“Without a doubt information and communication technologies (ICTs) are changing the way we carry out our activism – in our neighbourhoods or globally – and women´s rights activists are in the thick of it.” AWID interviewed Erika Smith of the Association for Progressive Communications Women's Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP) on women using ICTs to mobilize.

By Gabriela De Cicco

AWID: Can you tell us some of the ways that ICTs can and have been used to mobilize especially with regard to women’s rights?

FRIDAY FILE: Women have been at the forefront of demonstrations across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in the recent popular uprisings, which have received much media and international attention. In contrast, coverage of attacks on women human rights defenders (WHRDs) in Iraq’s Tahrir Square demonstrations has been limited, AWID asks why.

FRIDAY FILE: A wave of shortsighted pro-natalist policies throughout Eastern Europe exposes the failures of neoliberal reform to realize rights for young women in the region.

By Masum Momaya

As another June 12th – Russia’s “National Day” – passed in Moscow, the Kremlin calculated how successful its efforts have been to encourage Russia’s women to have more babies. Worried about declining population numbers, the Russian government has introduced a host of measures designed to encourage procreation.

FRIDAY FILE: On June 16, 2011 the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) 100th Annual Conference adopted the Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers which requires governments to protect the human and labour rights of domestic workers and defines minimum standards for decent working conditions.

By Kathambi Kinoti

FRIDAY FILE: In the current global context of persistent systemic crisis, women’s rights advocates, organizations and movements around the world have been struggling to identify possible alternatives to the neoliberal economic framework that is having a negative impact in the lives of so many people, but disproportionately on women.

By Diana Aguiar and Natalie Raaber

FRIDAY FILE: On June 28, 2009 a civilian-military led coup d’état took place in Honduras, which led to the violent repression of social movements. This oppression has intensified over the past months.

By Gabriela De Cicco

FRIDAY FILE: On April 11, 2011 the Tunisian transitional authorities ruled on a gender parity law, requiring equal numbers of women and men as candidates in the upcoming Constituent Assembly election. AWID interviewed Radhia Bel Hak Zekri, President of the Association of Tunisian Women for Research and Development (AFTURD), on the significance of this law for women and women’s rights in Tunisia.

By Massan d’Almeida

FRIDAY FILE: The Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4) that takes place from 29 November to 1 December 2011 in Busan, South Korea, will be a key moment where development actors gather to assess whether or not previous commitments on the Paris Declaration and Accra Agenda for Action have been met, and where important decisions on the development cooperation agenda could be made.

By Ana Ines Abelenda and Anne Schoenstein

FRIDAY FILE: A new network of women human rights defenders (WHRDs) in Papua New Guinea (PNG) brings together women leaders in the Eastern Highlands, the country’s most isolated region. AWID spoke with Indai Sajor, Gender Advisor for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) about the new network and what it hopes to achieve.

By Analía Penchaszadeh

FRIDAY FILE: The recent democratic revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, and the now ongoing uprisings in Libya, Syria, Bahrain and Yemen reveal the tales of the people. Dubbed the ‘Arab spring’[1], the uprisings have had differing reactions from both governments and civil society.

By Rochelle Jones