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	Alarming reports of gender-based violence against women and girls by UN News, OHCHR, Medecins Sans Frontieres, agencies   Pramila Patten, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict remarks at the Security Council open debate on “Preventing Conflict-Related Sexual Violence through demilitarization and gender-responsive arms control”. (Extract):   "We meet today to consider the 15th annual Report of the Secretary-General on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence at a time when gender equality gains are being rolled back, even as militarization is being bankrolled at unprecedented levels; at a time when the world’s resources are being used to feed the flames of conflict, while women and children starve; at a time when military spending has soared to over 2.2 trillion USD, while humanitarian aid budgets have been slashed; and at a time when weapons continue to flow into the hands of perpetrators, while the vast majority of victims remain empty-handed in terms of reparations and redress.   We meet at a time when the pursuit of peace and gender equality has once again become a radical act. The essential, existential task we face is to silence the guns and amplify the voices of women as a critical constituency for peace.   Yet, right now, in the Sudan and Haiti, women and girls are being brutalized and terrorized by sexual violence committed at gunpoint. In Afghanistan, the systematic assault on, and erasure of, women and their rights is destroying lives and livelihoods. Two years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, thousands of displaced and refugee women and girls face a heightened risk of being preyed upon by traffickers.   In the Middle East, women and girls are disproportionately affected by the ongoing bloodshed, displacement, trauma and terror: they are among the many victims of the 7th of October attacks on Israel by Hamas, and they comprise more than half of the victims of the relentless bombing of Gaza, which has shattered the healthcare system, leaving pregnant women, and others in desperate need with nowhere to turn.   The report before us today provides a global snapshot of incidents, patterns and trends of conflict-related sexual violence across 21 situations of concern. It records 3,688 UN-verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence committed in the course of 2023, reflecting a dramatic increase of 50 per cent as compared with the previous year. This spike in recorded cases is particularly alarming in a global context where humanitarian access remains severely restricted and constrained.   In 2023, women and girls accounted for 95 per cent of the verified cases. In 32 per cent of these cases, the victims were children, with the vast majority being girls (98 per cent). Twenty-one cases were found to target LGBTQI persons on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.   While the report conveys the severity and brutality of UN-sourced and verified incidents, it does not purport to reflect the global scale or prevalence of this chronically underreported, historically hidden crime.   We know that for every survivor who comes forward, many others are silenced by social pressures, stigma, insecurity, the paucity of services, and the limited prospects for justice.   In terms of global trends, the report documents how sexual violence has curtailed women’s access to livelihoods and girls’ access to education, amid record levels of internal and cross-border displacement. Women and girls face heightened levels of sexual violence in displacement settings, as returnees, refugees and migrants.   For instance, in eastern DRC, the climate of interlinked physical and food insecurity has driven many displaced women and girls into prostitution out of sheer economic desperation.   In Ethiopia, reports surfaced of sexual exploitation in exchange for food, as well as continued sexual enslavement in Tigray, in proximity to the compounds and barracks of arms bearers.   Moreover, in many contexts, women with children born of wartime rape are often accused of affiliation with the enemy, excluded from community networks, and plunged into poverty.   By contrast, sexual violence perpetrated with impunity remains profitable in the political economy of war. Conflict-driven trafficking in persons for the purpose of sexual exploitation continues to generate profits for armed and violent extremist groups.   In Haiti, armed groups and criminal gangs continue to generate revenue through kidnapping, using the threat of sexual violence to extort ever-higher ransoms.   Sexual violence remains part of the repertoire of political repression, used to intimidate and punish opponents, and as a tactic to silence women actively participating in public and political life, notably in Libya and Yemen.   The report further records a discernible trend of digital threats in Myanmar, where online harassment and hate speech specifically targeted women associated with the resistance movement, and included the release of sexually explicit images and incitement to violence.   