On March 5th, UN Women Executive Director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka presented UN Women’s newest report “Women’s rights in review 25 years after Beijing”, on March 5th New York City. The Feminist Alliance for Rights was invited to reflect on the role of the feminist movement in this journey.
Our colleague Anya Victoria, Senior Program Coordinator of FAR, took this opportunity to bring many of the concerns our members have voiced in the past regarding the current climate of pushback where spaces for women’s rights organizations and women human rights defenders -from the Global South and North- continue to shrink and where reprisals are happening with impunity. In this context, Anya Victoria noted that the convergence of fundamentalist, authoritarian and populist forces have had a negative impact on efforts to achieve gender equality as they are challenging established international standards on women’s rights and reinterpreting them in ways that negate and exclude women’s experiences.
Anya Victoria emphasized that in the current challenging environment, the cross regional networks have a very important role to play. In reference to our work as a global alliance, she shared that taking an intersectional and multi-disciplinary approach, FAR amplifies the voices of women from the Global South and those of marginalized communities from the Global North to enhance their leadership to influence global norms and processes and strengthen State accountability.
To wrap up, on behalf of FAR, Anya Victoria called on UN agencies, human rights mechanisms and the international community to stand with us -women- in the quest for justice and human rights for all in this time of crisis and transition.
