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	Failure to tackle domestic violence a violation of women’s rights by UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination   Harmonization of criminal laws needed to stop rape – UN expert   States must bring their national laws in line with human rights standards if they are to effectively prevent and combat impunity for rape, Dubravka Simonovic, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, said today.   “States must address widespread impunity for perpetrators of rape and lack of justice for victims, and must harmonize their criminal laws with international human rights, criminal and humanitarian law,” she said in presenting to the Human Rights Council a report that reviewed laws in 105 countries.   Rape is recognized under international law as a human rights violation and a manifestation of gender-based violence against women and girls that could amount to torture, and States have obligations to enact legislation criminalizing it and to ensure that perpetrators are prosecuted, she said.   “While all States reviewed in my report criminalize rape, the vast majority of them do it in a way that is not harmonized with human rights standards and international law,” she added.   Simonovic said her wide-ranging review of legislation highlighted the areas that must be addressed: gaps in how rape is defined, who is protected, how long a victim has to report a crime, lack of criminalization for marital rape, and lack of gender-sensitive and victims-oriented prosecution, and protections for victims.   “These gaps in legislation all have a negative impact on victims’ access to justice, and lead to high rates of impunity for perpetrators,” she said.   “Rape is frequently not reported, and even if reported, it is seldom prosecuted,” she said. “Even if there is a prosecution, it is rarely handled in a gender sensitive manner and often leads to re-victimization while producing few convictions. The result is normalization of rape, a culture of rape or silence on rape, stigmatization of victims and impunity for perpetrators.”   A key issue is how raped is defined, Dubravka Simonovic said. “It should always be based on lack of consent by the victim. The use of violence or force shows lack of consent, but it is not a constitutive element of the crime of rape. Lack of consent by the victim should be at the center of all definitions of rape.”   She added: “No should always mean no, while education should promote the understanding of affirmative consent – only yes means yes.”   She also expressed concern that some countries do not consider rape within a marriage illegal. “All States that maintain exemptions for marital rape, contrary to international standards, need to repeal those provisions urgently,” she said.   “Rape is a traumatic experience,” Šimonović added. “Victims should be allowed sufficient time to come forward with their complaints, particularly in the case of child victims, who should have the right to report rape when they reach adulthood.”   She called for measures to make judicial proceedings less traumatizing for victims, to protect them, and to prevent a victim’s sexual history to be used to discredit them during a trial.   Dubravka Simonovic also presented a Model Rape Law that she said could support States in their efforts to harmonize their legislation with international standards.   “This Model Law is a tool to facilitate this process. Governments, lawmakers, civil society and other actors should take advantage of it to enact legislation that truly protects all victims and allows for perpetrators to be held accountable,” she told the Council.   “Initiatives like the Chilean protest song, ‘A rapist in your path’, raised awareness of the prevalence of rape. Now it’s time for Governments to enact legislation that can truly combat it.” http://bit.ly/3dl9rX9   Sep. 2021   Mexico: Failings in investigations of feminicides in the State of Mexico violate women’s rights to life, physical safety and access to justice - Amnesty International   Investigations by the State of Mexico Attorney General’s Office into feminicides preceded by disappearances are seriously flawed due to the inaction and negligence of the authorities leading to evidence being lost, all lines of inquiry not being investigated, and a gender perspective not being applied correctly. These shortcomings hamper the judicial process and increase the likelihood that cases will remain unpunished, said Amnesty International in a new report.   Justice on trial: Failures in criminal investigations of feminicides preceded by disappearance in the State of Mexico documents how these failings are consistent with those found in other investigations highlighted by civil society organizations and by rights holders, as well as with cases such as the feminicides committed in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, more than 20 years ago. This indicates that feminicidal violence and the failures in investigating and preventing them are part of a broader reality in the country.   “State-level authorities must prevent, investigate and punish feminicides with due diligence. As part of the Mexican state, they are obliged to comply with the international treaties to which Mexico is a state party, including the Belem do Para Convention, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women and the judgments issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in respect of Mexico, which establish a set of norms, standards and principles to guarantee women’s rights”, said Edith Olivares-Ferreto, Executive Director of Amnesty International Mexico.   “Each feminicide has an appalling impact on the victims’ families, who, in their search for access to the truth, justice and reparation for the harm done, also suffer re-victimization by the authorities. For this reason, Amnesty International continues to insist that the issue of violence against women must be a high priority on the agenda of the federal and local governments.”   