Over the past decades, people’s tribunals have been convened around war crimes, state violence, and human rights abuses – each time demonstrating that people themselves can reclaim the authority to name harm and demand accountability. They take shape when institutions fail to confront systemic harm, offering a public space where communities can speak truths that would otherwise remain unheard. Women’s tribunals, in particular, have made visible the everyday and extraordinary forms of violence that official systems have too often ignored or failed to address.
A defining moment in this history was the 1976 International Tribunal on Crimes Against Women in Brussels, where more than 2,000 women from over the world gathered to testify. Their stories of sexual violence, forced motherhood, medical abuse, economic oppression, and the persecution of lesbians, were spoken collectively, many for the first time. As the Tribunal did not claim legal authority, its power came from the act of women naming their experiences together and insisting that these were not private tragedies but political realities.
Fifty years later, the urgency that animated Brussels has not faded. Gender‑based violence continues to shape lives across Europe and beyond, intersecting with racism, migration, precarity, and queerphobia. 2026WOMEN Tribunal takes up this legacy and expands it, creating a transnational space where women and queer people can testify, create, and imagine new forms of justice.
The 2026WOMEN Tribunal was intentionally designed to be safe and diverse, focusing on the struggles, needs and hopes of women and gender minorities. You will see that reflected on out choice for a FINTA public. That means that our free activities over the week will be open for female, inter-sex, non-binary, transgender and agender persons.
Calling a tribunal in 2026 is both a remembrance and a renewal. It invites communities to gather, to listen, and to confront the structures that perpetuate harm. It asks us to participate as witnesses and allies in a collective process of truth‑telling.
Joining the 2026WOMEN Tribunal means standing with those who refuse silence. It means helping shape a public record that institutions have failed to produce, and believing that when voices rise together, they can shift what feels possible. Built in collaboration with more than 40 grassroots partner organisations, the 2026WOMEN Tribunal creates a safe and vibrant space for learning, exchange, creativity, political action, and collective celebration. Join us for four days of ARTivism and ACTivism as we work toward more just futures!
Text: Maria Teresa Bizarria
Picture: Anna Kestens