View previous stories
	89,000 women and girls were killed intentionally in 2022 by UN Women, UNODC, agencies   Nov. 2023   The killings of women and girls represent the lethal end point of a continuum of gender-based violence, and they usually follow prior experiences of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse.   Nearly 89,000 women and girls were killed intentionally in 2022 across the globe, according a new research paper, “Gender-related killings of women and girls (femicide/feminicide)”, from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and UN Women.   This year's recorded figures are the highest yearly number of intentional killings of women and girls in the past two decades, and women and girls in all regions across the world are affected by this type of gender-based violence.   In 2022, 55 per cent of the intentional killings of women (around 48,800) were committed by intimate partners or other family members. This means that, on average, more than 133 women or girls were killed every day by someone in their own family.   “The alarming number of femicides is a stark reminder that humanity is still grappling with deep-rooted inequalities and violence against women and girls”, said Ghada Waly, Executive Director of UNODC.   “Each life lost is a call to action—a plea to urgently address structural inequalities, to improve criminal justice responses, so that no woman or girl fears for her life. Governments must invest in institutions that are more inclusive and well-equipped to end impunity, strengthen prevention, and help victims, from frontline responders to the judiciary, to end the violence before it is too late.”   Women and girls in all regions experience this gender-based violence. For the first time since UNODC began publishing regional estimates in 2013, Africa surpassed Asia in 2022 as the region with the highest number of total victims (20,000). Africa also witnessed the highest number of victims relative to the size of its female population, although the estimates are subject to uncertainty due to limited data availability.   Femicides committed by intimate partners or family members in North America increased by 29 per cent between 2017 and 2022, in part due to improved recording practices.   * Globally significant data gaps remain and the published figures are considered a most conservative estimation of the true extent of the disturbing reality.   The urgency to end violence against women and girls has never been greater. UN Women's Gender Snapshot 2023 report reveals that 245 million women and girls continue to face physical and/or sexual violence from their intimate partners each year.   A staggering 86 per cent of women and girls live in countries without robust legal protections against violence, or in countries where data are not available.   Additionally, the impacts of economic crises, conflicts, and climate change have heightened the vulnerability of women and girls to violence.   Sima Bahous Executive Director of UN Women: "It is time to get serious and fund what we know works to stop violence against women and girls. Invest in reforming and implementing laws and multisectoral policies. Provide services to survivors. Scale up evidence-based prevention interventions.   With the will and contributions of all stakeholders and sectors, we can unlock financing, track budget allocations, and increase gender-responsive budgeting. We have the solutions to end violence against women and girls. It is our choice".   A strong and autonomous feminist movement is also a crucial part of the solution. Women's rights organizations play a pivotal role in preventing violence, advocating for policy change, and holding governments accountable.   However, they remain severely underfunded, and significant efforts are needed to increase financial support for women's rights organizations. UN Women is calling for increased long-term investments from states, private sector, foundations, and other donors to women's rights organizations working to end violence against women and girls in all their diversity.   http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/unite/theme http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/11/femicides-in-2023-global-estimates-of-intimate-partner-family-member-femicides http://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/press-release/2023/11/press-release-un-women-calls-for-bold-investments-to-end-violence-against-women-in-light-of-new-report-showing-prevention-is-severely-underfunded http://stories.undp.org/one-killing-every-11-minutes http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2023/11/gender-related-killings-of-women-and-girls-femicide-feminicide-global-estimates-2022   Violence against women and girls   Violence against women and girls is one of the world’s most prevalent human rights violations, taking place every day, many times over, in every corner of the globe. It has serious short and long-term physical, economic and psychological consequences on women and girls, preventing their full and equal participation in society.   The magnitude of its impact, both in the lives of individuals and families and society as a whole, is immeasurable.   Conditions created by humanitarian, health and environmental crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic, conflicts, and climate change have further intensified violence against women and girls, exacerbated existing challenges and generated new and emerging threats.   Intimate-partner violence   Intimate partner violence refers to behaviour by an intimate partner or ex-partner that causes physical, sexual or psychological harm, including physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse and controlling behaviours. This is one of the most common forms of violence experienced by women globally.   Intimate partner violence includes acts of physical violence, psychological violence such as fear by intimidation or forced isolation, and economic violence by maintaining total control over financial resources, withholding access to money, and/or forbidding attendance at school or employment, among others.   Sexual violence   Sexual violence is any sort of harmful or unwanted sexual behaviour that is imposed on someone. It includes acts of abusive sexual contact, attempted sexual acts with a woman without her consent, sexual harassment, verbal abuse, threats, unwanted touching.   Rape is any non-consensual penetration of a sexual nature of the body of another person with any bodily part or object, including through the use of physical violence and by putting the victim in a situation where they cannot say no or complies because of fear. This can be by any person known or unknown to the survivor.   