This year’s report highlights an unprecedented level of lethal violence used to silence survivors in the wake of sexual assault. In 2023, reports of rape victims being subsequently killed by their assailants surfaced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Myanmar, demonstrating the need to strengthen forensic capabilities, investigations, and accountability processes that ensure the protection of victims and witnesses.   Frontline service providers and women human rights defenders were not spared. Armed actors threatened healthcare workers in Sudan, and reprisals against human rights defenders were reported in South Sudan, the DRC and elsewhere.   Across time and space, we see that the availability of weapons directly facilitates these attacks. Between 70 and 90 per cent of conflict-related sexual violence incidents involve the use of a weapon, in particular firearms, according to United Nations research.   In eastern DRC, the threat of rape at gunpoint remains a horrific daily reality that overshadows the lives of women and girls, impeding their essential livelihood and sustenance activities. During one incursion into a village, fighters from an armed militia gang-raped 11 women, looted their belongings, and set fire to their homes. Four of the women were mutilated and killed. The seven survivors were taken to a health center, but left without medical treatment, as the clinic had been burnt and raided;   In the Central African Republic, women and girls tending farms and fields face the persistent risk of rape by roving armed actors in the area;   In Haiti, women and girls travelling to work or school face the risk of collective rape by gang members armed with weapons largely trafficked from abroad.   The accelerated withdrawals of peace operations from Mali and the Sudan have brought issues of transition and exit to the fore. Weapons management strategies are a critical part of preventing the occurrence and recurrence of conflict-related sexual violence in such settings.   In 2023, I visited the border area between Sudan and South Sudan, where women and girls have been targeted for rape, gang rape and abduction on the basis of their ethnicity, with the perpetrators emboldened by entrenched impunity.   Since the resurgence of conflict in the Sudan, I have engaged with both parties listed in the Annex to the annual report, namely the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). These parties are required to take specific measures to prevent and address sexual violence. Moreover, all States must abide by the sanctions imposed by this Council, notably the arms embargo on Darfur, as part of efforts to achieve a comprehensive and sustainable peace.   The report before us today lists 58 parties that are credibly suspected of committing or being responsible for patterns of sexual violence in situations on this Council’s agenda, the vast majority of them being non-State actors.   Over 70 per cent of listed parties are “persistent perpetrators”, meaning they have appeared on the list for five or more years without taking the requisite remedial or corrective action. It is critical to ensure coherence between the list of implicated parties and the measures imposed by UN sanctions regimes.   We must use these tools to stop the flow of weapons into the hands of perpetrators of sexual violence. There could be no more direct and effective way to disarm the weapon of rape and, ultimately, to prevent and eradicate these crimes.   In terms of access to justice, far too many perpetrators of wartime sexual violence still walk free, while women and girls walk in fear. Left unchecked, these crimes set back both the cause of gender equality and the cause of peace.   Today we know more than ever before about the factors that either enable or restrain the scourge of conflict-related sexual violence. We know that illicit weapons cast a long shadow over the lives of innocent civilians, while emboldening those who seek to spread fear and pursue criminal aims.   Today’s debate brings into focus the need to better align the CRSV and arms control agendas, as part of prevention and risk mitigation. We cannot condemn the perpetrators of sexual violence in our speeches, while continuing to fund and arm them through our supply chains.   For decades, we have heard survivors of conflict-related sexual violence say: “that man had the gun, and he had the power”. Recently, we documented the case of a 19-year-old Haitian woman in Cité Soleil, accosted by masked men who put a gun to her neck, dragged her into a field, and raped and beat her, while pressuring her to confess an association with men she did not even know.   In 2023, the UN documented the case of a 60-year-old woman in Tigray, northern Ethiopia, who was gang-raped at gunpoint by three soldiers while hiding in a field near her home. A frontline service-provider in Unity State, South Sudan, reported to my Office: “the youth are now accustomed to carrying weapons wherever they go…those who have weapons are the ones threatening people and perpetrating sexual violence, making disarmament a key step in prevention”.   Indeed, we cannot address sexual violence without shifting power dynamics. Starting today, we need women in the room, weapons under regulation and embargo, money for human rights defenders on the table, and change on the ground.   This includes supporting the courageous civil society activists who speak truth to power wielded at gunpoint, never allowing threats to silence them.   