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	Declaration of the Global People’s Assembly 2023 by Global Call for Action against Poverty, agencies   Sep. 2023   Halfway to Agenda 2030, we are still far from achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The draft 2023 Political Declaration fails to commit to the urgent action required to accelerate response towards the rising inequalities and poverty, for human rights, gender equality, social justice, peace, and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.   We demand governments match the political determination and persistence of civil society and activists, in all our diversity. Failure to achieve the SDGs – let alone make significant progress towards them – would be catastrophic for humanity and our planet.   This critical, interlinked Declaration of the 2023 Global People’s Assembly, co-created by over 40 national and regional People’s Assemblies and Global Peoples Assembly co-organizers, in all our diversities, is our shared and collective vision for a human-rights centered, gender transformative, intergenerational change to address the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and violence the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated, and to accelerate the faltering progress toward the achievement of the SDGs.   1. Economic and Financial Justice   Reverse current patterns of consumption, production and global economic governance and decision-making power, in particular in the Global North, that are rooted in colonial histories and the concentration of wealth among the elite few, leading to the exploitation and destruction of people and the planet.   Establish a multilateral legal framework under the aegis of the UN to cancel, restructure, suspend, and lower rates on existing debt, and cease including austerity conditionalities in any new debt issued.   Call on governments to repudiate illegitimate debts that have harmed people and the planet. Privatization puts profits over people, and that very fact is fundamentally incompatible with human rights obligations. Reject corporate capture of the UN and all other multilateral spaces by, among other actions, negotiating and adopting a legally binding instrument on business and human rights, and establishing a binding convention and a global tax body under the auspices of the UN.   Build new paradigms of development and public policies centered on care, justice, human rights, reparations, and restoration. Deliver commitments on development cooperation volumes and effectiveness, especially the 0.7 GNI target for Official Development Assistance (ODA). Abandon economic systems dependent on the exploitation of the underpaid and unpaid labour of women and girls, and the unequal distribution of care and domestic responsibilities.   2. Climate and Environmental Justice   Abandon false solutions to the climate crisis in favor of human rights-based climate solutions that prioritize people over markets, protect ecologically sustainable food systems and healthy ecosystems, uphold Indigenous Peoples’ rights to land, territories, and resources, and the right of free, prior, and informed consent as human rights.   When Indigenous and rural people, especially women, have more secure land rights, they are in a better position to protect biodiversity and foster climate resilience; which is increasingly urgent as our climate crisis deepens. Increase and deliver on climate finance pledges, including loss and damage, in accordance with Common But Differentiated Responsibilities.   Address interlinkages between climate change, disaster risk reduction, and health and human rights for all. Ensure sufficient, safe, acceptable, accessible, and affordable access to water and sanitation through public, adequate, and community-owned services.   Prioritize investment in a just transition towards renewable energy infrastructure and technology that is community-owned and democratically controlled, while ensuring compliance with ethical, non-violent and human rights standards and sourcing. Adopt the fossil- fuel non-proliferation treaty.   3. Social Justice and Gender Equality   Eliminate all forms of discrimination and exclusion, including but not limited to caste, work and descent, class, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability, age, religion, geography and other marginalizations. Protect and uphold the human rights, including sexual and reproductive rights, of all people – particularly all women, girls, and gender-diverse people by removing discriminatory laws and policies that criminalize gender identity and expression, and sexuality.   Advance sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) through the provision of universal health care (UHC), provision of comprehensive sexuality education, and recognizing access to abortion as a human right. Address the root causes of and prevent gender-based violence by working with feminist groups to combat misogyny, patriarchy, ageism, and harmful gender norms guided by principles of intersectionality. Take targeted and sustained actions to remove gender bias, stereotypes, and discrimination.   Guarantee and allocate public financing and resources for social protection systems, establish the solidarity-based Global Fund for Social Protection and put in place public social infrastructure to eliminate inequalities. Abandon our current militarized and nationalized understandings of security, and in their place adopt understandings of security that center on human security, bodily autonomy, and the fulfilment of human rights.   