Sexual violence in conflict:   Acts of violence against women include violation of the human rights of women in situations of armed conflict, such as systematic rape, sexual slavery and forced pregnancy, as well as forced sterilization, female infanticide and prenatal sex selection.   Femicide is the intentional killing of a woman or a girl because she is a woman or a girl. The gender-related motivation of the killing may range from stereotyped gender roles, discrimination towards women and girls, to unequal power relations between women and men in society.   Gender-related killings of women and girls (femicide/feminicide) are the most extreme and brutal manifestation of violence against women. They can take place in a wide range of situations within the private and public spheres, and within different contexts of perpetrator–victim relationship.   They include for instance cases with previous record of physical, sexual, or psychological violence/harassment, killings occurring in situation of trafficking in persons, forced labour or slavery.   Gender-related killings can also include so-called honor killings, which are the murder of a family member, a woman or girl, for the purported reason that the person has brought dishonor or shame upon the family. These killings often have to do with sexual purity, and supposed transgressions on the part of female family members.   Human trafficking   Human trafficking is a global crime that trades in people and exploits them for profit. Physical and sexual abuse, blackmail, emotional manipulation, and the removal of official documents are used by traffickers to control their victims. Exploitation can take place in a victim's home country, during migration or in a foreign country.   Human trafficking has many forms. While men, women and children of all ages and from all backgrounds can become victims of this crime, women are the primary targets and girls are mainly trafficked for sexual exploitation.   Female genital mutilation   Female genital mutilation (FGM) refers to all procedures involving partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. It is most often carried out on young girls between infancy and age 15.   FGM has no health benefits and can lead to serious, long-term complications and even death. Immediate health risks include hemorrhage, shock, infection, HIV transmission, urine retention and severe pain.   Psychological impacts can range from a girl losing trust in her caregivers, to longer-term feelings of anxiety and depression. In adulthood, girls subjected to FGM are more likely to suffer infertility or complications during childbirth, including postpartum haemorrhage, stillbirth and early neonatal death.   Numerous factors contribute to the persistence of the practice. Yet in every society in which it occurs, FGM is an expression of deeply rooted gender inequality. In every form in which it is practiced, FGM is a violation of girls’ and women’s fundamental human rights, including their rights to health, security and dignity.   Child, early and forced marriage   Child marriage is any marriage where at least one of the parties is under 18 years of age. Forced marriage is a marriage in which one and/or both parties have not personally expressed their full and free consent to the union. A child marriage is considered to be a form of forced marriage, given that one and/or both parties have not expressed full, free and informed consent.   It is widely recognized that child marriage is a violation of children’s rights and has several harmful effects on the lives of children (overwhelmingly girls), including early and frequent pregnancies, higher risks of maternal mortality and morbidity, limited decision-making in family matters and school dropout.   Online or technology-facilitated violence   Technology-facilitated violence against women is any act that is committed, assisted, aggravated, or amplified by the use of information communication technologies or other digital tools, that results in or is likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological, social, political, or economic harm, or other infringements of rights and freedoms.   It can occur in online spaces, and it can be perpetrated offline through the use of technological means, such as controlling a woman’s whereabouts by using a GPS tracker.   Technology-facilitated gender-based violence exacerbates existing forms and patterns of violence against women, such as intimate-partner violence, and also comes with new forms of violence such as online stalking and image-based abuse through artificial intelligence like deepfake videos.   While all women and girls who are online or who use digital tools may face violence online, some groups are at greater risk. These include women who are most visible online, including women in public life, journalists, human rights defenders, politicians and feminist activists.   Online violence can include the following: Cyberbullying: involves sending intimidating or threatening messages. Non-consensual sexting: sending explicit messages or photos without the recipient’s consent. Doxing: public release of private or identifying information about the victim.   http://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/in-focus/2023/11/in-focus-16-days-of-activism-against-gender-based-violence http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/faqs/signs-of-abuse http://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2023-09/progress-on-the-sustainable-development-goals-the-gender-snapshot-2023-en.pdf http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2023/11/international-community-must-walk-talk-safety-and-security-women-and-girls-times http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-women http://respect-prevent-vaw.org/ http://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-RHR-18.19 http://www.unfpa.org/thevirtualisreal http://www.unfpa.org/gender-based-violence Visit the related web page
