“Women’s rights are human rights” was the rallying cry nearly 20 years ago of women human rights defenders in Beijing as they pushed Governments to recognize that violence and discrimination against women are fundamental human rights concerns.
To recognize the work that the defenders have done in the 20 years since the adoption of the Platform for Action, the UN Human Rights Office hosts #reflect2protect. This campaign will highlight some of the work currently being undertaken by women’s human rights defenders.
In addition, the campaign also encourages all people to express their solidarity with women’s human rights defenders through social media channels and including mirror selfies of themselves. There is also a video to introduce the campaign.
In 1995, Governments made commitments to improve women’s rights and achievements with a Platform for Action – an ambitious vision for achieving women’s rights and equality. The plan covers 12 areas of concern on diverse issues such as armed conflict, poverty, girl child, violence against women, and health.
Next year the world will reach a historic moment. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), development targets adopted by the international community in 2000, are set to expire. In their wake will come a new development agenda, commonly called the post-2015 development framework. This new framework is an opportunity to put human rights on the front burner of global development, which, despite progress in many areas, the MDGs ultimately failed to do.
This renewed emphasis on human rights could mean a sea change for women everywhere. Unlike the MDGs, which kept its focus on women’s rights fairly narrow—mostly on education, maternal health, and women’s political participation—the post-2015 development framework may allow for a more holistic conceptualization. One way it could showcase this broader scope is by tackling the issue of women’s land and property rights, an often overlooked yet crucial facet of women’s equality.
Women’s land and property rights have implications that go well beyond housing and tilled earth.
A group of activists tracking the inclusion of gender in the U.N. climate negotiations at Lima’s COP20, during a Dec. 9 panel. Credit: Diego Arguedas Ortiz/IPS
LIMA, Dec 10 2014 (IPS) - Despite international acknowledgement that women are disproportionately affected by climate change, the Lima climate negotiations have been slow to deliver progress on recognising their importance, while threats of pushback loom on the horizon.
“There are references to gender in those documents, but the language is overall weak. This is why we are pushing for gender equality, instead of gender balance,” Mrinalini Rai, a Nepali gender and indigenous peoples adviser for the Global Forest Coalition, told IPS.
Rai complained that some governments, led by Saudi Arabia, are trying to eradicate the concept of gender equality – promoted by nations like Mexico – from the negotiating texts discussed at the 20th Conference of the Parties (COP20) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), running Dec. 1-12.
“We feel marginalised and what I’ve seen is that women really suffer because of climate change. It’s affecting us, our farmland and our harvests. You can’t tell anymore when each season is going to be; that’s one of the reasons we decided to come to Lima.” -- Bertha Guarachi
AWID & the Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition (WHRD-IC) are re-launching Our Right to Safety: Women Human Rights Defenders' Holistic Approach to Protection.
This publication provides a reflection on the complex situations of women defenders who face threats and violations as a result of their work defending human rights.
The investigation asserts that both the violence experienced by women human rights defenders, as well as the impact that such aggressions have on their lives and activism, makes it necessary to adopt protection mechanisms that address the different needs and realities of WHRDs. Similarly, it moves away from the concept of protection that focuses solely on the physical aspect, towards one that also addresses the need to create an enabling environment for WHRDs to carry out their work safely.
The ideas and recommendations included in this publication were developed through a consultation process that reflects the experiences of women human rights defenders from various regions.
Our Right To Safety: Women Human Rights Defenders' Holistic Approach To Protection
Извор: WUNRN – 10.12.2014
Nearly 400,000 children in Gaza are suffering from psychosocial distress as a result of the 50-day armed conflict in 2014. Photo: UNICEF/Alessio Romenzi
Never in recent memory have so many children been subjected to such unspeakable brutality, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said today, as 2014 has been “devastating” for some 15 million children caught up in violent conflicts around the world.
“This has been a devastating year for millions of children,” said Anthony Lake, UNICEF Executive Director, in a press release issued by his organization.
“Children have been killed while studying in the classroom and while sleeping in their beds; they have been orphaned, kidnapped, tortured, recruited, raped and even sold as slaves,” Mr. Lake said. “Never in recent memory have so many children been subjected to such unspeakable brutality.”
As many as 15 million children are caught up in violent conflicts in the Central African Republic, Iraq, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and in the Occupied Palestinian territories – including those displaced in their own countries or living as refugees outside their homeland, according to UNICEF.
