GENEVA (7 October 2019) – Mistreatment and violence against women during childbirth are widespread and systematic human rights violations that continue to blight the lives of women across the globe and must be stopped, says UN rights expert Dubravka Šimonović.
“Women giving birth have the right to receive dignified and respectful care free from violence and mistreatment, yet the reality of millions worldwide who have finally spoken up is quite the opposite,” said Šimonović, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, presenting a report to the UN General Assembly.
“Women are suffering violations ranging from verbal abuse, sexist behaviour and profound humiliation, to physical violence such as unnecessary, compulsory and routine medical procedures carried out without full and informed consent.
Direct Link to Full 16-Page Oxfam 2019 Publication:
[Brussels, 16 September 2019] We have witnessed much progress on many aspects of equality between women and men, something that is inspired by women’s resilience and their fight to push for more equality all over the world. However, we are also witnessing a very general backlash in many parts of the world, including Europe, on various issues such as women’s sexual and reproductive health rights, and violence against women. There is still not a single country in the world where women are completely free from male violence.
Prostitution remains a central form of institutionalised violence against women, an issue the European Women’s Lobby (EWL) has recognised for more than 20 years. This is why we advocate through the campaign Brussels’ Call: Together for a Europe Free from Prostitution for a legislative model which decriminalises all of those directly affected by prostitution while holding the pimps, traffickers and punters (‘buyers’) to account. We believe in creating a Europe where women have real freedom to achieve their dreams, where the State provides those opportunities, and where violence against women in all forms is deemed absolutely unacceptable.
This theme focuses on people who have migrated and aged in a host country, those who have fled their countries in older age, and those who are left behind without necessary support.
Direct Link to Full 48-Page 2018 World Health Organization Publication:
http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/386562/elderly-eng.pdf?ua=1
GENEVA (IPS) – Increasing economic inequality is a defining challenge of our time. In recent years, it has triggered analysis and reflection by many scholars, politicians and others on its causes and consequences on economic growth and efficiency, politics and democracy, human rights, individual behaviors, access to health, social cohesion and environmental degradation. The perception that the top 1% of income earners are gaining at the expense of the other 99% has resulted in widespread public debates in many countries on the social and political repercussions of inequality.
Inequalities in income and wealth are often blamed for the deepening anxieties of the middle class in many developed economies. Market power among business elites and multinational companies – in pursuit of higher profits – are one of the key drivers to inequality as access to resources remain in the hands of powerful business groups, and not in the hands of the people and their elected representatives. Serious doubts are therefore raised on the claims that globalization, technological developments and the “invisible hand” of capitalism and economic liberalism have liberated humans from disease, poverty and inequality.
