WHRnet is a project of the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID)

Founded in 1997, WHRnet aims to provide reliable, comprehensive, and timely information and analyses on women's human rights in English, Spanish and French.

WHRnet updates readers on women's human rights issues and policy developments globally and provides information and analyses that support advocacy actions. A team of regionally based content specialists provides regular News, Interviews, Perspectives, Alert and Campaign information, and Web Highlights.

The site provides an introduction to women's human rights issues worldwide; an overview of UN/Regional Human Rights Systems; a Research Tool that serves as gateway to the best available online resources relevant to Women's human rights advocacy; and a comprehensive collection of related Links.

WHRnet News: A Global Link to Women's Human Rights News, Views and Analysis is our regular e-bulletin. (To subscribe, email whrnet@awid.org with the word "subscribe" in the subject line).

In July 2003, WHRnet was handed over to the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) as a special programme/project of this organization. This transition was the result of a consultative process aimed at finding a "home" for WHRnet's virtual format. This exciting and new collaboration serves to provide WHRnet with an international coordinating office as well as with institutional support and structure.

There are many synergies that exist both in the work of WHRnet and AWID. To find out more about AWID please visit http://www.awid.org.

Founding Partners

The founding partners of WHRnet are part of a global movement for women's human rights that emerged in advance of the World Conference of Human Rights (Vienna, 1993) and grew steadily through the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995) and beyond. Although no longer formally engaged in the activities of WHRnet, the founding partners and organizations of WHRnet played a pivotal role in the development of the project. A list of the founding partners can be found below.

Asian Centre for Human Rights (ASCENT) - Philippines
BAOBAB for Women's Human Rights - Nigeria
Be Active Be Emancipated (B.a.B.e.) - Croatia
Center for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL) - USA
Centro Feminista de Estudos e Assessoria (CFEMEA ) - Brasil
Global Women in Politics Program, The Asia Foundation (GWIP)
Human Rights Watch (HRW) - Women's Rights Division - USA
ILANUD (Programa Mujer, Justicia y Género) - Costa Rica
Information Monitor (INFORM) - Sri Lanka
International Women's Human Rights Law Clinic (IWHR) - USA
International Women's Rights Action Watch - Asia Pacific (IRAW-AP) - Global/Malaysia
International Women's Tribune Center (IWTC) - USA
ISIS International - Chile
ISIS WICCE - Uganda
Masimanyane Women's Support Centre (MASWSC) - South Africa
Rights and Democracy/Droits et Democratiè (formerly ICHRDD) - Canada
Shirkat Gah Women's Resource Centre - Pakistan
Womankind Worldwide - UK
Women's Caucus for Gender Justice in the International Criminal Court (ICC) - USA
Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF) - Zimbabwe
Women, Law & Development International (WLDI) - USA
Women's Learning Partnership for Rights, Development, and Peace (WLP) - US/Global
Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) - UK/Global
Women's Rights Advocacy Program, International Human Rights Law Group - USA

Hyperlinks to founding partners with websites can be found on the Links page.

A team of women's human rights specialists feed into the content of WHRnet with regular brainstorming sessions. If you would like to contribute your ideas, please write to us at whrnet@awid.org.

The work of WHRnet is currently carried out by an international team:

Shareen Gokal (Canada)
Eman Ahmad (Canada)
Donna Sullivan (U.S.A)
Dana Benciu (Canada)
Lina Gomez (Canada)

Translation:
Alejandra Sarda (Argentina)
Anne Witt-Greenberg (USA)
Nicole Lisa (USA)

WHRnet welcomes feedback from our visitors. If you have comments or would like to forward any items for possible inclusion on our site, please write to whrnet@awid.org.

WHRnet reserves the right to edit any contributions used. While we strive to ensure that the WHRnet site is as comprehensive as possible, due to limited resources, we regret that we are unable to respond to individual research queries or requests for specialized information, or to provide referrals to legal or other services.

AWID gratefully acknowledges support received from HIVOS, the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation and Rights & Democracy for this site.