Latest news with #U.N.Women
Yomiuri Shimbun
30-05-2025
- General
- Yomiuri Shimbun
As Sudan Enters Its Third Year of Civil War, the Japanese Government Is Teaming up with Agencies to Support Women Refugees Who Are Victims of Sex Crimes.
The Yomiuri Shimbun Rei Doi, right, talks to a refugee woman using kitchen utensils brought through a project funded by the Japanese government in Port Sudan, Sudan, on May 5. PORT SUDAN, Sudan — The government is striving to support women facing hardship in Sudan as the northeast African country enters the third year of a civil war. The meticulous measures include setting up facilities that serve as a safe haven to victims of sex violence and other offenses. The civil war began in April 2023 and the state military forces are still battling hard against the opposing paramilitary group, Rapid Support Forces. The war has been described as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, producing more than 11 million refugees. The nature of gender-based violence is getting more serious as well, with 6.7 million cases of such crime reported by December 2023. The Japanese government has invested a minimum of about ¥663 million in the enterprise on support for mainly women affected by the civil war and has extended aid through international organs and local nongovernmental organizations. A project by U.N. Women supported by Japan bore fruit in December last year with the completion of Safe Space, a shelter and meeting place in the state of Gedaref in eastern Sudan where only women can get together and safely have discussions with each other. The women refugees include victims of sex crimes who are traumatized by the violence but are unable to talk about their horrific experiences to anyone. The project aims to offer such women opportunities to encourage each other and gain some momentum to get back on their feet. As refugees generally do not interact with residents and tend to be isolated, Safe Space helps them integrate into the local community. The Japanese government is also working on raising awareness in women on how to avoid falling victim to gender-based violence. The government is also providing them with vocational training on making things such as soap and bread so that they can improve their standard of living. 'Sudanese women are ready to help others even though they have troubles themselves,' said Rei Doi of U.N. Women, who oversees support activities at Safe Space. 'This country is promising because there are personnel resources as well as rich agricultural resources. I'd like to offer as many opportunities as possible to women who are willing to do something.'
Politico
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Politico
Are Authoritarian Regimes Backtracking Women's Rights?
Presented by Happy Friday! New York City is abuzz this week, as women's rights leaders from all over the world gather at the United Nations. I'm thrilled to have chatted with some of the stars of the conference for this week's edition. Women's rights are declining all over the world — and the global rise of authoritarian regimes may be to blame, according to a new report from the United Nations. This week, the U.N. kicked off the 69th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women — its second biggest meeting after the opening of the General Assembly. The aim of the commission: to address the barriers to gender equality that women face around the globe. This year's CSW marks the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a policy blueprint for advancing women's rights, such as access to education and health services and protection against violence. The March 6 report from U.N. Women released ahead of the conference found that progress on women's rights is on a downward trend around the world. In 2024, nearly a quarter of governments worldwide reported a backlash on women's rights. 'We are witnessing the mainstreaming of chauvinism and misogyny,' U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement. 'As we see in every corner of the world, from pushback to rollback, women's rights are under attack.' The report tracked data from member countries' five-year national-level reviews of progress and challenges, and 30-year reviews of reports from Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean and Western Asia. It found that around the world, there was a 'disturbing 50 percent increase in the number of women and girls living in conflict, and women's rights defenders confront daily harassment, personal attacks and even death.' Laura Turquet, Deputy Chief of the Research and Data section at U.N. Women, tells Women Rule 'we've seen important progress, but it's not going fast enough and it's actually stalling.' And the rise in authoritarian and populist governments across the world could be what is impeding progress, Turquet says. 'We've seen the rise of very authoritarian governments … a lot of countries are experiencing backsliding when it comes to free and fair elections, to freedom of the press, even the ability of women and civil society organizations to speak out and participate in policy.' That democratic erosion, she says, 'has gone hand in hand with organized resistance to advances on women's rights.' As Turquet sees it, increasing inequality, wage disparities and traumatic world events like the Covid-19 pandemic have created an environment enabling authoritarian governments to push for a return to tradition, particularly the idea of a traditional family. Authoritarian leaders often suggest that 'we need to kind of go back to an imagined past where things were simpler and easier, where men and women had more defined roles,' she says, and this push for the traditional family contributes to limiting women's rights. 