Nuala Fennell
Protection of the Family
The Issue
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.”
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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.
Sara AbuGhazal
Biography
Sara AbuGhazal est une féministe palestinienne vivant à Beyrouth. Elle est Co-fondatrice de Sawt al-Niswa, un collectif qui produit des connaissances à Beyrouth. Elle est co-directrice de The Knowledge Workshop, une organisation féministe basée à Beyrouth qui travaille sur l'histoire orale et l'archivage féministes. Sara est actuellement coordonnatrice régionale de la Regional Coalition for Women Human Rights Defenders in the Middle East and North Africa.
Sara s'efforce de contribuer à la création d'espaces de transformation et de solidarité féministes. Son travail est principalement axé sur la création de mouvements durables dans la région Moyen-Orient et de l'Afrique du Nord Elle est investie dans la production de connaissances, la transformation féministe et la Palestine. Elle publie régulièrement dans sawtalniswa.org et ses œuvres de fiction apparaissent également dans le magazine électronique Romman
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Miriam Bottassi
Snippet FEA Clemencia Video (EN)
Saraswathi Gora
Quel est l’objet de l’enquête WITM?
Le principal objectif de l’enquête WITM est de faire la lumière sur la situation financière de divers mouvements féministes, de défense des droits des femmes, pour la justice de genre, de défense des personnes LBTQI+ et des mouvements alliés dans le monde entier. Sur cette base, nous souhaitons démontrer l’importance d’orienter davantage de fonds, de meilleure qualité, et de transférer le pouvoir vers les mouvements féministes.
Juhi
Biography
Juhi is a tech enthusiast with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering from Gujarat Technological University and a postgraduate background in Wireless Telecommunications and Project Management from Humber College. With a passion for problem-solving and a love for staying ahead in the ever-evolving tech landscape, Juhi has found herself navigating through various industries as an IT Technician. to the nurturing environment of the School Board, Juhi has had the opportunity to apply her technical skills in diverse settings, always embracing new challenges with enthusiasm. Beyond the code and circuits, Juhi loves life's adventures. Exploring new places and cultures is like a breath of fresh air to her. Whether it's discovering hidden gems in the city, trying out exotic cuisines, or embarking on thrilling adventure sports, Juhi is always up for new experiences.
Position
IT Support Coordinator
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Orouba Barakat
Snippet FEA EoS The Bold (EN)
The Bold
Production and entrepreneurship
About the AWID International Forum
More than an event!
The AWID International Forum is a truly global space that gives participants an opportunity to network, build alliances, celebrate, and learn in a stimulating, emotive and safe atmosphere.
More and more, we are trying to bring the Forum process outside of the convening’s borders. Engaging with partners and deepening relationships all year round, connecting with local movements to better understand problems and co-create solutions. The Forum event itself, held every three to four years in a different region of the world, is just a crystallization of all these alliances that we are building as part of our work.
The AWID Forum dissolves our inner and external boundaries, fosters deep discussion, personal and professional growth, and strengthens our movements for gender justice and women’s rights.
As a convening, it is a response to the urgency to promote stronger and more coordinated engagement and action by feminists, women’s rights and other social justice advocates, organizations and movements. We also believe that the Forum is more than just an event – it can facilitate a process to influence thinking and set agendas for feminist movements and other related actors.
Evolving from a national conference of around 800 people, the event now brings together around 2000 feminists, community leaders, social justice activists, and donor agencies from around the world.
The 14th AWID International Forum will take place 11-14 January 2021 in Taipei, Taiwan.
The past Forums
2016 - Feminist Futures: Building Collective Power for Rights and Justice (Costa de Sauipe, Brazil)
Given the complex world that we face today, the 2016 AWID Forum did not focus on a particular “issue”, but rather on creating more effective ways of working together!
Despite the challenging contexts in which the 2016 Forum took place (the Zika epidemic, a strike by Brazilian foreign-service workers, the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff and subsequent turmoil), it succeeded in bringing together over 1800 participants from 120 countries and territories across all regions of the world.