Women in the war-torn corners of our world need to see hope on the political horizon. Our words, deeds and decisions in this Chamber and beyond must give them cause for hope and must contribute to peace with justice, peace with gender equality, peace with dignity and development, peace that endures".   http://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/statement/remarks-of-srsg-pramila-patten-at-the-security-council-open-debate-on-preventing-conflict-related-sexual-violence-through-demilitarization-and-gender-responsive-arms-control-new-yor/ http://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/statement/srsg-pattens-opening-remarks-at-the-international-conference-of-prosecutors-on-accountability-for-conflict-related-sexual-violence-the-hague-26-march-2024/ http://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/in-their-own-words-voices-of-survivors-of-conflict-related-sexual-violence-and-service-providers/ http://www.msf.org/msf-has-and-continues-treat-more-two-victims-sexual-violence-hour-drc   Oct. 2024   Sudan: UN Fact-Finding Mission documents large-scale sexual violence and other human rights violations in newly issued report.   Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces, who have been fighting the Sudanese Armed Forces in the country’s ongoing conflict, are responsible for committing sexual violence on a large scale in areas under their control, including gang-rapes and abducting and detaining victims in conditions that amount to sexual slavery, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan said in a new detailed report.   The report, which expands on the Fact-Finding Mission’s first report to the Human Rights Council in September, highlights the imperatives of protecting civilians in Sudan, concluding that there are reasonable grounds to believe that these acts amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, including of torture, rape, sexual slavery, and persecution on intersecting ethnic and gender grounds.   While the report also documented cases involving the SAF and allied armed groups, identifying areas requiring further investigation, it found that the majority of rape and sexual and gender-based violence was committed by the RSF - in particular in Greater Khartoum, and Darfur and Gezira States - was part of a pattern aimed at terrorizing and punishing civilians for perceived links with opponents and suppressing any opposition to their advances.   “The sheer scale of sexual violence we have documented in Sudan is staggering”, said Mohamed Chande Othman, Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission. “The situation faced by vulnerable civilians, in particular women and girls of all ages, is deeply alarming and needs urgent address.”   This sexual violence against women – including rape, gang-rape, sexual exploitation, and abduction for sexual purposes as well as allegations of enforced marriages and human trafficking for sexual purposes across borders – occurred mostly in the context of invasions of cities and towns, attacks on displacement sites or civilians fleeing conflict-affected areas, and during the prolonged occupation of urban areas.   In Darfur, acts of sexual violence were committed with particular cruelty with firearms, knives and whips to intimidate or coerce the victims while using derogatory, racist or sexist slurs and death threats. Many victims – often targeted on the basis of their gender and real or perceived ethnicity – were simultaneously beaten, sometimes with sticks, or lashed. These acts of violence often took place in front of family members, who were also under threat. Men and boys were also reportedly targeted while in detention with sexual violence, including rape, threats of rape, forced nudity and beating on the genitals, requiring further investigation.   The Fact-Finding Mission found reasonable grounds to believe that rape and other forms of sexual violence committed by the RSF and its allied militias amount to violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. These include violence to life and person, in particular torture and other cruel, inhuman degrading treatment or punishment, outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment, rape and any form of indecent assault.   The abduction, confinement and detention of women and girls for sexual purposes, including rape and sexual exploitation constituted conditions whereby the RSF exercised powers of ownership over the victims - whose liberty they also deprived - amount to prohibited acts of sexual slavery.   “These women and girls in Sudan who are increasingly exposed to sexual and gender-based violence need protection,” said Expert Member Joy Ngozi Ezeilo. “Without accountability the cycle of hatred and violence will carry on. We must put a halt to impunity and bring perpetrators to account.”   The Fact-Finding Mission’s report also provides a more detailed description of numerous other violations of human rights and international humanitarian law and related crimes, noting they are increasing by the day. A quarter of Sudan’s population is displaced or has fled to neighboring countries, and the vast majority is vulnerable and exposed to gross violations and abuses, including sexual violence..   