	Children live in a world that is increasingly hostile to their rights by UNICEF, Alliance for Child Protection, agencies   Nov. 2023   “Children live in a world that is increasingly hostile to their rights”, says UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell   “Each year on November 20, we mark World Children’s Day to commemorate the 1989 adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) – the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history. By ratifying this international legal framework, world leaders acknowledged that all children have inalienable rights. And they promised that governments would ensure that those rights would be protected and upheld.   “Unfortunately, children today are living in a world that is increasingly hostile to their rights. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the experience of children impacted by conflicts.   “We estimate that today, 400 million children – or about 1 child in every 5 – are living in or fleeing from conflict zones. Many are being injured, killed, or sexually violated. They are losing family members and friends. And some are being recruited and used by armed forces or groups. Many of them have been displaced multiple times, risking separation from their families, losing critical years of education, and fraying ties to their communities.   “The United Nations has verified more than 315,000 grave child rights violations in areas under conflict between 2005 and 2022. And these are only the cases that have been verified which means the true number of violations is most certainly much higher.   “Beyond conflict zones, children’s rights also are under threat. That this coincides with other crises that are infringing on children’s rights is deeply troubling. These include rising poverty and inequality, public health emergencies and, of course, the global climate crisis.   “Climate change, in particular, is an existential threat to the health and wellbeing of this and future generations of children. Globally, more than 1 billion children currently live in countries that are at ‘extremely high-risk’ from the impacts of climate change. This means half the world’s children could suffer irreparable harm as our planet continues to warm.   They could lose their homes or schools to increasingly violent storms … they could suffer from severe wasting because local crops have dried up from drought … or they could lose their lives to heat waves or pneumonia brought on by air pollution.   “At no time since the Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted 34 years ago have children’s rights been in greater jeopardy. And that is why we must act".   "I urge all of us – from UNICEF and our partners in the child rights community to governments, civil society organizations, and the private sector – to be stronger champions and advocates for the fulfillment and protection of children’s rights.   This means supporting the alignment of national legal frameworks with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international standards, and putting those standards into practice.   “It also means reaffirming children’s status as distinct, independent rights holders and ensuring accountability for violations of children’s rights wherever they occur.   “Today should be a day when we celebrate the advancement of children’s rights across the globe, but those rights are under attack. We must not be discouraged by this, but more resolved to ensure that the promise of the Convention on the Rights of the Child is fulfilled, for every child.”   http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/children-live-world-increasingly-hostile-their-rights http://www.unicef.org/world-childrens-day http://www.unicef.org/child-rights-convention http://www.unicef.org/children-under-attack http://www.unicef.org/reports/climate-changed-child http://www.unicef.org/climate-action/cop   Nov. 2023   On World Children’s Day 2023, the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action is deeply concerned about the devastating consequences of increasing conflict, climate-induced emergencies, and natural disasters, on children around the world. As their communities are flooded, affected by severe drought, or turned into battlefields, children’s lives are being turned upside down.   On a daily basis, children are being torn apart from their families and loved ones, denied access to life-saving services such as health and education, and are exposed to horrific levels of violence and exploitation.   Children constitute 41% of all forcibly displaced people despite being only 30% of the world's population (UNHCR, 2022) and due to the protracted nature of conflict, the majority of these children will spend their entire childhoods in displacement (UNICEF, 2023).   The unprecedented increase in children's rights violations, and in particular their right to protection, is alarming. Children are a significant group of rights-holders, yet the international legal instruments to protect them, first and foremost the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, are being flagrantly and increasingly violated with impunity.   For children today, this is having a devastating impact on their right to survive and develop to their full potential.   Dangerous cycles of violence are gaining momentum across many humanitarian contexts and are seriously jeopardising future peace. In a world without peace, the ability of the children of tomorrow to thrive in safe and protective families and communities is severely hampered.   The sharp escalation in the scale and intensity of armed conflicts and the deliberate and targeted attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure is of grave concern.   International Humanitarian Law is being increasingly violated and the consequences are most heavily felt by children. Across Ukraine, Sudan, Ethiopia, and most recently Gaza, we are seeing life-saving services, including hospitals and schools, being directly targeted, distressing numbers of children being maimed and killed, life-saving humanitarian assistance being deliberately denied, children being recruited into armed groups and forces, and child marriage and child labour, amongst others on the rise.   The physical, emotional and mental impacts these have on children are often devastating in the short run and can be irreversible in the long run.   Children have the right to a healthy environment, yet the climate crisis continues unabated. During 2023, climate induced disasters have continued to increase in scale, frequency and intensity, often against a backdrop of conflict and instability.   From catastrophic flooding in Libya, to climate, conflict and poverty induced migration, along extremely dangerous routes, for example in Central America, children pay the heaviest price yet are the least responsible. Devastating earthquakes in Syria, Afghanistan,Turkiye, and Morocco have paid an enormous toll on children and their families.   Social protection mechanisms, many of which are already reeling from the global pandemic and other crises, are only getting further away from meeting the increasing needs of the most vulnerable children and their families.   