Empowering persons with disabilities and securing their rights will advance society as a whole, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said today as he urged strengthening global cooperation and partnership on the matter at the Eighth Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The three-day meeting, which opened today at UN Headquarters in New York, aims to take stock of past achievements and looks ahead at strategies for the future. The treaty on persons with disabilities was adopted by the UN General Assembly in April, 2006, following five years of negotiations.
“The Convention of 2006 marked a conceptual shift – from a charity and medical approach to the human rights-based view of disability. This shift will guide us in the right direction going forward,” Mr. Eliasson said today in his opening remarks.
“Our fundamental message then and now is that all human beings are equal and that we constantly have to live up to this assertion of human dignity,” he added as he commended the Convention’s 154 States Parties, and the 86 that have ratified or acceded to its Optional Protocol.
“Similarly, I call on all other countries to join the Convention and carry out its provisions,” the Deputy Secretary-General added.
The data in the table below has been compiled by the Inter-Parliamentary Union on the basis of information provided by National Parliaments by 1st May 2015.190 countries are classified by descending order of the percentage of women in the lower or single House. Comparative data on the world and regional averages as well as data concerning the two regional parliamentary assemblies elected by direct suffrage can be found on separate pages. You can use the PARLINE database to view detailed results of parliamentary elections by country.
Gender-Based Discrimination and Economic Inequalities
United Nations - A/HRC/29/31
General Assembly
Distr.: General; 27 May 2015; Original: English
Human Rights Council
Twenty-ninth session
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development
Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston
Summary
In the present report, the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights focuses on the relationship between extreme poverty and extreme inequality and argues that a human rights framework is critical in addressing extreme inequality.
In the report, the Special Rapporteur provides an overview of the widening economic and social inequalities around the world; illustrates how such inequalities stifle equal opportunity, lead to laws, regulations and institutions that favour the powerful, and perpetuate discrimination against certain groups, such as women; and further discusses the negative effects of economic inequalities on a range of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.
A/HRC/29/27
Advance Edited Version
Distr.: General
10 June 2015
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Twenty-ninth session
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,mpolitical, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development
Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Rashida Manjoo*
12 June 2015 – Some 400 million people do not have access to health services and 6 per cent of people in low- and middle-income countries are tipped into or pushed further into extreme poverty because of the high cost of health spending, according to a report released today by the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) and World Bank Group.
“The world’s most disadvantaged people are missing out on even the most basic services,” Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO Assistant Director-General, Health Systems and Innovation, said in a joint WHO/World Bank press release.
"A commitment to equity is at the heart of universal health coverage,” continued Dr. Kieny. “Health policies and programmes should focus on providing quality health services for the poorest people, women and children, people living in rural areas and those from minority groups.”
The joint WHO/World Bank report, Tracking universal health coverage: First global monitoring report, is the first of its kind to measure health service coverage and financial protection to assess countries’ progress towards universal health coverage.
