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 ...