resistance” is a film series on Asian/Pacific Feminist Realities curated by Jess X Snow
Patience es profesional global en recursos humanos y ha acumulado más de 10 años de experiencia en la gestión de recursos humanos (RRHH) en el sector sin fines de lucro. Anteriormente, trabajó en Mercy Corps como Oficial Global de Recursos Humanos para África, donde brindaba apoyo en todo lo concerniente al ciclo de vida del personal para personas expatriadas en la región de África oriental y meridional, y brindaba orientación técnica en recursos humanos a les encargades de recursos humanos en las oficinas nacionales de la región africana. Antes de sumarse al equipo global de personal, se desempeñaba como Punto Focal Nacional de Recursos Humanos y Salvaguardia, formó parte del equipo de gestión superior encargado de dirigir todos los asuntos de recursos humanos y salvaguardia. Antes de Mercy Corps, dirigió el Departamento de Recursos Humanos y Operaciones de SNV Netherlands Development Organization e integró el equipo de gestión nacional. Asimismo, posee experiencia de consultoría en Recursos Humanos que adquirió mientras estudiaba para su licenciatura en Gestión de Recursos Humanos que terminó con honores. Es una apasionada de la gestión de recursos humanos, le encanta trabajar con la gente y tiene al bienestar y la salvaguardia como sus valores fundamentales, los que aplica en su vida profesional. Por su pasión por los deportes, también se puede encontrar a Patience en un estadio de baloncesto, de tenis o de fútbol.
Position
Coordinadora de Recursos Humanos
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Our neighbourhood, our network, our strength
by Marta Plaza Fernández, Madrid, Spain (@gacela1980)
The feminist reality that I want to share is about weaving networks in which we uphold one another. Networks which come together in different ways, which emerge from our shared vulnerability, and which make all of us stronger.
The streets of Chamberí, my neighbourhood in Madrid, became much more of a home following the gatherings in the plazas organized by the citizens movement that originated in a rally on May 15, 2011. I think about how, during those years, we met each other and were able to associate faces, voices, smiles with so many neighbours who previously were only silhouettes without names or pasts, and who we passed by without seeing or hearing each other. I think about how we’ve become involved and dedicated; how we’ve woven a palpable, tangible community; how we’ve been advancing hand in hand towards building a new more inhabitable world, which we want and that we urgently need to create.
A group of activists and utopian neighbours, (in the best sense of the word utopian) – that moves us to action to do something real – that group for me was practically the first that reacted differently when I shared a part of my history and identity with them. With these women I shared my psychiatric diagnosis, my multiple hospital stays, the number of daily pills that accompanied me, my disability certificate, my difficulty in preserving that vital link that periodically disintegrates in my hands.
These neighbours, friends, comrades, links, loves –did not only not distance themselves from me once they got to know someone who many others had labelled as problematic, manipulator, egotistical – but became my principal network of affection and mutual support. They decided to navigate with me when the sea became agitated with storms. These people have given a different meaning to my days.
Building our feminist reality also encompasses carrying the “I believe you, sister” that we use when a friend has suffered a macho attack to the violence experienced by psychiatrized women at the hands of the very psychiatric system and institutions that are supposed to help us (and instead are often the new abuser who traumatizes and hurts us all over again). And this reality must include respect for our decisions, without taking away our agency and capacity to direct our own steps to one space or another; to listen to our narratives, desires, needs…without trying to impose others that are alien to us. It means not delegitimizing our discourse, not alluding to the label of our diagnosis, nor our madness.
With these transformation, each stay in the psychiatric institute did erase the ties that we had been able to build, but instead this network stayed by my side, its members took turns so that each day there would be no lull in calls, in visits, so that I could feel them as close as one can feel another person separated by locked doors (but unfortunately open for abuse) within the confines of the psychiatric ward. Through the warmth and kindness from my people I could rebuild that vital link that had once again been broken.
The even bigger leap happened when I was already aware of the numerous violent acts and abuse (where among other assaults, I spent days strapped to a bed, relieving myself where I lay), I decided that I would not go back to being interned.
