Press and Publications

A new convention on crimes against humanity (CAH) is in its final draft stages — and recently hit a new milestone. Following a campaign led by MADRE, Outright Action International and CUNY Law School, the International Law Commission (ILC) took a crucial step. In the latest draft, the outdated definition of gender — which placed many at risk and limited rights protections — was removed. 

MADRE and the CUNY School of Law joined a coalition of organizations to convene an experts’ meeting, bringing together 25 international experts and scholars in the fields of international criminal law and gender rights. 

Dear Friend,

This International Women's Day, I'm pausing for a moment to reflect. I'm thinking about the feminist future we're struggling towards — and what it looks like when we win.

A feminist future draws closer each time we educate a girl. Each time we create protections that allow women to live life free of discrimination and violence. Each time a woman steps up into leadership to demand change in her community and in the world.

I'm grateful for MADRE, for our partners, and for you — and for the daily actions we each take to bring our progressive vision of the future to life.

As the world turns its attention away from the goodwill of the PyeongChang Olympics, the Trump Administration is doubling down on its hostility towards North Korea — this time in the form of aggressive new sanctions announced on Friday that target that country’s ability to carry out trade.

A potentially precedent-setting petition at the International Criminal Court could help human rights advocates and survivors of gender-based crimes in conflict.

In Iraq, including in areas controlled by ISIS, women, girls, LGBTIQ people, and those otherwise perceived as stepping outside of traditional gender roles have been targeted for violence on a staggering scale. 

In the year ahead, you’ll keep going beyond resistance, through MADRE. Here’s a snapshot of what we’ll accomplish together.

Happy New Year and Happy 35th Anniversary to MADRE! We are honored and delighted to write to you today, as the Co-Chairs of MADRE's Board of Directors, to kick off our celebration of MADRE's 35 incredible years of advancing women's human rights and working to build a world of equality, justice and peace for all!

 

Israel has announced a blacklist of 20 organizations barred from entering the country -- targeted because of their support of the tactic of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) to end unjust Israeli policies.

This year, MADRE’s Helping Hands program delivered life-saving medicines and health supplies to Indigenous communities in Nicaragua as well as prescription eyeglasses to families struggling with lack of healthcare coverage in the US.

Three organizations announced a petition on Wednesday asking the International Criminal Court (ICC) to bring charges against ISIS for persecuting the people under its control on the basis of gender — including the public execution of men alleged to be gay. The petition is being submitted to the ICC by the New York-based women’s rights group Madre, the Organization for Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), and City University of New York School of Law. It will be formally presented Wednesday afternoon at an event with ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.

 

A petition to the International Criminal Court (ICC) regarding ISIS crimes will be the first of its kind, seeking to advance protection of the rights of women and LGBTIQ people on the international stage. Filed jointly by three non-governmental organizations—MADRE, the Human Rights and Gender Justice (HRGJ) Clinic of the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law, and the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI)—the petition makes the case that the International Criminal Court should prosecute ISIS fighters for crimes they have committed on the basis of gender, including discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.