Women's Views on News |
| Refugee and migrant summits: some results Posted: 28 Sep 2016 02:14 PM PDT
World leaders gathered for two major summits on the global refugee and migration crisis recently. One was the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants co-chaired by the governments of Jordan and Ireland on 19 September and the other the Leaders' Summit on Refugees convened by President Obama on 20 September. Those who met at the United Nations on 19 September adopted what has been called 'the New York Declaration', which expresses their political will to protect the rights of refugees and migrants, to save lives and share responsibility for large movements on a global scale. As called for in the Declaration, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also launched a new campaign called ‘Together – Respect, Safety and Dignity for All’ to "respond to rising xenophobia and turn fear into hope." He urged world leaders to join this campaign and "commit together to upholding the rights and dignity of everyone forced by circumstance to flee their homes in search of a better life." As a Joint Statement on Women and Girls to the Global Refugee and Migrant Summits pointed out, regardless of whether or not they meet the legal definition of refugee, many displaced individuals have been subjected to discrimination, persecution or violence. The obligation to protect persons fleeing conflict, natural disasters and other difficult circumstances in search of safety and dignity is paramount. All refugees and migrants, regardless of the reason for their displacement, should be treated with dignity and respect for their fundamental human right, the Statement says. Women and girls who flee conflict, crisis and natural disasters, as well as women who migrate for other reasons, such as domestic violence or poverty, face specific threats-including human trafficking, exploitation and sexual violence and a denial of their basic human rights, including the right to seek asylum, it continues. The risks they face can also be compounded by various factors, including age, disability, race and other issues which mean some women and girls face increased discrimination, violence and barriers to assistance and protection. Assessments conducted in 2015 and 2016 found that current policy and programming trends in response to migration often exacerbate the barriers to safety and legal protection for women and girls. The joint statement, signed by 42 grassroots women-led civil society organisations, human rights and humanitarian agencies, outlines recommendations for commitments by states attending the Global Refugee and Migrant Summits, to ensure the protection and safety of refugee women and girls. The recommendations are: 1 – Ensure displaced women and girls meaningfully participate in all aspects of the Summits themselves and follow-up implementation, monitoring and accountability efforts. 2 – Implement safe and legal migration routes, including through expanded family reunification options for refugees, rather than a policy of deterrence. Ensure access to effective asylum and legal protection mechanisms for all migrants. 3 – End the arbitrary and prolonged detention of asylum seekers and migrants. Increase support for alternatives to detention. 4 – Make an explicit, detailed commitment to protect all displaced women and girls from gender-based violence while in transit, in reception centres and upon reaching their destinations. 5 – Expand access for women to legal and safe livelihoods opportunities that leverage their capacity to sustain and protect themselves and their families. 6 – Ensure that all refugee and migrant girls have access to quality, safe and inclusive education at all levels. 7 – Reform gender discriminatory nationality laws to ensure that women and men have equal rights to confer nationality on their children and spouses. 8 – Increase funding and policy support to ensure access to life-saving and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services. 9 – Provide increased and dedicated funding to displaced women-led civil society organisations, and support policy reforms to enable displaced women to organize themselves and register civil society organisations. 10 – Promote robust and coherent accountability across donor funding for addressing women's participation, gender-based violence, comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights, and gender sensitivity. Click here to read the full statement or to see the list of signatories.  |
| Call for access to safe and legal abortions Posted: 28 Sep 2016 01:57 PM PDT
Speaking ahead of the Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion, a group of United Nations human rights experts called on States across the world to repeal restrictive abortion laws and policies, and all punitive measures and discriminatory barriers to access safe reproductive health services. The UN experts are Alda Facio, Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice; Dubravka Šimonović, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences; Dainius Pūras, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; and Juan E. Méndez, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The experts also expressed their support for the call of several non-governmental organisations to make 28 September an official UN day for safe abortion worldwide, to urge governments to decriminalise abortion and provide reproductive health services in a legal, safe and affordable manner. "In the twenty-first century unsafe abortion is one of the leading causes of maternal mortality and morbidity. "According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 22 million unsafe abortions take place each year worldwide and an estimated 47,000 women die annually from complications resulting from the resort to unsafe practices for termination of pregnancy. "Criminalisation of abortion and failure to provide adequate access to services for termination of an unwanted pregnancy are forms of discrimination based on sex. "Restrictive legislation which denies access to safe abortion is one of most damaging ways of instrumentalising women's bodies and a grave violation of women's human rights. "The consequences for women are severe, with women sometimes paying with their lives. "Restrictive laws apply to 40 per cent of the world's population. "In countries which prohibit abortion, women who seek health services in relation to the termination of a pregnancy, whether in order to carry out the termination or to seek medical care after a miscarriage, may be subjected to prosecution and imprisonment. "Prohibition does not reduce the need and the number of abortions; it merely increases the risks to the health and life of women and girls who resort to unsafe and illegal services. "Evidence-based comprehensive sex education and the availability of effective contraception are essential to lower the incidence of unintended pregnancy, and hence to lower the number of abortions. "Indeed, it has been demonstrated that countries where access to information and to modern methods of contraception is easily available and where abortion is legal, have the lowest rates of abortion. "The possibility of accessing safe abortion remains essential. "Unwanted pregnancies cannot be totally prevented since no contraceptive method is 100 per cent effective, and women may be exposed to sexual violence. "We recommend the good practice found in many countries which provide women's access to safe abortion services, on request during the first trimester of pregnancy. "We insist on international legal requirements that women can access abortion at the very least in cases of risk to their life or health, including mental health, rape, incest and fatal impairment of the foetus during the first trimester and later. "In this context, states should also allow pregnant girls and adolescents to terminate unwanted pregnancies, which if carried to term expose them to a greatly increased risk to life and health, including a very high probability of suffering from obstetric fistula, prevent completion of their education and obstruct development of their economic and social capabilities. "We urge States to repeal restrictive laws and policies in relation to abortion, which do not meet the international human rights law requirements and that have discriminatory and public health impacts, and to eliminate all punitive measures and discriminatory barriers to access safe reproductive health services. "These laws and policies violate women's human right to health and negate their autonomy in decision-making about their own bodies. "We cannot tolerate the severe violation of women's human rights on the basis of their sex and biological differences. "We cannot tolerate the high incidence of women's and girls' preventable deaths resulting from maternity-related issues, including from unsafe abortion. "In the past 30 years, women's rights groups have mobilized on 28 September, named 'the Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion', to urge their governments to decriminalise the termination of pregnancy, end the stigma and discrimination around the practice and provide such services in a legal, safe and affordable manner. "Originally from Latin America and the Caribbean, 28 September, which commemorates the abolition of slavery for children born to slave mothers in Brazil, was renamed as the day of the 'free womb' and the movement spread to all the other regions in the world. "While slavery has now been abolished, there is still a long way to go before the bodies and wombs of women around the world will stop being instrumentalised in the name of patriarchal morals or traditions and for political, economic or cultural purposes. "We join our voices to the strong and brave ones of many non-governmental organisations which have called for safe abortion worldwide by requesting that 28 September be made an UN official international day on safe abortion."  |
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