Defending human rights remains a dangerous activity in some countries where defenders continue to be threatened, charged with criminal offences, arbitrarily arrested, attacked, tortured, subject to enforced disappearances and even killed, according to Margaret Sekaggya, Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders.
“I have seen the space for civil society and defenders visibly shrink in many parts of the world,” said Sekaggya during the presentation of her final report to the Human Rights Council’s 25th Session in Geneva, Switzerland. “Furthermore, I have observed the development of sophisticated forms of silencing the voices of defenders and impeding their work.”
These sophisticated forms include the application of legal and administrative provisions or the misuse of the judicial system to harass, criminalize and stigmatise their activities. State and non-state actors are involved in these acts, explained Sekaggya, and these acts not only endanger and undermine the work of human rights defenders, but also “impose a climate of fear and send an intimidating message to society at large.”
“In many countries, hate speech, and violent attacks motivated by perceived race or ethnicity, are on the rise,” said UN Human Rights Chief Navi Pillay, during a discussion to commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
he day was established in remembrance of the 69 unarmed and peaceful South African protestors who were killed in Sharpeville, South Africa on 21 March 1960—an event which inspired people around the world to act to end the racist apartheid regime.
Although in the last five decades since Sharpeville, apartheid was vanquished and racism has significantly retreated world-wide, discrimination regarding jobs, housing and other fundamental topics is still pervasive, said Pillay.
“What is astonishing to me is that in Europe, there is a belief that racism does not exist anymore—as if it is an illness and we found the cure,” said Emine Bozkurt, a member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, and Justice and Home Affairs.
"In my opinion, racism and racial discrimination are very much present across Europe,” she said.
The United Nations 2013 World Youth Report offers a broad understanding of the situation of young migrants from the perspective of young migrants themselves. The report highlights some of the concerns, challenges and successes experienced by young migrants based on their own lives and told in their own voices. The report focuses largely on the phenomena of international migration which increasingly has a significant impact on the origin, transit and destination countries and communities. The consequences are complex, context-specific and subject to change over time. The Report has been drafted in an interactive manner, allowing you to navigate chapters individually.
Извор: WUNRN – 01.04.2014
Prepared by Katrin Elborgh-Woytek, Monique Newiak, Kalpana Kochhar, Stefania Fabrizio, Kangni Kpodar, Philippe Wingender, Benedict Clements, and Gerd Schwartz
Women make up a little over half the world’s population, but their contribution to measured economic activity, growth, and well-being is far below its potential, with serious macroeconomic consequences.
Despite significant progress in recent decades, labor markets across the world remain divided along gender lines, and progress toward gender equality seems to have stalled. Female labor force participation (FLFP) has remained lower than male participation, women account for most unpaid work,and when women are employed in paid work, they are overrepresented in the informal sector and among the poor. They also face significant wage differentials vis-à-vis their male colleagues. In many countries, distortions and discrimination in the labor market restrict women’s options for paid work, and female representation in senior positions and entrepreneurship remains low.
The challenges of growth, job creation, and inclusion are closely intertwined. While growth and stability are necessary to give women the opportunities they need, women’s participation in the labor market is also a part of the growth and stability equation. In particular, in rapidly aging economies, higher femaleblabor force participation can boost growth by mitigating the impact of a shrinking workforce. Better opportunities for women can also contribute to broader economic development in developing economies, for instance through higher levels of school enrollment for girls.
Direct Link to Full 32-Page 2013 Publication
Извор: WUNRN – 02.04.2014
March 2014 - This FRA (European Union Agency For Fundamental Rights) survey is the first of its kind on violence against women across the 28 Member States of the European Union (EU). It is based on interviews with 42,000 women across the EU, who were asked about their experiences of physical, sexual and psychological violence, including incidents of intimate partner violence (‘domestic violence’).
One in three women report physical or sexual abuse since age of 15, with largest number of victims in Denmark.
Violence against women is "an extensive human rights abuse" across Europe with one in three women reporting some form of physical or sexual abuse since the age of 15 and 8% suffering abuse in the last 12 months, according to the largest survey of its kind on the issue.
The survey, based on interviews with 42,000 women across 28 EU member states, found extensive abuse across the continent, which typically goes unreported and undetected by the authorities.
Morten Kjaerum, director of FRA, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, which was responsible for the survey, said: "Violence against women, and specifically gender-based violence that disproportionately affects women, is an extensive human rights abuse that the EU cannot afford to overlook."
