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Special rapporteur is the title given to independent human rights experts whose expertise is called upon by the United Nations (UN) to report or advise on human rights from a thematic or country-specific perspective.
The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is an international treaty adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly. Described as an international bill of rights for women, it was instituted on 3 September 1981 and has been ratified by 189 states. Over fifty countries that have ratified the convention have done so subject to certain declarations, reservations, and objections, including 38 countries who rejected the enforcement article 29, which addresses means of settlement for disputes concerning the interpretation or application of the convention. Australia's declaration noted the limitations on central government power resulting from its federal constitutional system. The United States and Palau have signed, but not ratified the treaty. The Holy See, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, and Tonga are not signatories to CEDAW.
A human rights defender or human rights activist is a person who, individually or with others, acts to promote or protect human rights. They can be journalists, environmentalists, whistleblowers, trade unionists, lawyers, teachers, housing campaigners, participants in direct action, or just individuals acting alone. They can defend rights as part of their jobs or in a voluntary capacity. As a result of their activities, human rights defenders (HRDs) are often subjected to reprisals including smears, surveillance, harassment, false charges, arbitrary detention, restrictions on the right to freedom of association, physical attack, and even murder. In 2020, at least 331 HRDs were murdered in 25 countries. The international community and some national governments have attempted to respond to this violence through various protections, but violence against HRDs continues to rise. Women human rights defenders and environmental human rights defenders face greater repression and risks than human rights defenders working on other issues.
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The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women was adopted without a vote by the United Nations General Assembly in the 48/104 resolution of 20 December 1993. Contained within it is the recognition of "the urgent need for the universal application to women of the rights and principles with regard to equality, security, liberty, integrity and dignity of all human beings". It recalls and embodies the same rights and principles as those enshrined in such instruments as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Articles 1 and 2 provide the most widely used definition of violence against women.
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Tejshree Thapa was a Nepalese human rights lawyer. She was recognized for her role in investigating and documenting human rights violations, including widespread sexual violence and other atrocities committed during the Yugoslav Wars, the Sri Lanka Civil War, and the Nepal Civil War.
Yakin Ertürk is a Turkish former United Nations special rapporteur on violence against women and board member of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), and was a professor of Sociology.
Dubravka Šimonović is a Croatian jurist and specialist in human rights. She was appointed on 1 August 2015 as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, and is visiting professor in practice in the Centre for Women, Peace and Security at the London School of Economics.
Reem Alsalem is a Jordanian independent consultant and former civil servant. Since August 2021 she has served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls. She is gender-critical, and has been accused of being anti-trans.
Roses Revolution is an international movement against obstetric violence, originally founded in Spain in 2011. It observes November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, additionally as "Roses Revolution Day". Women place roses in front of the delivery rooms or hospitals where they suffered varying forms of physical or psychological violence as a sign of protest.
The law on self-determination with regard to gender entry, unofficially also called the Self-Determination Act is intended to make it easier for transgender, intersex and non-binary people in Germany to have their gender entry and first name changed.
Astrid Jovanna Puentes Riaño is a Colombian-born Mexican law professor. She has led the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA) to support the people who live in La Oroya, "one of the most polluted places on Earth". In 2024 she became the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human right to a healthy environment.
Claudia M. Flores is a Serbian-born American law Professor at Yale University. She is a member of the United Nations Working Group on discrimination against women and girls.
References
- ↑ "Question of integrating the rights of women into the human rights mechanisms of the United Nations and the elimination of violence against women". Archived from the original on 2 December 2005.
- ↑ "Dubravka Šimonović, Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, its causes and consequences". ohchr.org. United Nations: Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
- ↑ Theilen, Jens (2024). "Intersectionality's Travels to International Human Rights Law". Michigan Journal of International Law . 45 (2).
A stark example of individual politics furthering rather than contesting oppression is found in the work of the current Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences, Reem Alsalem, who is using women's rights as a tool to undermine trans rights; see the protest letter AWID, There Is No Place for Anti-Trans Agendas in the UN (2023)
- ↑ "There Is No Place for Anti-Trans Agendas in the UN". Association for Women's Rights in Development . Retrieved 9 February 2024.
- ↑ "Preliminary report submitted by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, in accordance with Commission on Human Rights resolution 1994/45". 22 November 1994. Archived from the original on 11 December 2005.
- ↑ "Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences – Country Visits". Archived from the original on 18 August 2004.
- ↑ "Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences". Archived from the original on 18 August 2004.
- ↑ "Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences".
- ↑ Nissen, A. (2023). "Gender-Transformative Remedies for Women Human Rights Defenders". Business and Human Rights Journal. 8 (3): 369–393. doi:10.1017/bhj.2023.41. hdl: 1887/3716539 .