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/10/sudan-un-fact-finding-mission-documents-large-scale-sexual-violence-and http://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/sudan-un-fact-finding-mission-documents-large-scale-sexual-violence-and-other-human-rights-violations-newly-issued-report-enar   April 2024 (UN News)   The international community must take immediate action to end the wave of sexual violence being carried out against women and girls in Sudan, two senior UN officials said on Thursday.   Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten together with Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Joyce Msuya, said that more than a year into the battle for control of the country between rival militaries, the “barbaric acts” being committed “echo the horrors witnessed in Darfur two decades ago”.   They urged UN Security Council members who met this week to debate Ms. Patten’s latest report on sexual violence to send “an unequivocal message: under international humanitarian law, civilians in Sudan must be protected and must never be subjected to acts of sexual violence, which constitute war crimes.”   The disturbing reports show how women and girls are being disproportionately impacted. Allegations of rape, forced marriages, sexual slavery, and trafficking of women and girls – especially in Khartoum, Darfur and Kordofan – continue to be recorded with millions of civilians at risk as they flee conflict areas in search of shelter, inside Sudan and in neighbouring countries.   The two top women officials noted that the true scale of the crisis remains unseen, “a result of severe underreporting due to stigma, fear of reprisals, and a lack of confidence in national institutions.” Without more financial and political support for frontline responders, access to life-saving services will only continue to shrink, they warned.   http://www.unocha.org/news/sudan-un-leaders-call-urgent-action-against-scourge-sexual-violence-amid-ongoing-conflict http://www.unhcr.org/news/stories/women-and-girls-mired-sudan-crisis-suffer-surge-sexual-violence http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/09/gender-alert-women-and-girls-of-sudan-fortitude-amid-the-flame-of-war http://www.refugeesinternational.org/i-have-been-raped-twice-in-just-the-last-year-pay-attention-to-the-fighting-in-congo/ http://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/speech/2024/04/speech-until-we-make-it-clear-there-are-consequences-for-rape-real-dire-consequences-we-will-never-turn-the-tide-of-it http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/05/women-and-girls-bear-brunt-crisis-ravaging-haiti-say-un-experts   Nov. 2023   Sudan: Alarming reports of women and girls abducted and forced to marry, held for ransom. (OHCHR)   We are deeply alarmed by reports that women and girls are being abducted and held in inhuman, degrading slave-like conditions in areas controlled by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Darfur, where they are allegedly forcibly married and held for ransom. Credible information from survivors, witnesses and other sources suggests more than 20 women and girls have been taken, but the number could be considerably higher.   Some sources have reported seeing women and girls in chains on pick-up trucks and in cars.   Initial allegations arose early in the conflict in the Khartoum area, which has remained largely under the control of the Rapid Support Forces. One of the reports indicated that women and girls had been abducted and detained at a location in the city’s Al-Riyadh district, from as early as 24 April.   Since then, we have continued to receive reports of abductions, with an increasing number of cases being reported in the Darfur region, particularly North, Central and South Darfur, and in the Kordofan region.   These shocking reports come amid a persistent climb in cases of sexual violence in the country since fighting broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces six months ago.   According to our documentation, at least 105 people have been subjected to sexual violence since the hostilities began on 15 April 2023.   As of 2 November, our Joint Human Rights Office in Sudan had received credible reports of more than 50 incidents of sexual violence linked to the hostilities, impacting at least 105 victims - 86 women, one man and 18 children. Twenty-three of the incidents involved rape, 26 were of gang rape and three were of attempted rape.   At least 70 percent of the confirmed incidents of sexual violence recorded - 37 incidents in total – are attributed to men in RSF uniforms, eight to armed men affiliated with the RSF, two to men in unidentified uniform, and one to the Sudan Armed Forces. The remaining cases involved as yet unidentified men.   We restate High Commissioner Volker Türk’s calls on senior officials of both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces – as well as armed groups affiliated with them - to unequivocally condemn these vile acts and issue – urgently – clear instructions to their subordinates demanding zero tolerance of sexual violence.   They must also ensure the abducted women and girls are promptly released, and provided with the necessary support, including medical and psychosocial care, and that all alleged cases are fully and promptly investigated, with those found responsible held accountable and brought to justice.