4. Civil Society, Human Rights and the UN   Reverse the trend of shrinking and closing civic space in many countries in all regions across the globe, with Member States being held accountable for their egregious violation of international human rights standards.   Advance civil society access, leadership, and meaningful participation and decision-making within UN spaces and negotiation processes, especially historically marginalized and vulnerable communities.   An independent and fully funded civil society is a prerequisite for the development of policies that will enable us to live our lives in dignity and equality. Reclaim leadership of governments and the UN from the private sector and other actors encouraging them to weaken or abandon human rights obligations. Speak out against anti-gender and anti-rights narratives and actions by state and non-state actors, online and offline.   Protect human rights defenders from reprisals, harassment and persecution when they engage with UN spaces and mechanisms, and repeal laws and weaponizing of justice institutions to criminalize dissent, resistance, fact-checking, peaceful gatherings, protests and spreading awareness.   Unequivocally uphold freedom of speech, expression and safe assembly by safeguarding fundamental rights of all human rights defenders, climate justice activists, environmental defenders, peacebuilders, journalists, and other feminist and socio-economic defenders, enabling them to positively and safely influence the outcomes of these current and upcoming global and regional processes that impact our lives and futures.   http://www.peoplesassembly.global/en/ http://gcap.global/peoples-assembly/ Visit the related web page
	Less than 1 percent of women and girls live in a country with gender parity by UN Women, UNDP, OHCHR, agencies   No country has achieved full gender parity and fewer than 1 percent of women and girls live in a country with high women’s empowerment and a small gender gap, according to a new global report launched by UN Women and UNDP. The report provides a more comprehensive picture of progress in women and girl’s human development.   The report sees UN Women and UNDP join forces to propose the Women's Empowerment Index (WEI) and the Global Gender Parity Index (GGPI) as the twin indices for measuring gender parity and women’s empowerment.   The twin indices offer different but complementary lenses for assessing progress in advancing women's human development, power, and freedoms. Together, they shed light on the complex challenges faced by women worldwide and pave the way for targeted interventions and policy reforms.   Analysis of 114 countries has found that women’s power and freedom to make choices and seize opportunities remain largely restricted. Low women’s empowerment and large gender gaps are commonplace.   The WEI measures women's power and freedoms to make choices and seize life opportunities across five dimensions: health, education, inclusion, decision-making, and violence against women.   Similarly, the GGPI evaluates the status of women relative to men in core dimensions of human development, including health, education, inclusion, and decision-making.   Globally, women are empowered to achieve on average only 60 percent of their full potential, as measured by the WEI. They achieve, on average, 72 percent of what men achieve across key human development dimensions, as measured by the GPPI, reflecting a 28 percent of gender gap. These empowerment deficits and disparities are harmful not just to women’s well-being and advancement but also to human progress.   Commenting on the report's findings, UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous stated, “With the Sustainable Development Goals, the global community has made a strong commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment. However, we can see clearly with these new indices that across countries, women’s full potential remains unrealized, and large gender gaps continue to be commonplace, thereby obstructing and slowing progress in the realization of all the Goals”.   “Sustained efforts are therefore needed to deliver on the promise of gender equality, secure the human rights of women and girls and ensure that their fundamental freedoms are fully realized”, she underlined.   The Report also highlights that less than 1 percent of women and girls live in countries with both high levels of women's empowerment and high gender parity, while more than 90 percent of the world's female population —3.1 billion women and girls — live in countries characterized by a large women’s empowerment deficit and a large gender gap..   http://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/press-release/2023/07/press-release-less-than-1-percent-of-women-and-girls-live-in-a-country-with-high-womens-empowerment-and-high-gender-parity http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2023/07/the-paths-to-equal-twin-indices-on-womens-empowerment-and-gender-equality   According to the U.N. Development Program (UNDP) new Gender Social Norms Index report, 9 in 10 people worldwide hold biases against women.   Without tackling biased gender social norms, we will not achieve gender equality or the Sustainable Development Goals. Biased gender social norms—the undervaluation of women’s capabilities and rights in society—constrain women’s choices and opportunities by regulating behaviour and setting the boundaries of what women are expected to do and be. Biased gender social norms are a major impediment to achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls.   Covering 85% of the world's population and incorporating data from 2017-22, the report shows "a decade of stagnation" across four dimensions explored by researchers: political, educational, economic, and physical integrity.   "Nearly half the world's people believe that men make better political leaders than women do, and two of five people believe that men make better business executives than women do," the publication states, highlighting how few women hold roles in both areas.   "Only 11% of heads of state and 9% of heads of government are women, and women hold only 22% of ministerial posts," while "in the paid economy women hold only 28% of managerial positions". "Even when women reach leadership positions, gender biases lead to unequal treatment and judgment," the report underlines.   "All biased gender social norms are potentially harmful, but perhaps none has a more direct impact on women's agency and well-being than those leading to violence against women and girls," the report stresses.   Over a quarter of people "believe that it is justifiable for a man to beat his wife," and a similar share of women and girls over age 15 have endured intimate partner violence.   The report highlights that "the world is not on track to achieve gender equality by 2030," which is among the 17 sustainable development goals adopted by the U.N. in 2015. Targets on the gender equality goal include ending all forms of discrimination against women and girls, including violence and harmful practices such as forced marriage, ensuring access to economic resources and reproductive healthcare, recognizing unpaid domestic work, and boosting female leadership in politics and beyond.   “These views persist because of social and cultural norms that devalue women and reinforce men’s power, control and feelings of entitlement, as well as promoting beliefs that trivialise and normalise violence against women and even blame victims for their own abuse,” said Andrea Simon, director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition. “It is these attitudes that can drive violent acts and behaviours and we can only truly prevent this violence by shifting these attitudes.”   Anam Parvez, head of research at Oxfam Great Britain, responded with alarm to the UNDP report.   "This is truly alarming and explains why the world is completely off track in achieving gender equality by 2030," she told The Guardian. "In 2021, 1 in 5 women were married before they turn 18, 1.7 billion women and girls live on less than $5.50 a day, and women continue to take on three times as much unpaid care and domestic work as men around the world."   "At the current rate of progress it will take 186 years to close gaps in legal protections," Parvez pointed out. "It also explains why, while there has been some progress on enacting laws that advance women's rights, social norms continue to be deeply entrenched and pervasive."   The report says that "the gender-based biases we carry into voting booths, board meetings, interview panels, and assemblies present barriers to women's ability to fulfill their full potential. Policies to achieve comprehensive gender equality have to be designed and implemented to address biased gender social norms."   Raquel Lagunas, director of UNDP's Gender Team, explained that "an important place to start is recognizing the economic value of unpaid care work. This can be a very effective way of challenging gender norms around how care work is viewed."   "In countries with the highest levels of gender biases against women," Lagunas noted, "it is estimated that women spend over six times as much time as men on unpaid care work."   Pedro Conceicao, head of UNDP’s Human Development Report Office, emphasized that "social norms that impair women's rights are also detrimental to society more broadly, dampening the expansion of human development."   "In fact, lack of progress on gender social norms is unfolding against a human development crisis: The global Human Development Index (HDI) declined in 2020 and again the following year," he said. "Everyone stands to gain from ensuring freedom and agency for women."   The UNDP report calls for women’s economic contributions to society to be better recognised, including unpaid work, for laws and measures that ensure political participation to be enacted, and for more action to fight stereotypes.   http://hdr.undp.org/content/2023-gender-social-norms-index-gsni#/indicies/GSNI http://www.unicef.org/mena/press-releases/geneva-summit-garners-action-tackle-gender-discriminatory-nationality-laws   June 2023   The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Optional Protocol: Handbook for Parliamentarians   More than four decades after its adoption, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women remains an essential and ambitious guide for achieving gender equality across the board – from the family and the classroom to executive boards and political leadership roles.   Despite considerable progress since the Convention came into force, no country can yet claim to have fully achieved gender equality. This revised edition of The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Optional Protocol: Handbook for Parliamentarians is a joint collaboration undertaken by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).   Twenty years after the publication of the first edition, this updated edition seeks to provide parliamentarians with detailed and practical guidance, relying on the important recommendations and good practices developed by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in translating the Convention into concrete action that addresses all forms of discrimination and gender-based violence against women and girls.   