This network of care, these women neighbours-friends-loves-comrades, they respected my refusal to return to the hospital and supported me through each crisis I’ve been through since then. Without being interned, without violence.
They took turns accompanying me when my link to life was so broken that I felt such a huge risk which I couldn’t handle on my own. They organized WhatsApp group check-ins. They coordinated care and responsibilities so that no one would feel overwhelmed - because when an individual feels overloaded, they make decisions based on fear and the need for control instead of prioritizing accompaniment and care.
That first crisis that we were able to surmount together in this way – without being admitted to the psychiatric institute, represented a dramatic change in my life. There were months when my life was at risk, of intense suffering and of so much fear for my people and for me. But we overcame it together, and all that I thought was that if we could get over that crisis, then we could also find ways to face all the difficulties and crises that may come.
These feminist realities that we’re building day by day keep expanding, growing and taking different forms. We’re learning together, we’re growing together. Distancing ourselves from a welfare mentality, one of the first lessons was that, in reality, there wouldn’t be anyone receiving care (because of a psychiatric label) or anyone helping, from the other side of the sanity/insanity line. We learnt – we’re learning – to move to a different key – that of mutual support, of providing care and being cared for, of caring for each other.
We’ve also explored the limits of self care and the strength of collectivizing care and redistributing it so it’s not a burden that paralyzes us; we learnt – and we keep learning today – about joy and enjoying care that is chosen.
Another recent learning is about how difficult it was to start integrating money as another component of mutual support that we all give and receive. It was hard for us to realize how internalized capitalism kept on reverberating in our relationship with money, and that even though no one expected any payment for the containers of lentils we cooked amongst us when eating and cooking were difficult tasks, our expectation regarding money was different. Phrases like “how much you have is how much you’re worth” become stuck inside of us without critically analyzing them. It’s easy to keep thinking that the money each one has is related to the effort made to earn it, and not due to other social conditioning distant from personal merit. In fact, within this well-established mutual support network – redistributing money based on needs without questioning – was still a remote reality for our day to day. That’s why this is something that we’ve recently started to work on and think through as a group.
We want to get closer to that anti-capitalist world where mutual support is the way that we have chosen to be in the world; and that entails deconstructing our personal and collective relationship with money and internalized capitalism.
In these feminist realities we also know that learning never stops, and that the road continues to be shaped as we travel upon it. There is still much to do to keep caring for ourselves, to keep expanding perspectives and to make ourselves more aware of the persistent power imbalances, of privileges that we hold and continue to exercise, without realizing the violence that they reproduce.
Though we’ve already travelled so far, we still have a long way to go to get closer to that new world that we hold in our hearts (and for some within our crazy little heads too). Racism, classism, adult-centrism, fat-phobia, and machismo that persists among our partners.
Among the pending lessons, we’ve needed for a long time already to build a liveable future in which feminism is really intersectional and in which we all have space, in which the realities and oppressions of other sisters are just as important as our own. We also need to move forward horizontally when we build collectively – getting rid of egos, of protagonisms, to live together and deal with the need for recognition in a different way. And to also keep making strides grounded in the awareness that the personal is always, always political.
How we relate to and link with each other cannot be relegated to the private domain, nor kept silent: other loves are possible, other connections and other families are necessary, and we are also inventing them as we go.
This new world which we want to create, and that we need to believe in – is this kind world – in which we can love, and feel pride in ourselves – and in which all worlds will fit. We’ll keep at it.
Looking at activists and feminists as healers and nourishers of the world, in the midst of battling growing right wing presence, white supremacy and climate change. This piece highlights how our feminist reality puts kindness, solidarity, and empathy into action by showing up and challenging the status quo to liberate us all.
Mereani Naisua Senibici, también llamada "Sua", fue, durante mucho tiempo, integrante del movimiento de la Asociación Cristiana de Mujeres Jóvenes de Fiji (YWCA, por sus siglas en inglés).
Trabajó con diversos grupos de mujeres en entornos multirraciales, rurales y urbanos y se comprometió a apoyar y promover los derechos de las mujeres y las jóvenes.
