Press and Publications

Today, the international women’s rights organization MADRE announced the launch of its Feminist Foreign Policy Jumpstart, an initiative to bring global women’s voices and solutions to progressive policymaking in the US.

Like many, you may be trying to wrap your mind around last night’s State of the Union. Here are some of my thoughts and links to resources you might find helpful.

 

Afro-Colombian human rights defenders Sara Quiñonez and Tulia Maris Valencia, activists with our local partner organization Proceso de Comunidades Negras (PCN), have been unjustly detained. Their imprisonment is in retaliation for their community organizing to demand peace and justice. Here is a summary update and action recently shared by PCN.

Together with our partner in Nepal, the National Indigenous Women's Forum, we put forward a report to the UN presenting 15 recommendations on guaranteeing equal rights for Indigenous women in Nepal. 

Today, International Women Human Rights Defenders Day, is an opportunity to recommit yourself to stand with those women who refuse to back down, who reveal what the powerful want to keep hidden and who won’t be held back.

I've just returned from a fact-finding trip to Arizona, where we visited gender violence survivors at the Eloy detention center. They have come from countries across the region to seek asylum here in the US. But instead of sanctuary, many of them are trapped in long-term detention in a system stacked against them. Trump's latest executive order, announced while I was in Arizona, makes it even worse, upending asylum law to reject even more people seeking safety. 

The Brisas del Cauca community in Colombia is demanding the right to be resettled and rehoused with dignity. By taking local action and bringing applying our international advocacy strategy to the cause, MADRE is helping to seek justice for this community.

Proceso de Comunidades Negras en Colombia (PCN), an Afro-descendant rights organization, has received the Tomorrow’s Peacebuilders award – one of only three organizations worldwide to be granted the honor.

This report, published in advance of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women pre-sessional review of the Democratic Republic of the Congo's human rights record in November 2018, documents human rights violations against women and girls, including threats to and violations of their gender-based human rights and participation in peace building efforts, particularly in the eastern provinces of the country. This report informs the Committee's creation of the List of Issues that will be posed to the Government of the DRC before the official hearing in 2019.

A new international treaty is in the works, focusing on crimes against humanity such as massacres, torture, and rape. However, the draft treaty adopts an opaque definition of gender, that would give some governments an excuse to ignore persecution of women and LGBTIQ people. Most civil society groups are unaware of the treaty and have not weighed in. Today, activists are launching a campaign calling on the international community to affirm our understanding of discrimination, including when based on sexual orientation, gender identity or sex characteristics.

In Kenya, MADRE partners with Indigenous women leaders who organize to build healthier and more resilient communities. Together, we combat the dangers of climate change by creating sustainable farming initiatives and protecting water sources. We advocate for the rights of women and girls to be educated, to be safe from violence and to step up as leaders. We're excited to share these two videos, to give you a glimpse at that work.

MADRE staff visited our partners in Guatemala earlier this year, traveling from community to community to meet with grassroots women organizers. We saw so clearly the impact that supporters like you make possible and wanted to share a few stories and snapshots with you.