Gender Violence

UN Accused of Failing to Move Aggressively Against Sexual Abuse

By Thalif Deen
The United Nations, which prides itself with a “zero tolerance” policy on sexual exploitation and abuse, has come under relentless fire for failing to match its words with deeds—specifically in relation to some of the high-profile cases that have jolted the Organization.

Sexual Assault Survivors March to End Gender Violence in India

By Divya Srinivasan
In an historic first, thousands of people participated in a 10,000-kilometre long Dignity March across India to raise awareness about sexual violence, bring an end to stigma faced by survivors, and highlight the barriers women and children face in accessing justice.

Sexual Violence Surging in South Sudan

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
Women and girls continue to face the brunt of violence in the northern region of South Sudan with persistently high and brutal levels of sexual violence, a new report found.

A Truly Global Effort is Needed to Eradicate FGM by 2030

By Divya Srinivasan
According to official data on the global prevalence of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) released by UNICEF there are 200 million women and girls in the world who have been cut. Shocking though this statistic is, it seriously underestimates the nature and scale of the problem.

On the occasion of the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, the Geneva Centre strongly calls for the eradication of this woeful practice

By Geneva Centre
(Geneva Centre) - On the occasion of the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), Ambassador Idriss Jazairy, Executive Director of the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue, reiterates the urgent need to eliminate all forms of violence and discrimination against women and girls, in particular FGM, which is a practice that violates women and girls’ fundamental rights such as their right to health, their right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and even their right to life.

Fighting Machismo in Latin America: The Formula to Combat Femicides

By Mariela Jara
Peru began the year with 11 femicides in January, despite progress made in laws and statutes and mass demonstrations against gender-based violence. This situation is also seen in other Latin American countries, raising the need to delve deeper into the causes of the phenomenon.

Ending Violence Against Women & Girls in the Sahel: Crucial for Sustainable Development

By Amina J. Mohammed
After flying into the city of Bol in the Republic of Chad, over the lush fields and receding lakes, we landed to a rapturous welcome from traditional rulers and local women. Their faces reflected a hope and dignity slipping away under the harsh reality of poverty and insecurity.

Crusade Against Sex Education Undermines Progress Made in Latin America

By Fabiana Frayssinet
The crusade against comprehensive sex education by conservative and religious sectors undermines progress in Latin America and could further drive up rates of teen pregnancy, communicable diseases and abuse against girls and adolescents.

Combatting Systematic Misogyny

By Aaqib Hasib and Momotaz Rahman Megha
(The Daily Star, Bangladesh) - The past decade has seen progress being made for movements to support equality. The #MeToo and Time's Up movements helped start conversations within the general public worldwide on the topics of sexual harassment and misogyny.

Survey on UN Sexual Abuse Shifts Focus on Virtual Fugitives from Justice

By Thalif Deen
A survey of sexual harassment at the United Nations has uncomfortably shifted the focus to some of the senior UN officials who have either escaped censure – or punishment-- despite a rash of charges against them, including abuse and misconduct.

Is Love an Embarrassment?

By Jan Lundius
I do not understand a word of Persian and cannot determine whether these lines, taken from a German translation, are a correct interpretation of Muhammad Hāfez-e-Shīrāzī´s original poem. Nevertheless, Hāfez, who lived 1315-1390 CE, was apparently one of those great writers able to provide bemused couples with points of reference after being struck by the tumultuous sensation of passionate love.

Shedding Light on Forced Child Pregnancy and Motherhood in Latin America

By Mariela Jara
Research and campaigns by women’s rights advocates are beginning to focus on the problem of Latin American girls under the age of 14 who are forced to bear the children of their rapists, with the lifelong implications that entails and without the protection of public policies guaranteeing their human rights.

Another UN Harassment Case Quietly Disappears

By Barbara Crossette
Amid a busy December, when the United Nations was focusing on important conferences on climate change and migration and year-end holidays loomed, a case of harassment that never got the traction it arguably deserved ended in a traditional UN way: it disappeared.

The Adolescent Girl Holds the Key to Kenya’s Economic Transformation and Prosperity

By Siddharth Chatterjee
Teenage pregnancy in Kenya is a crisis of hope, education and opportunity. The countdown to a New Year has begun. Can 2019 be a year of affirmative action to ensure hope and opportunity for Kenya’s adolescent girl?

Women in Argentina Are Empowered as They Speak Out Against Gender Violence

By Daniel Gutman
"In 2001 I was raped. I was 31 years old, had two university degrees and was still doing postgraduate studies, I had family, friends, a job. Many more resources than most rape victims have. Even so, it was the start of an ordeal whose scars I still feel today."

Human Trafficking – Hidden in Plain Sight

By Romy Hawatt
The media globally tends to have a bias to negative, sensational and headline grabbing stories and events and this certainly applies to reporting related to human trafficking in the third world. With the abundance of stories around sweat shops, massage parlours and organ trafficking networks happening ‘somewhere else’, the West is generally desensitised, lacks empathy and fails to fully appreciate the scale of the problem which sits right under their noses and in plain sight.

Stemming Waste of Human Talent

By Farhana Haque Rahman
The year now closing, 2018, culminates an extraordinary period in the quest for a world where sexual harassment and assault are, as the words indicate they should be, rare and punished.

Global Anti-Human Trafficking Coalition

By Vladimir Bozovic
Entire human history is one great struggle for freedom. To many, slavery is a synonym for something in the past, for transatlantic slave trade, but, unfortunately, slavery still exists in many different forms.

No Woman’s Land

By Maliha Khan
Hamida Begum's* husband had beat her yet again. But this time was different. He had also uttered talaq three times, essentially divorcing her according to the Islamic customs of the Rohingya community.

Senior UN Official Resigns Undermining Sexual Abuse Charges

By Thalif Deen
The UN’s heavily-hyped “zero tolerance” policy on sexual abuse is being ridiculed once again --– this time with the abrupt resignation of the head of the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) who faced charges of sexual harassment and was the subject of an inquiry by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS).

Undermining Human Rights of Women Trapped In Sex Trade

By Jessica Neuwirth
Seventy years ago, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was signed in the Palais de Chaillot in Paris. Following two devastating world wars the United Nations General Assembly set out a brand new vision of human rights that the world could agree on going forward. It is still the benchmark by which most modern-day human rights organisations live.
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