Gender Justice Without Borders

The United Nations has begun its annual gathering on women’s rights, a coalition of international women’s, LGBTQ & immigrant justice organizations have launched a joint initiative called: No Borders on Gender Justice. This coalition, participating in the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), highlights that this year’s session takes place under the shadow of escalated anti-immigrant, anti-refugee & anti-Muslim policies of the United States. The organizers point to the new executive order by the Trump Administration, set to take effect this Thursday, as the latest in an exclusionary trend that prevents women from exercising their rights to political participation at UN Headquarters. Yanar Mohammed, President of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq, spoke out in solidarity with women’s rights activists excluded by these policies stating “This is not the time to keep us out of the meeting rooms, out of the decision-making spaces & away from our sisters at CSW.” The No Borders on Gender Justice initiative seeks to renew strategies to reclaim space to defend the full range of women’s human rights, protest racist & Islamophobic policies that bar access, amplify the demands of those who have been excluded, and deepen collaboration with women most at risk from authoritarianism. Organizers have also released a platform of principles, available here. The organizations co-sponsoring this initiative are: MADRE, Just Associates (JASS), Center for Women’s Global Leadership, AWID, Urgent Action Fund, Women in Migration Network & OutRight Action International.
For More Info: outrightinternational.org
Listen: Advancing LGBT Equality Nationally & Globally