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Association for Advocacy and Legal Initiatives

Lucknow, India
Joined February 2019

Association for Advocacy and Legal Initiatives (AALI) is a women-led and women-run human rights organization committed to the protection and advancement of the human rights of women, children.

Presence in: India
Focus: Criminal Justice, Gender-based violence, Right to Information, Women's Rights

Association for Advocacy and Legal Initiatives is a women-led and women-run human rights organization committed to the protection and advancement of the human rights of women, children and other marginalized communities. With direct field presence in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarkhand and Jharkhand, AALI has been providing technical support to various human rights organisations and groups across India.

Established in 1998, AALI’s ideological framework, rooted in the United Nation’s CEDAW, envisions “an egalitarian system which recognizes women as equal human beings and promotes and protects their social, economic, and political rights guaranteed in the Constitution of India and in the international human rights treaties.”

Based on feminist perspective and human rights approach, AALI believes the law is both a powerful tool to ensure social justice as well as a site for change, hence it works with a multi-pronged strategic framework viz. Advocacy, Access to Justice and Capacity Building.

In keeping with this AALIs core mission is to

  • Facilitate access to justice for women and children, especially those from vulnerable and marginalized communities at the grass-root level
  • Better implementation and usage of laws for protection and promotion of women’s human rights through evidence based advocacy with different stake holders
  • Demanding state accountability for promoting, protecting and ensuring women’s human rights
  • Empowering women and children with an understanding of the constitutional framework and laws to enable them to demand their rights and participate in all levels of governance

Facilitate inclusion of voices from the local level in the national and global discourse on women’s human rights.

People Associated With This Organization

Aalima Zaidi

India  
Association for Advocacy and Legal...
Joined April 2021
Interests: Criminal Justice, Gender-based violence, Governance, Accountability & Transparency, Other, Peace-building & Transitional Justice, Policy Advocacy, Right to Information, Women's Rights
I am a practicing lawyer and leading coordinator of casework unit of Association for advocacy and legal initiatives (AALI) Casework unit is dedicated for free legal aid including legal counseling, helping for lodging FIR and filing cases in different courts of Lucknow Head office.Being coordinator of the unit, my main focus is always on encompassing the right to choice in relationship decision-making and violence against women, AALI’s Casework & Legal Support team handles a broad range of cases, including inter-caste and inter-religious marriages, honor-related crimes (including cases of acid attack), domestic violence from marital or natal family, forced marriages, child sexual abuse, custodial violence, and rape, among others. In adhering to the organization’s interpretation of the right to choice in relationships, in the past AALI has taken up a same-sex relationship case. Survivors are not turned away as a result of inability to bear any financial cost.
Also, I look after fact-finding and legal support because these are critical components of our casework efforts, as they facilitate the social mediation process and provide key data for lobbying relevant stakeholders. Particularly with respect to honor-related crimes, child sexual abuse, and identity-based violence, fact-finding evidence collected by the Casework & Legal Support team helps to raise the profiles of these issues among media and governmental actors, especially when gauging the level of state response. Much of the data collected by the Casework & Legal Support team for advocacy purposes comes from case analysis and family court data.
My Casework team engages in outreach to enhance general legal awareness, in particular as pertains to the rights of women against violence and the right to choice in sexual relationships. In addition, it supports AALI’s advocacy efforts through the distribution of literature, as well as by holding public meetings, building rapport with human rights defenders and like minded organizations, and forming linkages with relevant governmental actors.
This course includes practical skills sessions on topics like community innovative financing, providing legal services remotely, and using power mapping and case data for advocacy, which will surely help us because our work is also based on research and case data. Also this course emphasizes peer learning, because we have been giving training and creating network, so overall this will be a great learning opportunity.

Renu Mishra

India  
Association for Advocacy and Legal...
Joined February 2019
Interests: Criminal Justice, Gender-based violence, Right to Information, Women's Rights
Ms. Renu Mishra, Executive Director

Renu Mishra, a lawyer and the current Executive Director of AALI has been an integral part of the women’s movement for the past 16 years and been associated with (AALI) since 2007. She undertook direct case intervention and formulating legal strategies in cases of violence against women and children and has been a stimulating trainer on law and gender. In her work in the field of social justice and human rights at the grassroots she has broadened the scope of access to justice to more preventative work focusing on decent working conditions, economic empowerment and social inclusion. Renu is particularly invested in and has extensive experience in a woman’s right to choose and agency in relationships. She is a recipient of the International Women’s Day Shabri Award, 2010; the Hindustan Times Woman of the Year Award, 2014; and the Women Security Award, 2015.

Shubhangi Singh

India  
Association for Advocacy and Legal...
Joined April 2021
Interests: Women's Rights
Shubhangi Singh is a young and dedicated human rights advocate, who has been active in the social justice sector since her adolescence. After her association with some premier organizations in her student days, she joined the Association for Advocacy and Legal Initiatives (AALI) in 2012. Where she has worked extensively in providing direct socio-legal support in individual cases of gender and identity based violence with focus on women. Her solid grassroots experience in area of feminist-legal practices and multidimensional access to justice has aided her in taking up role as lead of AALI’s Resource Center and Advocacy Programme. Currently she works as an independent consultant advising several local youth organisations on feminist-legal approaches to engage with justice systems for the advancement of their causes like climate change and queer rights. Shubhangi’s growth and contribution in the field of Social Justice and Human Rights Lawyering has been toward applying her expertise toward impact documentation and evidence-based advocacy interventions with State and community as well as capacity building of youth, frontline defenders and key government functionaries for a multi-sectoral and legally robust rights-based preventive and curative action in cases of gender and identity based violations, while keeping focus on rights and needs of oppressed in their journey for justice. By joining this network, I’m looking to strengthen my knowledge and understanding of legal empowerment in the context of Asia-Pacific as well as for new opportunities for engagement.

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