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-briefing-notes/2023/11/sudan-alarming-reports-women-and-girls-abducted-and-forced-marry-held http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/08/un-experts-alarmed-reported-widespread-use-rape-and-sexual-violence-against http://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/press-release/2023/07/press-release-sudan-top-un-officials-sound-alarm-at-spoke-in-violence-against-women-and-girls http://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/interview/2023/06/26/woman-documenting-sexual-violence-Sudan-conflict http://www.ipsnews.net/2023/10/violent-conflict-sudan-impacted-nearly-every-aspect-womens-lives/ http://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v1/rule93   Oct. 2023   Sexual violence in Central African Republic is a “public health emergency”. (MSF)   Between 2018 and 2022, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) treated more than 19,500 survivors of sexual violence in the Central African Republic (CAR), nearly 60 per cent of the total number of people who received treatment for sexual violence in the country over that period. The number of people MSF treated in 2022 for sexual violence tripled compared to the number our teams treated in 2018.   These striking figures comes as MSF releases a new report on sexual violence in CAR, urging the government and humanitarian organisations to take action to address the crisis, including providing expanded medical and psychological support to survivors.   “Sexual violence in CAR is a taboo public health emergency and cannot be solely addressed as an armed conflict-related problem”, says Khaled Fekih, MSF country director in CAR. “Despite some positive developments over the past five years, many survivors of sexual violence don’t report their cases and don’t seek treatment.”   “We know the number of patients seen is still just the tip of the iceberg,” Fekih continues. “More concrete actions are needed by both the CAR government and other national and international humanitarian organisations to change this situation.”   In the report “Invisible Wounds”, MSF analyses quantitative data from a dozen projects and emergency interventions we support or run in CAR. While an increasing number of survivors of sexual violence (95 per cent of whom are women) have had access to assistance over the last five years, many gaps in treatment remain.   These include basic and comprehensive medical care, initial psychosocial support, and sophisticated psychiatric care for complicated cases. Survivors also lack access to protection as well as socio-economic and legal support.   “Patients face many barriers to seeking care in a timely manner, including fear, lack of transportation means or resources, and ineffective care pathways,” says Liliana Palacios, MSF health adviser. “In some locations, MSF received patients who had travelled 130 kilometres, which can mean very long hours or even days of travel because of the poor state of road networks in CAR.”   “At times, patients sought care only years after suffering the aggression,” says Palacios.   Sexual violence in CAR goes far beyond the long-running conflict. MSF’s five-year analysis found a minority of assailants were armed (approximatively 20 per cent) and the vast majority of them were well-known to the survivor (approximatively 70 per cent).   Unfortunately, very few perpetrators are convicted because of flagrant impunity, while survivors face acute stigmatisation and other significant obstacles to continue normal life in their community. To help them reintegrate into society and not be penalised when they seek help, survivors of sexual violence need access to legal support and socio-economic assistance.   “A much stronger collective and holistic approach is needed to do more, faster and better,” says Fekih. “It must be a survivor-centred approach based on confidentiality, empathy, and respect.”   http://www.msf.org/sexual-violence-central-african-republic-public-health-emergency http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2023/11/international-community-must-walk-talk-safety-and-security-women-and-girls-times http://www.globalsurvivorsfund.org/latest/articles http://www.mukwegefoundation.org/news/
	Investing in women’s health is essential in the era of polycrises by UN University for Global Health, agencies   Mar. 2024   Investing in women’s health is essential in the era of polycrises, by Johanna Riha, Zaida Orth, Rajat Khosla. (United Nations University International Institute for Global Health)   In a time of overlapping crises that demand urgent attention, prioritising women’s health will benefit everyone   The world is in a state of “polycrises” where multiple economic, environmental, social, and geopolitical shocks have converged and are driving and deepening existing gender inequalities and health inequities.   These polycrises are additionally contributing to backsliding on human rights culminating in devastating effects on women’s and girls’ health worldwide. Steps to prioritise women’s health must be taken to prevent it being neglected among competing priorities.   Globally, the cost-of-living crisis and austerity measures will push over 340 million of the most vulnerable women into poverty by 2030, forcing many to choose between basic human rights like food or medical treatment.   