Women's rights

My dear Mary, Henrietta, Minister Rodriguez, and distinguished activists from all over the world, Greetings to all of you, and let me say how glad I am to be here, to be able to thank you, profoundly, for your determination and clarity. I particularly thank the representatives of Governments that have signed the Declaration on children's rights and climate change. The struggle for climate justice – and effective, urgent climate action – is a struggle for human rights. Young people, in particular, have been at the forefront of this movement recently – marching peacefully and persistently; engaging in strategic litigation; helping to devise climate solutions; overturning obstacles and overcoming threats. Many young people are angry about the failure by leaders – of government, business and institutions – to act on the realities that all of us can see. Climate change is already underway, destroying lives, vital infrastructure and ecosystems.  No country, no economy, and ...

Secretaries-General of the Confederacion Sindical de Comisiones Obreras, the Unión General de Trabajadores and the International Trade Union Confederation Executive Secretary of ECLAC, Distinguished panellists, And to all of you, I thank you for your invitation to be a part of this strategy session, this discussion of climate priorities for action by the labour movement, globally, regionally and in countries. I honour the long-standing struggle of your movements to ensure the rights to decent work, to social security, and to many other labour rights. Workers' rights are human rights; your struggle for social justice and dignity is fundamentally a human rights struggle. In just two days, it will be Human Rights Day, which marks the universal acceptance that all human beings are born equal, with rights. The right to health. To be free of torture and discrimination. To decent housing, food, education, social protection. To live – and to work – in conditions of decency. ...

Arizza Nocum believes in the power of education to combat violent extremism. With her family, she founded the Kristiyano-Islam Peace Library, an NGO that has built libraries, provided scholarships, and distributed books and educational materials in conflict affected areas in her native Philippines. For Nocum, the lack of financial security, especially in areas in southern Philippines that have experienced conflict, have driven many young people to join violent extremist groups. “We built libraries, provided scholarships for young people affected by conflict and poverty. We do this because we believe that when young people don't have that opportunity to go to school and to have a productive job later on, they tend to turn to crime or even to violent extremism,” Nocum says. A 2012 estimate of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos indicates that 11 per cent of the population in the Philippines is of Muslim faith, the rest being predominantly Catholic. Nocum herself has s...

“We believe that fighting for the rights of youth is fighting for the rights of all generations,” said Dalí Silvia Angel, an indigenous youth rights activist. “Because these young people are going to be adults, they are going to be parents, grandparents.” Angel is an indigenous rights defender with Red de Jóvenes Indígenas (Indigenous Youth Network) in Mexico. She was recently in Geneva, taking part in the Social Forum, which focused this year on the promotion and protection of the rights of children and youth through education. Red is part of a network of youth groups across 15 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The organization provides space for indigenous young people to talk about the challenges they face, as well as leveraging their numbers to make visible problems that indigenous young people face. Latin America and the Caribbean region has one of the largest indigenous populations in the world. According to a report by the Economic Commission for Latin Americ...

Thokozani Ndaba, the Founder and Executive Director of Ntethelelo Foundation, lives in a country that has one of the highest rates of gender-based violence and killings in the world. According to the latest data, every single day the police receive over 100 cases of reported rape. Last year alone, 2,700 women and over 1,000 children died at the hands of another person. In the township of Alexandra, located on the outskirts of Sandton, South Africa – the professed richest square mile in Africa – tarred roads turn into dirt, snaking their way between small homes that are erected from corrugated iron and other easily scrounged materials. The stark contrast in inequality is palatable. Gender-based violence is also a regular occurrence, with compounded vulnerability in areas with high socio-economic inequality commonplace. It is in this place that Ndaba, a theater practitioner, human rights activist and performer, set the Ntethelelo Foundation. Her work comprises activism, education, ...

International Day for the Abolition of Slavery Breaking the Chains: Eradicating Slavery through SDGs Expert Panel organized by the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery Statement by Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Ambassador Wilde, Distinguished panellists,Excellencies, Colleagues and Friends, We are here to mark the international day to abolish slavery. I begin by reminding everyone that slavery is not just an abomination of the past. People are enslaved, today, in every region of the world – perhaps even every country in the world. The ILO estimates that more than 40 million women, men and children are enslaved: that's more than 5 in every thousand people. Furthermore, one-quarter of the survivors who have escaped modern slavery are children, according to recent research. Almost three-quarters of the survivors are women and girls. Women and girls are forced into sexual slavery or unpaid domestic labour. They end...