'When you take a closer look at what the traditional family is … we're talking about a biological male husband who is married with a biological female wife and as many kids as they can possibly have,' Rosalyn Park, director of The Advocates for Human Rights' Women's Human Rights Program, says. That idea 'really goes to the heart of attacking sexual reproductive rights, family planning, contraception, abortion, all those kinds of things, in the interests of preserving and maintaining the family unit.' According to Park, this preservation of the family unit has played out in other countries. 'We've seen countries that decriminalized domestic violence, for example, like Russia, because they want to keep the family together at the expense of women's safety.' 'This also lets them push for a revival of stereotypical roles by positioning women first and foremost in the home as homemakers, caretakers … And then men remain as the breadwinners,' Park continues. One example of the global regression of women's rights: the recent backlash against the Istanbul Convention, a European human rights treaty opposing violence against women and domestic violence. It was initially successful and signed by 34 countries in 2019, but in 2021, Turkey — whose largest city gave the treaty its name and who was the first to ratify it — withdrew from the agreement. Other countries like Poland have also considered withdrawing from it, citing concerns about the agreement promoting harmful gender ideology and threatening the traditional family. Women's rights have 'become very caught up in this idea of gender ideology, this idea that gender is not about women and men and equality, but that it's … a radical agenda that is almost entirely about LGBT rights,' Turquet explains. As a result, she says, we are seeing 'a backlash on something as basic as protecting women from the violence that they are facing in their everyday lives.' Similar concerns about gender ideology have popped up in the United States, as exemplified by one of President Donald Trump's first executive orders, 'Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.' Trump's order argues that gender ideology 'replaces the biological category of sex with an ever-shifting concept of self-assessed gender identity, permitting the false claim that males can identify as and thus become women and vice versa.' In closed-door meetings at CSW, the U.S. proposed weakening or removing provisions that encourage states and U.N. entities to expand the role of women in peacekeeping and diplomacy, according to a Devex report. Meanwhile, at the CSW on Friday, Jonathan Shrier, acting U.S. representative to the U.N. Economic and Social Council, reinforced Trump's message. 'The United States government will no longer promote radical ideologies that replace women with men in spaces and opportunities designed for women, nor will it devastate families by indoctrinating our sons and daughters to begin wars with their own bodies or each other,' he said. 'In rejoining the Geneva consensus declaration, we have shown our commitment to women's health, the protection of life at all stages, and the defense of the family as the fundamental unit of society.' POLITICO Special Report Top Illinois Democrat Readies a Senate Bid — And Tells People She Has Major Backing by Ally Mutnick and Shia Kapos for POLITICO: 'Juliana Stratton, who first took office in 2019, is quietly positioning herself for a Senate bid if Durbin bows out, calling key Democratic figures to ask for support, according to three people with knowledge of her plans, one of whom spoke with her directly and the other two who spoke with members of her team. And she and her staff have said that she's already secured the support of Gov. JB Pritzker, the three people said.' Klobuchar Hits Trump on Tariffs: You Can't Be 'Just Declaring Yourself a King' by Jordan Wolman for POLITICO: 'Klobuchar, speaking at POLITICO Playbook's First 100 Days breakfast series, said Trump should be working through trade issues in the context of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, 'not by just declaring yourself a king.' 'The way to negotiate this is in the USMCA,' she said.' Sen. Tina Smith: DOGE Efforts at USDA Are 'Completely Wrong' by Grace Yarrow and Samuel Benson for POLITICO: 'Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) slammed the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency's efforts to slash spending and cut staff at the Agriculture Department on Thursday. 'I think what they're doing is completely wrong,' Smith said at POLITICO Playbook's First 100 Days breakfast series. 'I think it runs counter to the intentions of Congress and what we have passed,' Smith added. 'Honestly, I don't really believe that Elon Musk or the DOGE guys that are in there really have any idea, what they're doing, or what the impact is of the decisions that they're making.'' Number of the Week Read more here. MUST READS Teenagers Say Girls Are Equal to Boys in School, or Are Ahead by Claire Cain Miller for The New York Times: 'More than half of teenagers say that boys and girls are now mostly equal in school. And significant shares say that girls have advantages over boys — that they get better grades, have more leadership roles and speak up more in class, according to a Pew Research Center survey of teens nationwide published Thursday. Boys are more likely to be disruptive, get into fights or have problems with drugs or alcohol, the teenagers said. And strikingly, boys said they're much less likely to be college-bound: 46 percent of boys said they planned to attend a four-year college, compared with 60 percent of girls.' Why We Need More Women Leaders in Politics for the Future of Work by Katica Roy for the World Economic Forum: 'When women hold political power, economies grow. A 10 percentage point increase in women's parliamentary representation is associated with a 0.7 percentage point increase in GDP growth. Countries with greater female political representation consistently implement policies that support gender-equal labour markets, such as paid family leave, pay transparency and childcare infrastructure. These policies don't just benefit women; they increase workforce participation, boost productivity and fuel economic expansion. 