APWLD is the leading network of feminist organisations and individual activists in Asia and the Pacific. Our 265 members represent groups of diverse women from 30 countries in Asia and the Pacific. Over the past 34 years, APWLD has actively worked towards advancing women’s human rights and Development Justice. We are an independent, non-governmental, non-profit organisation and hold consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

APWLD fosters feminist movements in Asia Pacific to influence laws, policies and practices at the local, national, regional and international levels. We develop capacities, produce and disseminate feminist analyses, conduct advocacy and foster networks and spaces for movement building to claim and strengthen women’s human rights. APWLD empowers women in the region to use law as an instrument of change for equality, justice, peace and Development Justice.

We believe that advances in women’s human rights are achieved and sustained when autonomous feminist movements exist and have an enabling environment to work. We believe that law can be repressive as well as transformative. We use feminist analysis to dissect, engage with and transform laws, legal practices and the systems that shape and inform them. We believe that the nexus of patriarchy with militarism, fundamentalisms and neo-liberal economic globalisation is responsible for gross violations of women’s human rights and fundamental freedoms. We believe that equality, Development Justice and the realisation of human rights can only happen when women, particularly marginalised women, are empowered to lead policy and legal debates and determine solutions. We believe, to achieve lasting and sustainable change, engagement with women themselves, both at the grassroots and policy making levels, is needed to bring a feminist approach and perspective to their advocacy.