Women's rights

"This is testament that girls, wherever you are, you can be anything without limits..." said Rebeca Gyumi of Tanzania. "It is important for young people to understand that we are the ones we have been waiting for; it is crucial to be brave and speak our truths; it is what is going to improve our communities and our countries." Gyumi, along with Joênia Wapichana of Brazil, Asma Jahangir (posthumously) of Pakistan and Frontline Defenders based in Ireland, was the recipient of the 2018 UN Human Rights Prize. The prize was awarded at United Nations headquarters in New York. It recognizes the work of selected human rights defenders around the world. UN General Assembly President María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés said the prize was a recognition of not only the work of the four winners, but also "a message of gratitude to all human rights defenders, because their sacrifices and constant dedication help us move forward towards societies that are less unfair and une...

In 2016, Rebeca Gyumi challenged the Marriage Act which allowed girls as young as 14 in Tanzania to be married with their parents’ consent. Thanks to her petition and campaigning by her organization, Msichana Initiative, the High Court in Tanzania said in a landmark ruling that the Marriage Act of 1971 was unconstitutional and discriminatory towards girls. The High Court’s decision raised the minimum age of marriage to 18 for both boys and girls. The Msichana (meaning girl in Swahili) Initiative aims to empower girls through education and address challenges which limit their right to education. "As much as I was seeing youth issues in my country, girls’ issues were always many and pressing," Gyumi said. "Child marriage was one issue in particular that frustrated me because I was part of different advocacy meetings that would discuss about how we were going to ensure that the minimum age of marriage in my country is 18 but I saw little progress." "So I a...

Asma Jahangir, former UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, is one of the recipients of this year’s prestigious UN Human Rights Prize. The prize was awarded posthumously to Jahangir who died earlier in 2018 in her home country of Pakistan at the age of 66. Many in the global human rights movement remember Jahangir as “a giant.” She was the first woman to serve as the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association in Pakistan. She was the founder of a home-grown human rights movement in Pakistan and co-founded and served as Chairperson of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. Jahangir won numerous international awards in recognition of her human rights work including the Martin Ennals Award in 1995, the UNESCO/Bilbao Prize for the Promotion of Culture of Human rights and honoured as an Officier dans l’Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur by France. With the UN Human Rights office, Jahangir made several unique contributions, i...

It was a rare sight for the Human Rights Chamber at Palais des Nations in Geneva: over 400 pupils and students between the ages of 12 and 19 from school in the greater Geneva area came together to commemorated the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They shared their hope and dreams, what human rights mean to them today as well as their demands for their futures, and celebrated the part children play as human rights defenders. During that uniquely "inter-generational" event, prizes were awarded to the winners of a video competition that was launched in 2018 by the UN Human Rights office. Children were asked to share their human rights stories in 180 seconds and one of the most striking came from a group of seven boys from Fribourg, western Switzerland, who recounted the fictional story of a young refugee from Syria trying to cope with his displacement and new life in Switzerland. "It’s a fictional story. We realised that those who migra...

"I have a disability and I work hard, just like everybody else. I don’t let people treat me differently because of my disability," said Florence, a member of the Maasai people of southern Kenya. Florence manages the home and cares for her four children, making sure they keep up with school.  She also looks after her extended family, including another member with a disability.  She acknowledges that while they may face challenges because of their disability, "the most important thing is that we live here altogether and support each other, like all families do." Florence is one of subjects of a "FifteenPercent", an exhibition of photographs by Italian photographer Christian Tasso. Since 2015, Tasso has travelled the world photographing people with disabilities in an effort to "raise awareness and understanding that our communities are ever enriched by the diversity of its members, be they persons with disabilities, women, youth, older person, and ...

For Sabina Moce of Fiji, to become a human rights defender, came from her own experiences both with discrimination and with a deteriorating environment. “I decided to become a human rights defender because I’ve gone through challenges in my daily life,” said Moce. “I feel that young people today can make a change to overcome issues like violence, discrimination and climate change.” Moce was born with albinism, a genetic condition that causes her skin and hair to have little to no colour and some vision difficulties. The 17-year-old secondary school student spoke out earlier this year in her native Fiji about some the challenges she has faced living with albinism, including stares and remarks from strangers. But she hasn’t let that keep her from achieving, including being awarded best Kula Film dancer in 2013 (The Kula Awards are part of a government initiative that provides a platform for school students to learn various aspects of film and arts.) She brings that same determina...