'Two Transgender Girls, Six Federal Agencies. How Trump Is Trying to Pressure Maine Into Obedience by Callie Ferguson and Erin Rhoda, Bangor Daily News, and Jennifer Smith Richards and Jodi S. Cohen for ProPublica: 'On a Monday last month, after a conservative Maine legislator expressed outrage on Facebook about a transgender girl winning a high school pole vaulting event, the hammer of the federal government began to swing. By Friday of that week, Feb. 21, President Donald Trump singled out Maine's governor during a White House event and threatened to cut off the state's federal funding. 'See you in court,' Gov. Janet Mills shot back. Then came a barrage of investigations and threats: The U.S. Department of Education opened inquiries into the Maine Department of Education and the student's school district, alleging they had violated federal civil rights law.' Quote of the Week Read more here. on the move Aviva Aron-Dine will join the Brookings economic studies program as a senior fellow and director of the Hamilton Project. She most recently was acting assistant secretary for tax policy at the Treasury Department. (h/t POLITICO Playbook) Hailey Miller is now director of government relations and public policy for the Digital Power Network, an affiliate of the Chamber of Digital Commerce. She was previously a vice president at 1607 Strategies and is an FTI Consulting and Ted Cruz alum. (h/t POLITICO Influence) Rachel Millard is now director of corporate reputation and public affairs at EY (Americas). She previously was an SVP at Edelman Smithfield. (h/t POLITICO Playbook)
Voice of America
09-03-2025
- Politics
- Voice of America
Women's rights advocates warn UN to confront backlash against progress
Female activists raised their voices at the United Nations on Friday as they marked International Women's Day amid a global trend of backsliding on hard-won rights. "International Women's Day is a powerful moment, and this year, more than ever, the call of gender equality has never been more urgent, nor the obstacles in our way more apparent, but our determination has never been more unshakable," said Sima Bahous, executive director of U.N. Women. Bahous called on women everywhere to confront the backlash, emphasizing that their movement is powerful and growing. "Equality is not to be feared, but instead to be embraced," she said. "Because an equal world is a better world." Women in all parts of the world are facing challenges to their reproductive rights, personal safety, education, equal pay and political participation. This year marks the 30th anniversary of a women's conference in Beijing that recognized women's rights as human rights, producing an action platform that has helped drive policy and progress. The United Nations says more girls are in school and more women hold positions of power today than before, but they still face violence, discrimination and financial inequality. "We cannot stand by as progress is reversed," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the gathering. "We must fight back." At the current pace, he said, eradicating extreme poverty for women and girls will take 130 years. "The fight for gender equality is not just about fairness," Guterres emphasized. "It is about power — who gets a seat at the table and who is locked out." U.N. goodwill ambassador for Africa Jaha Dukureh endured female genital mutilation (FGM) as an infant. At age 15, she was forced into marriage with a much older man in her homeland, Gambia. Her organization, Safe Hands for Girls, works to end the practice of FGM and address the physical and psychological toll on its victims. Dukureh told the gathering that governments have a duty to invest in social protection and education for women and girls. "For all women and girls, economic independence is the foundation of freedom," she said. "A woman who can provide for herself can make choices. A girl who has an education can build her own future." Commission on the Status of Women On Monday, hundreds of women's advocates and activists will descend upon U.N. headquarters to hold their annual meeting known as the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). The 10-day gathering is dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the rights and empowerment of women. Sarah Hendriks, director of policy for U.N. Women, told reporters on Thursday that anti-women's rights actors are increasingly well-funded and coordinated. "Where they cannot roll back legal or policy gains altogether, they seek to either block or slow down their implementation," she said. Thirty years after Beijing, Hendriks said, progress is still too slow, too fragile, too uneven and not guaranteed. She said U.N. Women is proposing an action agenda to accelerate progress on the sustainable development goals, of which goal number five focuses on achieving gender equality. "It is our ambition that 2025 will be remembered as a pivotal year," she said. "That it will be remembered as a year that history looks back and says, 'This was the year that we refused to back down, that we held ground, that we refused to step back, that we indeed actually stood our ground.'" CSW is expected to approve a political declaration by consensus on the first day. Negotiations on the document have been going on for about two weeks. But how strong it will be and what will be missing from it — for instance, reproductive rights — remains to be seen.
