By Barbara Crossette - August 15, 2016
Burmese Buddhists attack Muslims and Christians. Indian Hindu zealots kills Muslims and Christians and trash their places of worship. In the Central African Republic, Muslims are driven from the country by Christians. The Middle East and parts of North Africa are aflame with sectarian violence, and religious minorities are the most vulnerable to persecution, even genocide. Atheists who reject all formal religions do not escape targeting in numerous places.
On Aug. 10, the United States State Department introduced the latest annual report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, which singled out more than two dozen nations as “countries of particular concern” and others nearing that level of documented abuse and discrimination. The bipartisan commission advises the president, the State Department and the Congress on issues of international religious freedom.
By Beth Goldblatt © 2016 – Routledge - 241 pages
About the Book
The right to social security, found in international law and in the constitutions of many nations, contributes to the alleviation of poverty globally. Social security and its articulation as a human right have received increased attention in recent years both in response to austerity cuts to welfare in developed countries and as a means of lifting millions out of poverty in developing countries. Women, disproportionately affected by poverty in all parts of the world, stand to gain from a right to social security that takes cognisance of gender discrimination and disadvantage.
This book interprets and redefines the right to social security from a gender perspective. Drawing on feminist theory, the book formulates a conceptual approach and a set of principles for a substantively equal, gendered right to social security. In so doing, it challenges the relationship between the right to social security and traditional conceptions of work that exclude women’s labour including their caring roles. It argues that the right must have application at the transnational level if it is to address the changing nature of women’s work due to globalisation.
General Comment No. 35 of the UN Human Rights Committee can have definite significance to women and girls, and those dear to them. This General Comment states: “The right to security of person protects individuals against intentional infliction of bodily or mental injury, regardless of whether the victim is detained or non-detained.” It also includes death threats. This General Comment refers to Liberty & Integrity of the Person, and thus can extend to abductions and kidnapping, unlawful and arbitrary detention, treatment in prisons, forced confinement, and a multitude of situations in our complex, volatile, conflict-pervasive world. Women in media and women human rights defenders, trafficked and confined women, human slaves, will assuredly see important text in this General Comment.
“Deprivation of liberty and security of person have historically been principal means for impairing the enjoyment of other rights.”
UN Human Rights Committee - http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CCPR/Pages/CCPRIntro.aspx
11 August 2016
Modern slavery rife in 58% of countries – China & India among 25 economies posing ‘extreme’ supply chain risks – Global Index
UK one of only four major Western economies identified as ‘low risk’ in new Modern Slavery Index
Modern slavery constitutes a ‘high’ or ‘extreme risk’ in 115 countries, according to a new global ranking released by risk analytics company Verisk Maplecroft. The research concludes that Asian and African commodity producers and manufacturing countries pose the greatest challenge to companies navigating new legislation on supply chain disclosure, such as the UK Modern Slavery Act. Significantly, the Asian heavyweight exporters of China and India feature in the ‘extreme risk’ category, alongside important natural resource hubs, including DR Congo, Iran and Côte d’Ivoire.
With only four major Western economies – the UK, Germany, Denmark and Finland – rated ‘low risk’, the authors of the study also stress that nowhere is fully immune to what British Prime Minister Theresa May has dubbed “the great human rights issue of our time”. The UK is ranked 187th out of 198 countries in the index. A number of European economies, such as Sweden, France and Ireland, are on the cusp of being ‘low risk’.
Women hold a cardboard sign in Nepal. Can gender equality be achieved with data? Photo by: Stephan Bachenheimer / World Bank / CC BY-NC-ND
By Kelli Rogers- 09 August 2016
Once relegated to fringe conversations, gender data saw its name printed on agendas at Women Deliver 2016 and its quantitative and qualitative potential uttered aloud and debated by small startups and donors alike.
In Copenhagen, Melinda Gates sent gender data’s popularity soaring when she announced that half of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s $80 million gender equality commitment would go toward closing the gender data gap. Plan International CEO Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen added to the momentum by presenting a new partnership — in the form of a gender data SDG tracker — to ensure decision-makers are held accountable on promises to achieve equality for girls and women. McKinsey & Co., meanwhile, shared a data-heavy follow-up to its Power of Parity report to show where resources need to be focused in order for women to reach their economic potential. And most recently, Jordan’s Queen Rania explained to TIME why good gender data is necessary for helping female refugees.
