Women’s and girls’ rights are human rights by UN Women, agencies 6:59am 25th Nov, 2014   Women’s and girls’ rights are human rights. They cover every aspect of life – health, education, political participation, economic well-being and freedom from violence, among many others. Women and girls are entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of all of their human rights and to be free from all forms of discrimination – this is fundamental to achieve human rights, peace and security, and sustainable development.    The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action confirms that protection and promotion of human rights is the first responsibility of governments and core to the work of the United Nations. The Platform for Action firmly anchors the achievement of gender equality within a human rights framework and makes a clear statement about State responsibility in delivering on the commitments made.    The Charter of the United Nations guarantees the equal rights of women and men. All major international human rights instruments stipulate ending discrimination on the basis of sex. Almost all countries have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), described as the women’s international bill of rights.    Yet serious gaps and violations remain in every region of the world today and progress has been unacceptably slow, particularly for the most marginalized women and girls. Discrimination in the law persists in many countries. Women do not participate on an equal footing with men in politics.    They face blatant discrimination in labour markets and access to economic assets. The many forms of violence directed explicitly towards women and girls deny them their rights and all too often their lives. Unacceptably high levels of maternal mortality continue in some regions. Upaid care workloads continue to limit women’s enjoyment of their rights.    Protecting women’s and girls’ rights must be embedded in national law and policy firmly anchored in international human rights standards. Equally important is that laws are implemented, such as through ready access to courts and an expectation of a fair hearing.    Women and girls need to know their rights and have the power to claim them. Social attitudes and stereotypes undercutting gender equality must be challenged and changed.    Through the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, 189 UN Member States agreed to take action across these areas. The Declaration makes strong commitments to uphold women’s equal rights and end discrimination. The Platform includes women’s human rights as one of 12 critical areas of concern.    It specifies steps to fully implement all human rights instruments, especially CEDAW, to ensure equality and non-discrimination under the law and in practice, and to achieve legal literacy. The realization of women’s human rights is critical to achieving progress in all areas of concern of the Platform for Action.    20 years on, these promises have been fulfilled only in part. Women’s and girls’ human rights are more widely understood and championed today, but that needs to be the reality for every woman and every girl. No discrimination. No violations. No exceptions.    http://beijing20.unwomen.org/en/in-focus/human-rights http://www.unwomen.org/en http://www.idlo.int/insights/speeches-and-op-eds/director-general-khan-geneva-changing-womens-lives http://theelders.org/news-media/equality-girls-women http://www.unfpa.org/gender-equality http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/WRGS/Pages/WRGSIndex.aspx    Governments must repeal or amend all laws that discriminate on the basis of sex    From India where marital rape is legal to Russia where women are banned from 456 jobs, scores of countries have failed to honour a promise to scrap all laws that discriminate against women, campaigners said on Saturday.    Rights group Equality Now called on all governments to review their legislation as it launched a report highlighting discriminatory laws around the world, in areas such as wife obedience, polygamy, inheritance rights and "honour killings".    "We wanted to show how women are treated as children, as property without conscious thought, how they are stereotyped into particular roles, and how these roles are codified in law," says Jacqui Hunt, Equality Now"s London director.    The review coincides with the 20th anniversary of the 1995 Beijing Platform for Women, when 189 governments pledged to "revoke any remaining laws that discriminate on the basis of sex".    "We need to hold governments accountable to that promise," Hunt said.    "A first step to providing women"s equality is to ensure a strong legal framework. If a government discriminates in its laws it shows very clearly the disrespect it has for women and girls."    Countries picked out include Lebanon, where a rapist will not be prosecuted if he marries his victim, and Iran, where a woman"s testimony is worth less than a man"s.    In Russia women are barred from a long list of jobs including train driver, tractor operator, carpenter, firefighter and sailor. In Saudi Arabia - not one of the Beijing Platform signatories - women are not allowed to drive cars because driving is "a source of undeniable vices".    Many countries, including Democratic Republic of Congo and Nicaragua, have laws stating that the husband is head of the household and his wife must follow him wherever he chooses to live.    Some countries have not only failed to repeal discriminatory laws but have introduced new ones; Kenya, for example, legalised polygamous marriages last year.    The report is not a comprehensive round-up, but Hunt said the examples showed how discriminatory laws affect women in all aspects of their lives and all regions of the world.    On the other hand, there has been significant progress since the 1995 pledge, she said. More than half the laws highlighted in Equality Now"s previous reviews have been repealed or amended.    Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Peru and Uruguay have scrapped laws allowing a rapist to avoid punishment by marrying his victim.    Malaysia and Tonga have made marital rape a crime, Kuwait has given women the vote, Bahamas has given equal inheritance rights and Algeria has dropped wife obedience.    The report will be discussed at next month"s session of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, which meets yearly to review progress towards gender equality.    "Governments must turn words into deeds and finally repeal or amend all laws that discriminate on the basis of sex so the next generation of women and girls can enjoy their rights and live as equal partners in society," the report says.    