women Archives - Page 3 of 6

Urgent reform needed to shield women and children from violence during custody battles

·June 24, 2023·2 min read

“The tendency of family courts to dismiss the history of domestic violence and abuse in custody cases, especially where mothers and/or children have brought forward credible allegations of domestic abuse, including coercive control, physical or sexual abuse is unacceptable,” said Reem Alsalem, UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, in...

Afghanistan mission chief to Taliban: Bans on women and girls cost you legitimacy at home and abroad

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·June 21, 2023·2 min read

UN Special Representative Roza Otunbayeva was briefing the Security Council on the dire situation facing the country and the international aid effort, with UN women workers among those now prevented by Taliban edicts from working. “We will not put our national staff in danger and therefore we are asking them not...

Women suffer disproportionately from ravages of drought, desertification

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·June 17, 2023·3 min read

“Equal land rights both protect land and advance gender equality,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said, in a video message, urging all governments to eliminate legal barriers to women owning land, and to involve them in policy making. “We depend on land for our survival, yet we treat it like dirt,”...

Türk calls for action to enable ‘equal and meaningful’ participation of women in public life

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·June 14, 2023·1 min read

“Patriarchy must be a thing of the past. Our future depends on women and girls being at the table everywhere when decisions are made,” said Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Only 1 in 4 parliamentarians are women “It was only last year that for the first...

New UN report reveals chronic bias against women over last decade

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·June 12, 2023·2 min read

“Half of people worldwide still believe men make better political leaders than women, and more than 40 per cent believe men make better business executives than women,” according to the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in its latest Gender Social Norms Index (GSNI) report. “Social norms that impair women’s rights are...

US state abortion bans ‘putting millions of women and girls at risk’

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·June 2, 2023·2 min read

Since the start of the year, abortion has been banned in 14 states across the country, and the consequences of the Supreme Court decision has reverberated throughout the entire legal and policy system, the Human Rights Council-appointed experts said. “The regressive position taken by the US Supreme Court…by essentially dismantling...

UN representative alarmed by sexual violence against women and girls in DRC

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·May 26, 2023·2 min read

“Allegations of grave cases of sexual violence against civilians, including children, in particular affecting IDPs fleeing conflict in the eastern DRC, is a matter of profound concern which requires immediate action,” said the top UN official who advocates for women and girls impacted by sexual violence. The representative spoke of...

Afghanistan: Women tell UN rights experts ‘we’re alive, but not living’

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·May 5, 2023·3 min read

“We are alarmed about widespread mental health issues and accounts of escalating suicides among women and girls,” they said in a joint statement. “This extreme situation of institutionalized gender-based discrimination in Afghanistan is unparalleled anywhere in the world.” ‘Extreme’ discrimination Since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021, de...

Afghanistan: Guterres says women worker ban ‘unacceptable and puts lives in jeopardy’

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·May 3, 2023·2 min read

Secretary-General António Guterres was speaking to reporters in Doha, Qatar, after convening an international meeting of Special Envoys on Afghanistan. He said they had agreed on the need for a “strategy of engagement” with the Taliban, to help the country’s most vulnerable people. No question of Taliban recognition Mr. Guterres made clear that...

Top officials strongly condemn Taliban ban on Afghan women working for UN

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·April 5, 2023·2 min read

In statements on Wednesday, Secretary-General António Guterres was joined by deputy chief Amina Mohammed, in describing the latest escalation of the de facto authorities’ suppression of women, as a violation of their inalienable fundamental human rights. “It also violates Afghanistan’s obligations under international human rights law, and infringes on the principle of non-discrimination,...

Taliban order bars Afghan women from working with UN

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·April 5, 2023·3 min read

“Our colleagues on the ground at the UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) received word of an order by the de facto authorities that bans female national staff members of the UN from working,” Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, told reporters at UN Headquarters during the regular daily briefing....

Women in peacekeeping: UN Fund calls for new ideas and investment

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·March 31, 2023·2 min read

“A more gender-responsive mission builds trust with the communities they serve and improves its effectiveness,” said UN Women’s Executive Director Sima Bahous at the start of the event. She also highlighted the vital role women play in today’s multifaceted peacekeeping missions and stressed the need to ensure the equal participation...