En el YWCA de Lautoka, Sua trabajó con mujeres de ascendencia india, y se convirtió en una figura destacada en el desarrollo del deporte y de la participación de atletas mujeres y personas trans en Lautoka.
"Sua es muy querida por lxs integrantes del YWCA de Fiji, a causa de su dedicación y apoyo persistente a todo lo que la organización se ha esforzado por hacer". - Tupou Vere
Mereani formaba parte de House of Sarah [La Casa de Sarah] (HoS, por sus siglas en inglés ), una iniciativa de la Asociación de Mujeres Anglicanas (AAW), lanzada en 2009, que tenía por objetivos tanto sensibilizar sobre los problemas relacionados con la violencia de género, como brindar apoyo a las mujeres que sufren violencia. Mereani empezó como una voluntaria comprometida y ofreció apoyo a las mujeres de todo el Pacífico.
Mereani falleció en 2019.
"Una persona con don de gente y una trabajadora todoterreno en el empoderamiento de las mujeres y construcción de movimientos a nivel comunitario. Descansa en paz, Sua". - Tupou Vere
Feminist movements have changed and adapted tremendously since we last convened in this way - so to remember why AWID Forums matter, we asked activists from around the world to reflect on and share their stories, impressions and memories. This is what we learned.
The Turtle’s Rage (2012) Alemán | Árabe con subtítulos en inglés
Esta película cuenta la historia de un hombre misterioso cuya vida ha sido moldeada por la huida, la expulsión, el exilio y el fracasado retorno a Palestina. El film está compuesto por la búsqueda de respuestas que lleva a cabo su hija.
Tout au long de ses 38 années de carrière, Debbie Stothard a collaboré avec diverses communautés pour impliquer des États, des organisations intergouvernementales et autres parties prenantes en Asie, en Afrique, en Europe et dans les Amériques sur des questions de droits humains et de justice. Son travail porte essentiellement sur les thématiques des affaires et des droits humains, de la prévention des atrocités et du leadership des femmes. Elle a, de ce fait, animé ou secondé près de 300 formations au cours des 15 dernières années. La plupart de ces formations était des ateliers à destination de groupes de base et organisés sur le terrain, centrés sur le plaidoyer en faveur des droits humains, les connaissances économiques fondamentales, les affaires et les droits humains, la justice transitionnelle et la prévention des atrocités. Son travail dans le domaine de la justice transitionnelle et de la prévention des atrocités s’est principalement déroulé au Myanmar, mais elle a également été conseillère en matière d’interventions dans d’autres situations nationales dans le monde.
Entre 1981 et 1996, Debbie a été reporter spécialisée dans les affaires criminelles, organisatrice d’évènements étudiants, analyste politique, universitaire, conseillère gouvernementale et traiteure en Malaisie et en Australie, tout en étant bénévole pour des causes en lien avec les droits humains. Elle a fondé ALTSEAN-Burma en 1996, qui fut à l’initiative d’un large éventail de programmes sur les droits humains à la fois innovants et autonomisants. ALTSEAN mène notamment un programme permanent et intensif de leadership à destination de diverses jeunes femmes à Burma qui, au cours des 22 dernières années, a aidé à renforcer et élargir le leadership des femmes dans les zones touchées par un conflit. Debbie Stothard a siégé au Conseil de la fédération internationale des droits humains (FIDH) pendant neuf années en sa qualité de secrétaire générale adjointe (2010–2013) puis de secrétaire générale (2013–2019). Elle a mis cette période à profit en promouvant la mission et le profil de la FIDH lors de près de 100 réunions et conférences par année.
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Exposition Pleasure Garden
Cette œuvre est la collaboration photographique et illustrative réalisée par Siphumeze et Katia pendant le confinement. Elle se penche sur les récits de sexe et de plaisir des queers noirs, le bondage, le sexe protégé, les jouets, la santé mentale et le sexe et bien d'autres choses encore. Elle a été créée pour accompagner l'anthologie Touch.
Mental Health (Santé mentale)Sex and Spirtuality (Sexe et spiritualité)Orgasm (Orgasme)
À propos des artistes
Siphumeze Khundayi est une créatrice d'art, photographe et animatrice qui s'intéresse aux moyens créatifs de réunir le dialogue et la pratique artistique en relation avec l'identité queer africaine.