It also builds on the indispensable contribution of parliaments in advancing gender equality as a fundamental element of sustainable development and peace, as well as on the perspectives of civil society and government as key allies to this work.   The handbook aims to highlight the importance of women’s rights and gender equality in overcoming global challenges, from the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, to armed conflict and displacement, and the rise of authoritarianism. It also reinforces the significance of the Convention as a solid foundation for building a more resilient world and more inclusive societies.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/publications/policy-and-methodological-publications/convention-elimination-all-forms-discrimination   June 2023   The United Nations Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls in a new report calls for a Feminist Human Rights-Based Economy to tackle the disproportionate representation of Women and Girls Living in Poverty Globally.   In discussions with State representatives the Working Group was applauded for highlighting the structural inequalities that perpetuated and deepened gender inequalities and threatened the realisation of women’s and girls’ rights to fully enjoy an adequate standard of living and other interrelated economic, social, and cultural rights.   Many shared the Working Group’s concern that women and girls were disproportionately represented among the world’s poor, noting that multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination against this group were still widespread across the globe, resulting in gendered socioeconomic inequality and poverty.   A number of speakers believed the persistence of discriminatory and negative social norms and gender stereotypes affected women and girls across all areas of life, from families to communities, in businesses and in all branches of the public sector, and contributed to maintaining and deepening socioeconomic inequalities.   Women and girls continued to experience structural gender discrimination in both formal and informal employment on the grounds of gender, pregnancy and caring responsibilities. The report highlighted the unequal and inadequate remuneration, precarious employment, lack of union representation, and violence and harassment in the workplace, which were all factors that increased sex- and gender-based inequalities, and entrenched poverty for women and girls.   Dorothy Estrada-Tanck, Chair of the United Nations Working Group on discrimination against women and girls, presenting the report on gendered inequalities of poverty, said that globally, women and girls were disproportionately represented among those living in poverty.   The report demonstrated that poverty and socioeconomic inequality were the result of blatant systemic failures leading to a vicious cycle of exclusion and discrimination.   Women’s and girls’ inequality and poverty were the result of historical and continuing economic policy choices at the global, regional and national levels.   Policy priorities had been developed within patriarchal systems that ignored the specific experiences and rights of girls and women. The COVID-19 crisis had also prompted a re-evaluation of mainstream economic ideologies, including recognition of the central role of care in societies, as well as revaluing the State’s position vis-a-vis the market as an actor in defining and resourcing public policies.   In many jurisdictions, criminal laws were disproportionately applied to women and girls because of their economic or social status, and due to the costs of accessing the formal justice system.   Those particularly affected were women and girls living in poverty seeking reproductive health care and services, including abortion; indigenous, migrant and ethnic minority women and girls; women and girls who were experiencing homelessness; women and girl street vendors; sex workers; and members of sexual minority groups.   Poverty and gender-based violence, including sexual violence and denials of bodily autonomy, interacted in a vicious, mutually reinforcing cycle.   Women and girls facing sexual harassment at work, violence at home or violence on the streets were unable to participate on an equal basis in the labour market, were discriminated against in connection with contributory social security benefits, and were more likely to experience poverty, violence and homelessness in old age.   The report called for a feminist human rights-based economy that enabled and constructed substantive equality, solidarity, and socioeconomic and environmental justice.   The right to be free from poverty could not be realised in isolation from individual and collective rights to substantive equality. The meaningful participation of diverse groups of women and girls in implementing socioeconomic strategies was a core part of this process.   The right to substantive equality also required resource mobilisation and redistribution within and between countries. Wealthy countries need to assist low-income countries in the realisation of economic, social and cultural rights for everyone without discrimination to ensure gender equality, and to cooperate to reduce inequalities between and within nations.   The report includes recommendations to States, international economic institutions and corporations, to negotiate a new human rights-based feminist social consensus.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/news/2023/06/working-group-discrimination-against-women-and-girls-calls-feminist-human-rights-based http://tinyurl.com/32y4butr http://www.who.int/news/item/17-07-2023-who-addresses-violence-against-women-as-a-gender-equality-and-health-priority
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