This exacerbates existing gendered gaps in access to healthcare and adversely affects women’s and girl’s ability to stay healthy.   For example, it is currently estimated that 500 million women worldwide lack access to menstrual products and hygiene facilities, with this trend worsening because of ongoing polycrises. Denial of this basic health right forces many, in high and low income countries alike, to avoid work and school, adversely affecting their income and education.   Conflict, climate displacement, and covid-19 are driving worrying increases in gender based violence, child marriage, and female genital mutilation. Pooled survey data from 13 countries with over 16,000 respondents shows that almost half of women report that they or a woman they know has experienced a form of violence since the pandemic.   Additionally, the pandemic fuelled a rise in the unpaid care and domestic work that disproportionately falls on women and girls. Concurrent crises, such as climate change and declining health systems, directly and indirectly affect women’s physical and mental health as they make up 67% of health and care workers and 40% of the total agricultural workforce worldwide.   These polycrises will likely have detrimental effects on the health of future generations. In some cases, intergenerational health effects are well understood (such as the associations between maternal education and infant health), while for others evidence is only beginning to emerge.   Plastic pollution, for example, which accounts for 85% of all marine litter, has disastrous consequences on livelihoods, food security, and health. Microplastics are particularly harmful to the health of women and girls, impacting gestational weight and genital structures in fetuses.   What can be done to prioritise women’s health in the era of polycrises?   On International Women’s Day, as we grapple with how to manage and build resilience in the current climate, the call for continued and increased investment for gender equality and health is imperative. It makes economic, social, political, climate, and public health sense to invest now for a more sustainable and healthier future.   A recent report by the World Economic Forum shows how narrowing of the existing gap in women’s health would avoid 24 million life years lost because of disability, add over $1tn to the global economy, and boost economic productivity by up to $400bn. But actionable steps must be taken to prioritise women’s health, especially given the competing priorities.   We believe that investing in the following three areas is critical.   Firstly, investment in feminist leadership is needed. Although women contribute an estimated $3tn annually to global health, half in the form of unpaid work, and are the backbone of health service delivery, women hold only 25% of health leadership roles.   Having representative leadership is critical to ensure prioritisation of actions that support and empower women in times of polycrises. This leadership must move beyond tokenism and have decision making powers.   With rapidly shrinking civic spaces and growing, well coordinated anti-gender movements, the need for feminist leadership with representation from indigenous women, people with disabilities, and those living in rural, remote, and disaster prone areas is even more acute.   Secondly, support for feminist civil society organisations is needed. Feminist civil society groups have a long history of building knowledge and evidence, advocating for advancements in women’s health, and holding governments and other actors to account.   Feminist movements have been most effective when they form broad coalitions and alliances with other social movements, including trade unions and environmental groups. Increasing investment in feminist civil society organisations, especially to build alliances and bridges between different groups, will help promote women’s health in the face of growing backlash and concurrent crises.   Thirdly, technical capacity to advance sex and gender integration in policies and programmes must increase. Ensuring sex and gender based inequities in health are adequately tackled and not further reinforced—including prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery plans—requires specific technical expertise.   Investing in strengthening this technical capacity, which includes staff with specialised skillsets, contextualised knowledge, and understanding of how intersecting axes of discrimination harm women’s health, can help mitigate inequities and improve health.   For far too long, women’s health has been deprioritised. Now more than ever, investing in women’s health presents an opportunity for a big win for everyone.   * British Medical Journal: http://www.bmj.com/content/384/bmj.q550   Mar. 2024   Addressing gender inequality in the climate response, by Magdalena Sepulveda.   We’ve lost everything’, says Ana, facing her sister Rosa’s hopeless gaze. Both women are over 70 years old and live in Valparaíso, Chile, a region devastated by the deadliest forest fires in history last February. At least 133 people died, and many are still missing.   