Elle est directrice créative de HOLAAfrica!, un collectif panafricaniste féministe en ligne.
Ses travaux de performance en solo et collaboratifs ont été présentés dans un certain nombre de festivals et d'espaces théâtraux tels que le festival Ricca Ricca au Japon.
Elle a mis en scène deux productions nominées aux Naledi Awards en 2017 et 2018. Elle a aussi mis en scène un spectacle qui a remporté un prix Standard Bank Ovation en 2020.
En tant que photographe, elle a participé à une exposition de groupe intitulée Flowers of my Soul (Fleurs de mon âme) en Italie, organisée par le Misfit Project. Elle a produit trois publications pour HOLAAfrica et a été publiée dans le deuxième volume, pour lequel elle a fourni la couverture: As You Like des Gerald Kraak Anthologies.
Katia Herrera est une artiste visuelle numérique de 21 ans originaire de la ville bruyante de Saint-Domingue, en République dominicaine. Bien que Herrera soit une introvertie autoproclamée, ses œuvres d'art sont remarquablement fortes dans un monde qui tente de faire taire les voix des personnes noires. Avec des titres comme Black Woman (Femme Noire), You Own the Moon (La Lune t’Appartient), Earth Goddess (Déesse de la Terre), Forever (Pour Toujours) et Universe Protector (Protecteur.rice de l’Univers), l'héritage de Herrera sera marqué par sa volonté passionnée de mettre en lumière l'endurance et la persévérance des Noir·e·s d'hier et d'aujourd'hui, afin de contrer le discours selon lequel la peau noire ne devrait être associée qu'à l'esclavage.
L'une de ses œuvres la plus belle et la plus vivante, Universe Protector, dépeint l'âme noire comme une entité divine pleine de force, de puissance et de grandeur. C’est dans sa jeunesse que son amour du graphisme a été stimulé grâce à l'art de ses parents et le Photoshop qu'ils avaient téléchargé sur leur ordinateur pour leur photographie professionnelle.
« La vie... c’est vivre dans la joie, se lever avec un but, sentir son énergie créative, répondre à son appel. » – Sylvia Robinson
Sylvia Robinson, infatigable leader et organisatrice communautaire, fut la fondatrice et directrice générale de l’Emergence Community Arts Collective (ECAC) à Washington, D.C.
Cet espace de performances créatrices foisonnantes rassemblait des initiatives d’éducation, d’engagement citoyen, d’arts, de services sociaux et spirituels et de pratiques de développement durable. Sylvia considérait cet endroit comme une maison où « il existe un équilibre et une synergie avec les activités dont les gens ont besoin pour entretenir la vie ».
Elle comptait également parmi les membres fondateur·trice·s du Georgia Avenue Community Development Taskforce, dans le nord-ouest de la capitale, un groupe de quartier actif dans le domaine de la justice sociale et de l’organisation qui veillait à ce que la communauté ait son mot à dire dans le redéveloppement et l’embourgeoisement du secteur.
« Nous demandons des logements abordables. Nous demandons que les petits commerces qui sont ici depuis longtemps ne soient pas balayés par de nouvelles enseignes. Nous demandons des espaces verts et des lieux où les gens peuvent se rencontrer. Nous demandons à ce que le paysage urbain soit amélioré, avec des rues en meilleur état et des éclairages publics. » – Sylvia Robinson, à propos du travail de la Taskforce
Avant de devenir organisatrice, et après avoir obtenu son diplôme en informatique, Sylvia avait travaillé dans le domaine des systèmes de contrôle du trafic aérien pendant plus d’une décennie. Elle s’est ensuite orientée vers le conseil relatif à la consommation d’alcool et de drogue, s’impliquant davantage dans le travail communautaire.
« Cette implication dans la communauté, c’était ma vocation. » – Sylvia Robinson
Née à Washington D.C. le 14 août 1961, Sylvia est décédée le 18 septembre 2017 après avoir lutté contre le cancer.