"One the most significant things about the combination of gender and climate action is the potential for climate action to be transformative," Nazhat Shameem Kahan, Ambassador of Fiji to Switzerland said. "We do not perpetuate the existing inequalities when dealing with climate change. Climate change is a new challenge for us, but it is not business as usual. In my view, gender responsiveness is a silver lining in the cloud of climate change." For Khan, a lawyer, former High Court Judge and climate justice advocate, an interest in human rights crept up on her while studying and advocating the law. "As I started practicing law, I realized the whole concept of access to justice was really a balancing exercise between the rights of victims and the rights of accused person and the rights of society," she said. "It made me ask myself some very critical questions about the way justice system was delivering on human rights issues." Khan is also ...

The arts and culture have the ability to bind and heal societies and the practitioners and practices should be protected and allowed to flourish, said Karima Bennoune. “Cultural and artistic expressions have a strong transformative power and can influence the societies we live in,” said Bennoune, who is the UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights. “This power can be used either to maintain division in society or to overcome it.” Bennoune recently presented her latest report on cultural rights to the UN General Assembly, followed by a discussion about the importance of cultural diversity and cultural rights with Nobel Laureate for literature Wole Soyinka on Facebook. This discussion reiterated the importance of engaged cultural and artistic practices, as highlighted in her previous report, which help shape more inclusive and peaceful societies by addressing social challenges such as exclusion and violence. As an example, Bennoune told about the NGO Free Women Write...

For Noorena Shams, the quest for excellence in her chosen sports has mirrored her quest to improve the perception and promote the strength of women and girls in her native Pakistan. “I have been a cyclist, a cricketer and a world-ranked squash player for my country, and I am very, very proud to be a human rights activist,” she said. Shams’ push to participate and excel in sports as well as advocate for human rights, has had her taking chances and using a bit of subterfuge to achieve her goals. When she was 11 years old, Shams would sneak outside her family compound in a remote village in Pakistan and ride around, hoping to improve her cycling technique. Her father eventually found out and rather than being angry with her, and he made sure she received training. She made her way to junior Olympics in 2008 as a cyclist. At 15, she wanted to play cricket and so disguised herself as a boy. For a year she was part of the Boys’ National Under-15 Cricket team, much of it as vice-cap...

Any investigation of human rights abuses and violations that does not include gender as one of the criteria risks being incomplete at best or biased at worse, said UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kate Gilmore. “Investigations that overlook the ways in which gender other identities and the associated social norms serve aggravate, falsely normalise hid an even excuse human rights impacts, cannot be accepted,” Gilmore told an audience during the annual discussion on the integration of a gender perspective throughout the work of the Human Rights Council. “Gender identity and status matters.” Wrongful gender stereotypes and assumptions can manifest as acceptable human rights violations and rob the survivors of their agency and testimony, leaving them voiceless and undocumented. Gender sensitive investigative methodologies refers to work that pay attention to the differences in experiences of both men and women, rather than as one monolithic group of conflict survivors...

Women at work  High-Level discussion, Economic Growth through Women’s Empowerment Statement by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet 27 September 2018 President Grybauskaitė, Secretary General Excellencies, Colleagues, friends, I would like to begin by thanking President Grybauskaitė for hosting this event. When I was President of Chile, a female journalist once asked me: “How are you going to cope? You don’t have a spouse.” A female journalist. We all here have some insight into how hard it can be to surmount the obstacles to women’s leadership. I congratulate President Grybauskaitė for leading by example, through boosting women’s engagement in political and economic activities. Lithuania, today, has three times as many women Members of Parliament than it did three years ago: my congratulations. The question we’re addressing at this meeting is not whether we can afford to bring women fully into economic life. It’s whether we can afford not to. ...

Justice for Syria  Ensuring Justice for Syria Statement by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet 27 September 2018 Distinguished panellists, Excellencies, Colleagues, friends, The past seven and a half years in Syria constitute a tragedy; crimes of historic proportions have been perpetrated. The death toll in the hundreds of thousands. Innumerable people have been wounded, and more than half the people in the country have been forced to leave their homes. When their places of refuge themselves come under attack, terrified families are again forced to flee – sometimes multiple times. And their vulnerability grows. These are among the people who are now crowded into Idlib, in desperation and fear. Again and again, my Office and the Human Rights Council's Commission of Inquiry, which we support, have reported clear indications that parties to the conflict, including the Syrian Government, have failed to consistently respect the fundamental principle...