These sisters are domestic workers and lost the house they inherited from their parents. In a matter of minutes, the efforts of two generations vanished, consumed by the flames. Like many women without access to the formal financial system, they also lost their life savings, which they kept in cash.   Record-breaking heatwaves, droughts, floods and devastating wildfires have disproportionately affected women like Rosa and Ana all around the world. In the past year, we have seen the news of catastrophic fires in the United States, Greece, Nepal, Colombia and Spain, to name just a few. Fierce fires were also reported in Venezuela, Ecuador and Colombia. In Brazil, vast areas of tropical forest have been consumed. In Africa, from Equatorial Guinea to the coastal cities of South Africa, forest fires are forcing the evacuation of many areas.   In February, bushfires in Australia killed livestock, destroyed property and forced 2 000 people to flee towns near Melbourne. It was a reminder of the ‘Black Summer’ fires of 2019/2020, which devastated an area the size of Turkey, killing 33 people as well as three billion animals.   Everywhere, the worsening climate crisis, environmental degradation and extreme weather events – coupled with poor planning and inadequate adaptation measures – are alarmingly intensifying the number of disasters and their victims. Their unequal effects are heavily marked by gender.   Due to structural discrimination and traditional roles, women are disproportionately impacted, facing specific, interrelated risks. From obstacles to evacuation due to domestic and care work to the limited capacity for recovery, every aspect of a disaster is marked by gender differences.   Women’s unequal access to economic resources, lower decision-making power within their families and communities, and reduced experience in political participation often result in limited access to assistance and support to rebuild their lives after disasters.   To increase women’s resilience in the face of rising disasters caused by climate change, it is essential to invest in efforts to close the gender gap. Unfortunately, as the United Nations warns, an alarming funding gap exists in achieving gender equality goals. The gap is staggering: $360 bn is needed annually to fulfil the commitments made by countries under the Agenda 2030 for Development.   At a time when many countries in the Global South are struggling with empty coffers, the financing needed to end structural inequality requires greater international cooperation. Today, only 4 per cent of all bilateral aid is allocated to gender equality as its primary objective. However, this is not the only alternative.   As a member of the Independent Commission for the Reform of the International Corporate Taxation System (ICRICT), we argue that all countries, especially developing countries, can increase their fiscal space by taxing those with the most wealth: corporations and super millionaires.   A key proposal is to establish a global 2 per cent minimum tax on the wealth of the super-rich. My colleague at ICRICT, renowned economist Gabriel Zucman, presented this programme to the finance ministers of the G20, who gathered in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in February. Inspired by the global minimum tax on corporations, this measure would apply to less than 3 000 individuals and raise about $250 bn annually.   Taxing the ultra-rich, who currently pay almost no taxes, could make a huge difference. If the global minimum tax for multinational corporations were added, the additional $500 bn needed to combat climate change and invest in programmes that close the gender gap and empower women could be achieved.   Like thousands of women living in disaster-stricken areas, the fires have left Ana and Rosa without material possessions. As older women without an adequate pension or social protection benefits, their home was what kept them out of poverty.   Despite that, they have been more fortunate than others who did not survive the tragedy, trapped by poor building conditions and narrow streets, or those in other countries of the region, who have also lost their crops and all means of subsistence.   Amid the myriad of crises, wars, high inflation rates and heavy debts, investing in gender equality has ceased to be a priority for many governments.   Therefore, as we commemorate International Women’s Day this March, we must remember that social progress cannot be achieved without gender equality. Recognising women as critical players in development strategies is the path towards a more just, inclusive and sustainable society.   Making the super-rich, many of whom have benefited from crises, foot the bill is a tool within the reach of our governments that can have a tremendous impact on social justice.   * Magdalena Sepulveda is a member of the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT) and Executive Director of the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Previously, she was the United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.   http://www.ips-journal.eu/topics/economy-and-ecology/addressing-gender-inequality-in-climate-response-7367/ http://giescr.org/en/our-work/on-the-ground/giescrs-submission-sets-agenda-for-csw68-2024 http://www.taxobservatory.eu/publication/a-blueprint-for-a-coordinated-minimum-effective-taxation-standard-for-ultra-high-net-worth-individuals/
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