« L’esprit et l’héritage de Sylvia continueront d’inspirer cette communauté pour de nombreuses années. » – ECAC
📅 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
¿Qué medidas se tomarán para proteger la salud pública y contener los riesgos de un brote de Covid-19?
Estamos monitoreando cuidadosamente este y otros riesgos, y publicaremos información integral sobre salud y seguridad cuando se abra la inscripción, para que puedas tomar una decisión informada. Además, el formato híbrido está diseñado para ofrecer una experiencia de participación significativa a quienes prefieran no viajar o no puedan hacerlo.
Simone posee 20 años de experiencia de trabajo en apoyo a la gestión y la administración en organizaciones sin fines de lucro, en particular, formación médica de posgrado y capacitación en Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones. Tiene formación en Apoyo a la Gestión y en Estudios Parajudiciales. Reside en Sudáfrica, disfruta de viajar y es aficionada a la Genealogía.
Position
Asistente Ejecutiva
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Nicole Barakat
We transcend time and place, Hand cut found paper (2017)We will remember who we are and We will persist Cotton embroidered hand cut lamé on wool silk cloth (2018)We will return home, Silk embroidered hand cut lamé on cotton velveteen (2018)We will heal in the now, Hand cut silk, wool, lamé, cotton, direct digital print silk satin on linen (2018)
we are infinite
An exhibition by Nicole Barakat, embodying her reconnection with the diaspora of objects from her ancestral homelands in the South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA) region.
Barakat presents a collection of textile works as manifestations of her practice of engaging with displaced, and often stolen objects held within Western museum collections including the Louvre, British Museum and Nicholson Museum.
To by-pass the gatekeepers and breach the vitrines holding these ancestral objects, Barakat reclaims pre-colonial, non-linear, receptive forms of knowing that are often devalued and dismissed by colonial and patriarchal institutions - engaging with coffee cup divination, dream-work, intuitive listening and conversations with the objects themselves (source).
About Nicole Barakat
Nicole Barakat is a queer femme, SWANA artist born and living on Gadigal Country (so-called Sydney, Australia). She works with deep listening and intuitive processes with intentions to transform the conditions of everyday life. Her work engages unconventional approaches to art-making, creating intricate works that embody the love and patience that characterises traditional textile practices.
Her works include hand-stitched and hand-cut cloth and paper drawings, sculptural forms made with her own hair, cloth and plant materials as well as live work where she uses her voice as a material.
Nicole’s creative practice is rooted in re-membering and re-gathering her ancestral knowing, including coffee divination and more recently working with plants and flower essences for community care and healing.
“I’m no adherent to the concept of the ‘Third World’. I make films so that people - no matter what race or color they are - can understand them. For me there are only exploiters and the exploited, that’s all. To make a film means to take a position.” - Sarah Maldoror
Sarah Maldoror, a French filmmaker of West Indies descent, was a pioneer of Pan-African cinema. At the core of her work, she placed political concerns along with her longstanding involvement in decolonization movements.
Her groundbreaking film and “revolutionary picture” Sambizanga (1972) follows Angolan militants’ anti-colonial liberation struggle, as well as captures a woman’s perspective in a historical moment she finds herself in.
“For many African filmmakers, cinema is a revolutionary tool, a political education to raise consciousness. It is inscribed in the evolution of a Third Cinema striving to decolonize thought and advocate radical changes in society.” - Sarah Maldoror
Throughout her career, Sarah - together with a number of African and Caribbean artists - co-founded (1956) the first Black theatre troupe in France. She made around 40 films, comprising important documentaries that amplify the lives and work of black artists, including her friend and poet Aimé Césaire who wrote to her:
“To Sarah Maldo
who, a camera in hand,
fights oppression, alienation
and flies in the face
of human bullshit.”
Sarah was also committed to giving African women more ownership of the filmmaking process. In an interview, she pointed out:
"African women must be everywhere. They must be in the images, behind the camera, in the editing room and involved in every stage of the making of a film. They must be the ones to talk about their problems."
Sarah left an incredibly powerful legacy to be carried forward.
Born 19 July 1929, Sarah passed away on 13 April 2020 from complications of the coronavirus.