Voice of America
07-03-2025
- Politics
- Voice of America
International Women's Day to accent push for gender parity
International Women's Day, March 8, is a day not only to celebrate women's achievements but also to train future advocates of gender equality. International Women's Day also shines a spotlight on issues important to women, such as access to reproductive health care and prevention of violence against women. Celebrating women's achievements "does not mean we can lose sight of how much still needs to be done" to gain gender parity, U.N. Women spokesperson Paloma Escudero told VOA. "Women remain far from equality in almost every sphere, and we can see that in the many wars and crises the world faces,' she said. 'It is always women who are impacted first and worst." The theme this year is "Accelerate Action" — a worldwide call to share "strategies, resources and activit[ies] that positively impact women's advancement, and to support and elevate their implementation," according to the International Women's Day website. The day's events will include rallies, fundraisers, lobbying sessions, performances and more around the world. Meanwhile, efforts continue to close the gender gap — the differences between men and women in areas such as politics, education and wages. A 2024 report by the World Economic Forum found that the world has closed 68.5% of the gender gap. At that pace, the report said, it would take about five generations to achieve full equality. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said recently, "From pushback to rollback, women's human rights are under attack." Women continue to face "age-old horrors – violence, discrimination and economic inequality," Guterres said, and they are now also facing "newer threats such as biased algorithms" that are "programming inequalities into online spaces, opening up new arenas of harassment and abuse." "Instead of mainstreaming equal rights, we're seeing the mainstreaming of misogyny," Guterres said. International Women's Day emerged from the labor movement and campaigns promoting women's rights in the U.S. more than a century ago. In 1909, the Socialist Party of America held the first National Women's Day, with meetings across the country about women's issues such as better pay, the right to vote and gender equality. Inspired by their American counterparts, the International Socialist Congress held the first International Women's Day in 1911 with meetings in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, with more than 1 million men and women in attendance. The United Nations officially recognized March 8 as International Women's Day in 1977. Svitlana Prystynska contributed to this report.
Reuters
05-02-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Australia makes gender equality key to foreign policy and aid
SYDNEY, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Gender equality will become central to Australia's foreign policy, diplomacy, trade and aid programmers under a new international strategy, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Wednesday in Canberra. Gender equality is a "stronger predictor of peace than a nation's wealth or political system", Wong said in a speech at a U.N. Women event at parliament house. Australia's new International Gender Equality Strategy aims to protect women's sexual and reproductive health rights and increase the security and financial inclusion of women. "Across the world, women are facing more sexual and gender-based violence, and less access to sexual and reproductive health services," Wong said in announcing the new strategy. Two in three women experience physical or sexual violence in the Pacific region, she added. Globally, 380 million women and girls live in extreme poverty and 2.4 billion women do not have equal economic opportunities. "Some will try to delegitimise this strategy as being about a 'special interest'... Gender equality is a matter of national interest," she added. The United States, the biggest aid donor globally, has frozen aid funding, which includes women's reproductive health, and has criticized clean energy projects for women in the Pacific, as the Trump Administration overhauls foreign assistance. Australia provides 40% of aid to the Pacific Islands region and already has a policy which requires gender equality goals in new aid projects of A$3 million or more. Under the new strategy Australia will spend A$30 million to provide more assistance to aid groups to include gender and social inclusion targets in programmers, the foreign affairs department said.