Seventy years ago, United Nations member states approved the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide – a treaty born out of the fervent desire to ensure that “never again” would any person face the horror of genocide, such as the atrocities inflicted by the Nazis during the Holocaust. The Convention was the first human rights treaty adopted by the UN General Assembly. Its approval came just one day ahead of proclaiming the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on 10 December 1948, which explicitly laid out the rights inherent to all. Today, the world is not free from the threat and reality of the “odious scourge” of genocide. As the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said, “we must take stock of the gravity of recent acts perpetrated against the Rohingya and Yazidis, and we must do everything possible to hold those responsible to account.” “Accountability matters – not only because it provides justice for victims and punish...

Zeid warmly welcomes appointment of new UN Human Rights Chief GENEVA (10 August 2018) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Friday warmly welcomed the UN General Assembly’s appointment of Michelle Bachelet to succeed him when his mandate comes to an end on 31 August 2018. “I am truly delighted by the appointment of Michelle Bachelet as the next UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,” Zeid said. “She has all the attributes – courage, perseverance, passion, and a deep commitment to human rights – to make her a successful High Commissioner. The UN Human Rights Office looks forward to welcoming her and working under her leadership for the promotion and protection of all human rights, for everyone, everywhere.” Bachelet most recently served as President of Chile (from 2014 to 2018, and 2006 to 2010). She was the first Executive Director of UN-Women between 2010 and 2013. She has also served as Minister of Defence and Minister of Health in Chile. The UN Gen...

Rana Ayyub is defiant. Nothing they can do will stop me from writing and doing what I am doing,” she said. Ayyub is an independent journalist and writer from India, whose work has included investigations into alleged crimes committed by public officials. In April, she was subjected to an online hate campaign after a social media posts falsely quoted her as supporting child rapists and saying that Muslims were no longer safe in India. After the Tweets, she was subjected to a virulent online hate campaign that included terrifying messages that called for her to be gang-raped and murdered and dehumanized her Muslim faith. The messages kept coming, even when she pointed out that the Tweet was false. A group of United Nations human rights experts later called on the Indian government to act to protect Ayyub. Her experience, and the lack of protection from her government and social media companies, led Ayyub to call for stronger regulation on online platforms and how they manage ...

“One of the greatest threats to online free speech today is the murkiness of the rules,” said David Kaye, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression. “States circumvent human rights obligations by going directly to the companies, asking them to take down content or accounts without going through legal process, while companies often impose rules they have developed without public input and enforced with little clarity. We need to change these dynamics so that individuals have a clear sense of what rules govern and how they are being applied.” The internet enables global sharing of and access to information, but its perception has taken a dark turn in recent years. Governments and the public often see hate, abuse and disinformation in the content generated by users, Kaye said. Fears over disinformation, terrorism, online abuse, hate and xenophobia have led some governments to be heavy-handed in their responses to content regulation. Kaye recently released his latest...

As human beings, our health and the health of those we care about is a matter of daily concern. Regardless of our age, gender, socio-economic or ethnic background, we consider our health to be our most basic and essential asset. A user of psychiatric services sits in a yard and looks in through one of the windows of a mental healthcare centre in Herat, Afghanistan, March 2017. Ill health, on the other hand, can keep us from going to school or to work, from attending to our family responsibilities or from participating fully in the activities of our community. Similarly, we are willing to make many sacrifices if only that would guarantee us and our families a longer and healthier life. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease. This holistic approach is relatively new and is indicating a shift in how “the right to a standard of living adequate for health and well-be...

Children make up over 40 percent of the 13.1 million people in Syria that require life-saving assistance, pointed out Panos Moumtzis, UN Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis. The year 2017, he said, had been the deadliest year of the Syrian conflict for children, quoting verified figures from the Syria Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism that reported at least 910 children killed and 361 injured primarily in Aleppo, Idleb and Deir-ez-Zor. Moumtzis revealed these figures at a high-level panel discussion held by the Human Rights Council on the human rights violations against children in Syria. The Human Rights Council listened to the testimonies and recommendations made by three members of Syria’s civil society who had gathered, through presences on the ground, information on violations of children’s rights in Syria. “What is growing now in Syria is not just fear and hatred, but also the call for justice and peace, and the rejection of war itself, of all wars a...

