Women's rights

​​​Over 1.4 million people die each year on the world’s roads and up to 50 million suffer non-fatal injuries. The majority of casualties occur in Africa and Asia. “While these numbers may seem chocking, they don’t capture the devastating scope of a tragedy that occurs on the roads everyday: the loss of a child, the loss of a caregiver, the life-altering disability,” Jean Todt, UN Special Envoy for Road Safety, said of road casualties at the opening the Global Road Safety Film Festival in Geneva. For two days, online visitors will be able to watch 232 films from 41 countries on a website dedicated to the festival. A number of prizes will be awarded by a high-level jury which includes the Executive Secretary of the UNECE, Christian Friis Bach; UN Human Rights Chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein; filmmaker, Luc Besson; actress and UN sustainable development ambassador, Michelle Yeoh; actor Jean Reno; President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach; and the President of the Jur...

GENEVA/KYIV (16 February 2017) – Survivors of sexual violence committed in the context of the armed conflict in Ukraine are often denied justice and left without adequate care and counselling, causing them to be victimized twice, according to a UN report published today. The 37-page report by the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine** notes that the country’s justice system lacks the laws, capacity and professional experience to effectively investigate and prosecute allegations of sexual violence, resulting in widespread impunity for perpetrators. “What’s the point of saying what happened to me? No one will be able to help and no one will be able to find those who did it. No one will punish them,” one survivor of sexual violence quoted in the report said. The report looks at the period from 14 March 2014 to 31 January 2017 and covers all territory of Ukraine, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, with a special focus on the eastern regions, parts of ...