Press release: At UN high-level meeting, world leaders reignite the vision of the Beijing Platform for Action, the most transformative agenda for advancing gender equality
Source: UN Women
More than 100 countries committed yesterday to concrete actions that would advance gender equality for women and girls everywhere at a virtual high-level meeting during the UN General Assembly. This gathering – under the theme “Accelerating the realization of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls” – marked the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action – the most comprehensive roadmap for women and girls’ empowerment.
Read more here.
DRC protesters demand justice over unprosecuted rapes and murders
Source: The Guardian
Women led thousands of people in demonstrations in four cities across the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Thursday, demanding justice for historic murders and rapes committed in the east of the country. Organisers said police beat protesters in Kisangani, one of the cities, as they marked a decade since the UN documented hundreds of crimes in DRC between 1993 and 2003 that have not been prosecuted.
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Iraq urged to investigate attacks on women human rights defenders
Source: UN News
In a joint appeal on Friday, the seven experts also called on Baghdad to ensure that it was safe for everyone who stood up for people’s rights in the country. The development follows the deadly shooting in August of Dr. Riham Yaqoub and the attempted assassination of Lodya Remon Albarti, in Basra. Both rights defenders had led women’s marches within the protest movement against corruption and unemployment that began in 2018 in the southern city.
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2020 Open Letter to Permanent Representatives to the United Nations on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Resolution 1325 (2000)
Source: NGO Working Group on WPS
This open letter, available in Arabic, English, French, Spanish and Russian, was sent to all UN Member States on behalf of 558 civil society organizations across 102 countries in advance of the Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) in October 2020. The letter calls on the UN and Member States to prioritize women’s participation and fully implement the WPS agenda.
Read the letter here.