In Latin America, poverty rates are high for women, but even higher for women of African descent; in the USA, 37 percent of households head by African-American woman live below the poverty line; and First Nations Canadian and Afro-Canadian women and girls have less opportunity for education and academic achievements. These were some of the findings of a booklet called Women and girls of African descent: human rights achievements and challenges. The publication, by the UN Human Rights Office and the UN Department of Public Information, is based on the UN Secretary-General’s report on the implementation of the International Decade for People of African Descent to the UN General Assembly last year. It contains analysis of the findings of human rights mechanisms and illustrates the realities of discrimination against women and girls of African descent. When it comes to experiencing human rights, women and girls of African descent often face obstacles that are as much based on their r...

Changing the way women are treated globally should not simply be left in the hands of governments and policy makers, said best-selling author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Changing policies and laws will have no effect if mindsets remain the same and if the stories about women stay mired in discrimination. “Popular culture becomes very important because it is a way to start to challenge people stereotypical ideals,” she said. “I think it’s important to have diverse stories of diverse women in diverse roles and to make that ordinary and to make that common so that we can start thinking differently about what is possible for women.” Adichie spoke during an interview to celebrate International Women’s Day with the UN Human Rights Office. A well-known supporter of women’s rights and feminists issues, she helped fuel the popular conversation on women’s rights through essays and TED talks including “The danger of a single story” and  “We should all be feminists,” part of which was samp...

The ongoing conflict in South Sudan could amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes. A report by a team of UN experts describes the attacks as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against civilians. Displaced people waiting for food in the internally displaced person (IDP) Tomping camp for Nuer ethnic group in Juba, South Sudan © EPA/JM LOPEZ Andrew Clapham, a member of the Commission, in an interview in Geneva, said: “It is the fact that it is part of a systematic attack against the civilian population. So in some of the instances in the report you will read that we determine that there was no military objective to be attacked by the government forces.” “They attacked the civilian population with a view, we feel, to driving out that civilian population,” he added. “So that constitutes crimes against humanity to the extent that it is part of a widespread attack on the civilian population. And then, within that you have the killing, the torture and the rap...

Freedom of expression vital for peace in conflict-afflicted South Sudan – UN report  GENEVA / JUBA (22 February 2018) – Genuine reconciliation and lasting peace will only be achieved in South Sudan if people are free and safe to express their opinions regardless of their ethnic or political affiliations, a UN report released today says. The report, co-authored by the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the UN Human Rights Office, warns that undue restrictions on freedom of expression are having a “chilling effect” and “further shrinking the space for debate and dissent”, while incitement to hatred also continues to cause mistrust, fear and violence. “South Sudan’s conflict, with widespread human rights violations and abuses committed by all parties, has inflicted untold suffering on millions. People have been denied the right to life, the right to justice, and, as this report details, the right to freedom of opinion and expression – rights that are not luxuries but are e...

Afghanistan: 10,000 civilian casualties in 2017 – UN report Suicide attacks and IEDs caused high number of deaths and injuries GENEVA / KABUL (15 February 2018) – More than 10,000 civilians lost their lives or suffered injuries during 2017, according to the latest annual UN report documenting the impact of the armed conflict on civilians in Afghanistan. A total of 10,453 civilian casualties - 3,438 people killed and 7,015 injured - were documented in the 2017 Annual Report released today by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the UN Human Rights Office. Although this figure represents a decrease of nine per cent compared with 2016, the report highlights the high number of casualties caused by suicide bombings and other attacks using improvised explosive devices (IEDs). “The chilling statistics in this report provide credible data about the war’s impact, but the figures alone cannot capture the appalling human suffering inflicted on ordinary people, especially ...

UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran Asma Jahangir died this week in her home country of Pakistan. She was 66. Human rights activist and long-time UN expert Asma Jahangir died on February 11 2018 © OHCHR“Asma was a giant within the global human rights movement,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein. In statement to UN Human Rights Office staff, he described Jahangir as “a legendary human rights defender: pioneering, determined, calm and courageous.” Jahangir had many firsts and awards.  She was the woman to serve as the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association in Pakistan. She was the founder of a home-grown human rights movement in Pakistan and co-founded and served as Chairperson of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. She won international awards in recognition of her human rights work including the Martin Ennals Award in 1995, the UNESCO/Bilbao Prize for the Promotion of Culture of Human r...