On World Children’s Day 2023, the Alliance would like to acknowledge the central role of children, families and communities, who remain resilient in the face of atrocities and continue to protect children. We also acknowledge the incredible efforts of the Child Protection workforce who continue to serve children and their families, despite mounting demand and often being directly impacted by crises.   As we reflect on the current global context, the Alliance calls upon the leadership of the humanitarian architecture, decision makers within humanitarian organisations, donors, and all humanitarian actors to fulfil their commitments to children and their protection as an integral part of the Centrality of Protection and central element of all humanitarian action.   The concept of the centrality of children and their protection means considering the views, capacities, rights, needs, and vulnerabilities of children in all aspects of humanitarian response, within all sectoral interventions. By prioritising children's rights and participation, we can help to build a better future for all".   http://alliancecpha.org/en/centrality-of-children-introduction   World Children’s Day, by Yasmine Sherif (Education Cannot Wait)   On World Children’s Day, I think of the more than 224 million crisis-impacted children and adolescents who are suffering unspeakable violations of international humanitarian and human rights law right now. Born of innocence, their lives are plagued by brutally inhumane armed conflicts, harrowing forced displacement and punishing climate disasters. All happening despite the world having declared and committed to deliver on their right to a quality education in a safe learning environment.   Indeed, while many among us are working hard to fulfill these commitments, others appear to not be hearing their soul-shattering screams for help over the deafening sound of hatred, exclusion and destruction. Will we leave them a world in tatters? Will we leave them a planet in peril? Will we leave them to repeat the mistakes that have wrought horror, terror and tyranny throughout human history?   Through the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Sustainable Development Goals, governments worldwide have made firm commitments to ensuring education as a basic, inherent human right, and established a quality education as a foundation for creating a more peaceful, more equal, more just and more prosperous world.   We have made some notable progress toward these goals since the Declaration of the Rights of the Child was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1959. Nevertheless, more than 60 years later, a new set of collective challenges – brutal attacks on schools, massive forced displacement made even worse by climate change, killing of school-aged children described as ‘collateral damage,’ and other interconnected crises – have set the world on fire.   Wherever we look today, these vulnerable children and adolescents are crying out for our humanity. We must hear their voices, we must feel their pain, we must speak up and we must act boldly. Now.   When we listen to children and adolescents, they tell us loud and clear that all they want is the freedom and opportunity to safely go to school, the freedom to play, the freedom to grow and the freedom to reach their full potential. Yet, for so many of them around the world, it seems their call is falling on deaf ears.   In Gaza, with all UNRWA schools now serving as shelters for displaced persons and with schoolyards becoming graveyards after being hit directly or indirectly by airstrikes, learning has stopped for 300,228 UNRWA students throughout the past month. Children and teachers have been killed and children are experiencing traumatic events on a daily basis. In October alone, UNRWA reported that 91% of children demonstrated effects of trauma, a number that most likely has increased since then. It is safe to say that no child in Gaza is unaffected. With their education entirely disrupted.   In Cameroon, girls like Eileen recount terrifying stories from the frontlines of one of the world’s forgotten crises. “I used to attend primary school. But when the war started, I stopped going to school. I was so scared because they were killing people and taking our teachers to the bush,” she says, holding back her tears. “My father then fled with us to another city, where I was taken to a learning center to learn with other children using tablets donated by Education Cannot Wait through UNESCO.” Every life matters. Eileen matters to all of us.   In Afghanistan, resilient girls who have been denied their right to education for over two years have not given up hope and are doing whatever they can. Many of their inspiring testimonies are captured in our #AfghanGirlsVoices campaign.   One Afghan girl said, "Even without formal classrooms, I try to learn and read books to keep myself educated and inspired.” Another determined girl said, "We may be deprived of books, but our minds are fertile grounds where ideas flourish and curiosity thrives. No one can stop that.”   No one can stop the young generation. Those who have suffered and survived will be the ones rebuilding our world. They are our hope for change. They are the ones that will unite around universal human rights. Because they have been there. They neither cause nor deserve cruel wars. They realize the value of Mother Earth. They dream of peace and the right to learn in safety and make the world a better place".   http://www.educationcannotwait.org/news-stories/directors-corner/every-child-every-right http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2023/11/end-killing-children-armed-conflict-un-committee-urges http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/document/stop-the-war-on-children-the-forgotten-ones/ http://www.stopwaronchildren.org/reports/ http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/document/generation-hope-2-4-billion-reasons-to-end-the-global-climate-and-inequality-crisis/ http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/document/looking-beyond-food-child-survival-in-the-hunger-crisis/ http://reliefweb.int/report/world/new-wfp-analysis-shows-every-1-cut-food-assistance-pushes-400000-people-emergency-hunger http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/number-children-without-critical-social-protection-increasing-globally http://www.endchildhoodpoverty.org/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/treaty-bodies/crc Visit the related web page
	View more stories