This is on the eve of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
Human rights experts from the United Nations on Wednesday called on the international community to act more firmly in defense of women’s rights and gender equality, on the eve of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
“Although they represent more than half of the world’s population, women and girls around the world continue to run the risk of being killed and being subjected to violence, intimidation and harassment when they speak out, solely because of their gender,” said a document. signed by more than 70 UN experts.
“We call on the States and the international community to combat this violence with due firmness, as it is part of their obligations,” they added.
The signatories insisted on the need for governments to develop “transformative” policies that guarantee an enabling environment for women to safely exercise their fundamental freedoms of expression, association, peaceful assembly, and participation in public life.
The manifesto considers that comprehensive physical and mental care should be provided for survivors of gender-based violence, “as part of the full range of quality sexual and reproductive health care that should be available to all.”
The experts also expressed their concern about hate speech towards women on social networks and other internet pages.
“It is especially worrying that not only women and girls continue to be the object of multiple manifestations of violence, but the spaces in which it takes place have also multiplied,” they stressed.
They also asserted that the crisis caused by the pandemic, which forced home confinement for months in a large part of the world’s population, contributed to an increase in cases of domestic violence against women.
“These global crises interact with pre-existing inequalities and deepen them,” they assured.
Signatories to the appeal include the UN special rapporteurs for minorities (Fernand de Varennes), freedom of expression (Irene Khan) or the environment (David Boyd), as well as members of the United Nations Working Group against Discrimination of Women and Girls. (I)
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