What happened at the 13th AWID international Forum:
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For 96% of participants who responded to the post Forum evaluation survey, the Forum was a major source of inspiration and energy.
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98% of participants considered it an important convening space for feminist movements and expressed hope that AWID continues to organize forums.
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59% of Forum evaluation survey respondents declared to be very satisfied with the Forum and 34% somewhat satisfied.
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Over 150 sessions were delivered in different formats on a variety of topics ranging from bodily integrity and freedoms, to gender-based violence in the workplace, to strategies for building collective power.
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The first-time Black Feminisms Forum (BFF), held just before the main AWID Forum, brought together 250 Black feminists from all over the world to co-create a powerful space to build and strengthen ongoing, intergenerational, transnational connections
Read more about what the 2016 AWID Forum achieved:
Download the Forum evaluation report
2012 - Transforming Economic Power to Advance Women's Rights and Justice (Istambul, Turkey)
The 12th AWID Forum was the largest and most diverse AWID Forum to date, bringing together 2239 women’s rights activists from 141 countries. Of these participants, around 65% were from the Global South and close to 15% were young women under 30, and 75% attended an AWID Forum for their first time.
The Forum program focused on transforming economic power to advance women’s rights and justice and featured over 170 different kinds of sessions including feminist economics toolbox skills-building sessions, breakout sessions representing all 10 Forum themes, in-depth sessions, and solidarity roundtables.
Building on the momentum of the 2012 Forum, we transformed the website into a resource and learning Hub, which builds on the content generated by participants by featuring multi-media resources on all Forum components.
Visit the 2012 Forum web archive
All AWID Forums
- 2016: Feminist Futures: Building Collective Power for Rights and Justice (Costa de Sauipe, Brazil). Read the 2016 Forum Evaluation report
- 2012: Transforming Economic Power to Advance Women's Rights and Justice (Istanbul, Turkey)
- 2008: The Power of Movements (Cape Town, South Africa). Read our 2008 Forum Report
- 2005: How does change happen? (Bangkok, Thailand)
- 2002: Reinventing Globalization (Guadalajara, Mexico)
- 1999: Leading Solutions for Equality and Justice (US)
- 1996: Beyond Beijing From Words to Action (US)
- 1993: Joining Forces to Further Shared Visions (US)
- 1991: Working Together/Learning Together: A South North Dialogue (US)
- 1989/1990: Global Em-Powerment for Women (US)
- 1987: Moving Forward: Innovations in Development Policy, Action and Research (US)
- 1985: Women Creating Wealth; Transforming Economic Development (US)
- 1983: ‘Women in Development’ (Washington D.C, US)
Zarema Sadulayeva
We re-grant money to grantee partners and identify as a feminist and/or women’s fund, should we take the survey?
No, we very much appreciate your work but are not asking for responses from women’s and feminist funds at this time. We do encourage you to share the survey with your grantee partners and feminist networks.
Patience Chabururuka
Biography
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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Leyla Yıldızhan (Deniz Fırat)
Snippet FEA Nous Sommes la Solution (EN)
Nous Sommes la Solution is a rural women 's movement for food sovereignty in West Africa. Founded originally as a campaign against hyper-industrialized agriculture, Nous Sommes la Solution has grown into a movement of more than 500 rural women’s associations from Burkina Faso, Senegal, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Mali and Guinea.
Together, this women-led movement is building and strengthening food and seed sovereignty across West Africa. They feed communities, strengthen local economies, amplify the knowledge of women farmers and mitigate the devastating effects of climate change through agroecological practices. They also organize workshops, forums and community radio broadcasts to share their messages, their traditional knowledges and agroecological practices across rural communities.
In collaboration with universities and public research centers, Nous Sommes la Solution works towards restoring traditional Indigenous varieties of rice (a staple food in West Africa) and promoting local food economies based on agroecological principles, influencing national policy-making, all the while supporting women in creating farming associations and collectively owning and managing farmland.
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Ana Fabricia Cordóba Cabrera
¿Puedo acceder a la encuesta y responderla desde el teléfono?
Sí, es posible acceder a la encuesta mediante un teléfono inteligente.
Debbie Stothard
Biography
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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