Although some discriminatory laws are not enforced, it is still important to repeal them, Hunt said.    "Having them on the books still sends a message that women are worth less and can be discriminated against. And that message is another obstacle to women having equality."    http://www.equalitynow.org/beijing20 http://www.soawr.org/ http://issuu.com/awid/docs/wmm_final http://reliefweb.int/topics/gender http://www.ifpri.org/blog/gender-equality http://www.actionaid.org/what-we-do/womens-rights http://www.savethechildren.net/sowm http://plan-international.org/girls/ http://www.care-international.org/what-we-do/our-focus-on-women-and-girls.aspx http://www.wfp.org/focus-on-women/news http://www.undp.org/gender/ http://www.ifrc.org/en/google-custom-search/?q=women%2C%20girls http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/girls-voices/ http://www.equalitynow.org/sites/default/files/Protecting_the_Girl_Child.pdf (pp60)    End Violence against Women    UN Women Executive Director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka stresses that violence against women can and must end by addressing its root cause – gender.    Every year, on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we are reminded how every day, women and girls experience violence in their lives.    Women are beaten in their homes, harassed on the streets, bullied on the internet. Globally, one in three women will experience physical or sexual violence at some point in her life.    More often than not, violence against women is committed by an intimate partner. Of all women killed in 2012, almost half died at the hands of a partner or family member. It is no exaggeration that the overall greatest threat to women’s lives is men, and often the men they love.    Yet we know how violence against women can be eliminated. In 1995, close to 20 years ago, 189 governments came together in Beijing. They adopted a Platform for Action that spelled out key strategies to end violence against women, empower women, and achieve gender equality.    This includes effective prevention strategies that address the root causes of gender inequality.    This includes better services for women surviving violence, such as hotlines, shelters, legal advice, access to justice, counselling, police protection, and health services.    This includes more accurate reporting rates, better data collection, and strengthened analyses of risk and prevalence factors.    This includes greater support for women’s organizations, which are often on the frontline of the response.    This includes having more men and boys standing up against violence, denouncing it, and stopping it. Male leaders, including traditional and religious leaders, must show the way.    UN Women has launched HeForShe, a global campaign to engage men and boys as advocates and agents of change for the achievement of gender equality and women’s rights. We need men who believe in gender equality to take action now.    A global review of progress and gaps in implementing the Beijing Platform for Action is underway. Preliminary data show that many countries have introduced laws to prohibit, criminalize, and prevent violence against women.    Yet implementation and enforcement of these laws are inadequate. Reporting of violence remains low and impunity for perpetrators remains high.    Not enough resources are targeted at provision of quality services and effective prevention strategies.    Next year, after the endpoint of the Millennium Development Goals, a new roadmap for development will be adopted by the international community. Ending violence against women and girls must have a central place in this new framework.    The promises from 20 years ago are still valid today. Together we must make 2015 the year that marks the beginning of the end of gender inequality. Now is the time for action.    Violence against women is a human rights violation and a serious impediment to women’s progress in any area of life. It undercuts women’s health, prospects for education and productive work, and ability to participate as full members of their societies, among other consequences.    Sobering numbers show how common violence is — and how many forms it takes. Around the world, 1 in 3 women have experienced physical or sexual violence, mostly by an intimate partner. About 120 million girls have been forced into intercourse or other sexual acts at some point in their lives. In 29 countries alone, 133 million women and girls have undergone female genital mutilation.    More than 700 million women alive today were married as children. Almost all of the estimated 4.5 million victims of forced sexual exploitation are women and girls.    The 189 UN Member States who adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action took up the global call to end all forms of violence against women and girls by highlighting violence as one of their 12 critical areas of concern.    They agreed on a comprehensive definition of what violence is, whether it takes place in the family or community, or is perpetrated or condoned by the State.    They recognized that violence is one of the main mechanisms denying women equality, and that it imposes high social, health and economic costs.    Since Beijing, an historic two-thirds of countries have put laws on the books to stop domestic violence. Advocacy campaigns around the world have heightened awareness and galvanized actions to stop violence.    These involve committed women and girls, men and boys. Yet gaps in laws, implementation of legal protection and essential services remain. Women are still reluctant to report violence. Attitudes in some places tolerate, if not encourage, it.    The promise of Beijing was that governments, community organizations, schools, businesses and others would work tirelessly to stop violence, in whatever form it takes. Momentum has begun, but needs to rapidly accelerate. The world can be free from violence — that is women’s inherent right.    http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/end-violence-against-women http://www.un.org/en/women/endviolence/ http://www.unwomen.org/en/csw http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CEDAW/Pages/CEDAWIndex.aspx http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=15250&LangID=E http://www.icrc.org/en/war-and-law/protected-persons/women http://fra.europa.eu/en/press-release/2014/violence-against-women-every-day-and-everywhere http://www.un.org/womenwatch/index.html Visit the related web page
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