UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly & Association – Website:
https://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/assemblyassociation/pages/srfreedomassemblyassociationindex.aspx
In its resolution 15/21, adopted 10 years ago, the Human Rights Council established the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association to enhance the promotion and protection of these fundamental freedoms worldwide. With this historic decision, the Council recognized the need to support and protect civil society and all individuals seeking to enjoy their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association as part of its work to advance democracy and human rights. This decision reflected a universal understanding that democracy is only possible when people join together to express their political opinions, engage in literary and artistic pursuits and other cultural, economic and social activities, engage in religious observances or other beliefs, form and join trade unions and cooperatives, and elect leaders to represent their interests and hold them accountable.
GENEVA (10 July 2020) The UN women’s rights committee has called for a new era of human rights and gender justice, stressing that the lives of black women and girls also matter.
In a statement issued today, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) said it stood in solidarity with the millions of women and girls who joined the protests after the killing of George Floyd, insisting that their voices calling for an end of racism be heard.
The violence inflicted on George Floyd by four police officers in the United States in May has generated anti-racist protests and solidarity movements throughout the world. “At the most vulnerable moment, Mr. Floyd called for his mother, as have other victims before him, reminding us of the great loss, pain and economic dislocation that women experience in losing their children, spouses and partners, siblings and other family members in this unrelenting cycle of racist violence,” the Committee said.
While the majority of killings have been of African American men, African American women, including Yvonne Smallwood, Aiyana Jones, Sandra Bland, and Breonna Taylor, have also been victims of police brutality. Taylor was a 25-year-old emergency medical technician who was shot in her bed when police raided the wrong house in March 2020.
Women sit with their children on a footpath in Agra, India - Praveen Jain | ThePrint
A study by the United Nations Women's Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific found that women in the region are being disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Women are more likely to lose hours at work, experience higher levels of stress and have less health insurance than men on average, the study found.
Fewer Working Hours, Higher Stress, Drop in Income: UN Survey on How Covid-19 Affected Women
The surveys were conducted in April across Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Samoa, the Solomon Islands & Thailand.
TARAN DEOL 6 July, 2020
New Delhi: Women are more likely to have their working hours reduced, experience a higher rate of stress, and are less likely to be covered by health insurance in the wake of the Covid pandemic.
Countries seek innovative ways to mitigate the impact of disruptions and keep services going
Seventy-three countries have warned that they are at risk of stock-outs of antiretroviral (ARV) medicines as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new WHO survey conducted ahead of the International AIDS Society’s biannual conference. Twenty-four countries reported having either a critically low stock of ARVs or disruptions in the supply of these life-saving medicines.
The survey follows a modelling exercise convened by WHO and UNAIDS in May which forecasted that a six-month disruption in access to ARVs could lead to a doubling in AIDS-related deaths in sub-Saharan Africa in 2020 alone.
In 2019, an estimated 8.3 million people were benefiting from ARVs in the 24 countries now experiencing supply shortages. This represents about one third (33%) of all people taking HIV treatment globally. While there is no cure for HIV, ARVs can control the virus and prevent onward sexual transmission to other people.
Direct Link to Full 240-Page 2020 Report on The Global Food Crises:
Food insecurity refers to the lack of secure access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food for normal human growth and development and an active and healthy life. For people to be food secure, food must be both consistently available and accessible in sufficient quantities and diversity and households must be able to utilize (store, cook, prepare and share) the food in a way that has a positive nutritional impact.
The 2020 edition of The Global Report on Food Crises describes the scale of acute hunger in the world. It provides an analysis of the drivers that are contributing to food crises across the globe, and examines how the COVID-19 pandemic might contribute to their perpetuation or deterioration. The report is produced by the Global Network against Food Crises, an international alliance working to address the root causes of extreme hunger.