In 2020 alone, 3,723 killings of women were registered in Mexico, of which 940 were investigated as feminicides in the country’s 32 states. Not one state was free of feminicides.   In the report, Amnesty International documents four emblematic cases of feminicide preceded by disappearance, specifically detailing the failings in the criminal investigations into each killing.   The cases documented were those of Nadia Muciño Márquez, who was killed in 2004; Daniela Sánchez Curiel, who disappeared in 2015 and whose whereabouts remain unknown and whose family assumes she was a victim of feminicide; Diana Velazquez Florencio, who disappeared and was killed in 2017; and Julia Sosa Conde, who disappeared and was killed in late 2018.   The report shows that state authorities fail to examine the crime scene properly; store the evidence collected securely; or carry out forensic tests or processes, resulting in loss of data, objects or substances and testimonies.   The authorities do not always pursue all lines of inquiry and their failure to act results in the victims’ relatives – generally women – taking on leading the investigations and using their own resources to do so.   In some instances, the authorities threaten and harass families so that they do not bring the case to the attention of their superiors. The authorities do not always apply a gender perspective throughout the criminal process, in contravention of protocols on investigating killings of women.   The report also shows that the State of Mexico Attorney General’s Office officials do not have the necessary conditions to enable them to carry out investigations: their workload is excessive and they lack the material resources to carry out some procedures.   In addition, personnel have to pay for some of the materials needed to carry out investigations themselves and their offices do not have anywhere to store evidence securely, which increases the risk of contamination and destruction. They also require further specialized training to carry out investigations appropriately.   The failings documented in the investigations result in violations of women’s human rights to life and physical safety and their families’ rights to judicial protection and access to justice. In order to protect the rights of victims, Amnesty International makes the following recommendations.   To the State of Mexico Attorney General’s Office: Ensure that the Central Attorney General’s Office on Crimes Linked to Gender-Based Violence has the human and financial resources necessary to carry out its function efficiently and with decent working conditions and design and deliver training on how to investigate disappearances and killings of women from a gender perspective.   To the Congress of the State of Mexico: Ensure that the State of Mexico Attorney General’s Office, especially the Central Attorney General’s Office on Crimes Linked to Gender-Based Violence, has the human and financial resources to carry out its functions properly.   To the State of Mexico Human Rights Commission: Investigate the problem of failures in criminal investigations of crimes of violence against women, especially feminicides and disappearances, and issue recommendations that address the issues highlighted in this report.   To the federal authorities: Publicly acknowledge the scale of the problem of feminicides and disappearances in Mexico, as well as the failings in the investigations into these crimes.   In parallel with the publication of the report, Amnesty International has launched the #HastaSerEscuchadas (Until They Are Heard) campaign which aims to ensure that the authorities publicly acknowledge the failings in the investigations of feminicides, comply with the movement’s recommendations and initiate a process to provide reparations for the harms caused by these failings.   “At Amnesty International we will continue to raise our voices together with those of victims’ families and support them in their search for truth, justice and reparation for the harm suffered, until they are heard”, said Edith Olivares-Ferreto.   http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2021/09/mexico-failings-investigations-feminicides-state-mexico-violate-womens-rights-life-physical-safety-access-justice/ http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/11/nigeria-failure-to-tackle-rape-crisis-emboldens-perpetrators-and-silences-survivors/ http://www.hrw.org/news/2021/11/16/bangladesh-protests-erupt-over-rape-verdict   July 2021   UN women’s rights committee urges Turkey to reconsider withdrawal from Istanbul Convention as decision takes effect.   Turkey’s decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention, which takes effect today, is deeply regrettable and should be reversed, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) said on Thursday.   The Istanbul Convention, officially known as Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, is a regional human rights instrument that aims to protect women against all forms of violence and hold perpetrators accountable.   “The adoption of this (withdrawal) decision in the midst of the COVID- 19 pandemic has the potential to deepen the protection gap for women and girls during a time when gender-based violence against women is on the rise,” CEDAW said in a statement.   “Such an unprecedented act cannot, and does not, have a valid ground and justification,” the Committee continued.   The Istanbul Convention was opened for signature in May 2011 in Istanbul. To date, 35 member states of the Council of Europe have ratified or acceded to the treaty. Turkey notified the European Council its withdrawal from the convention in March this year.   “By disengaging from its international commitments to fight domestic and other forms of gender-based violence against women, Turkey undermines the recognition of peremptory norms of international law such as the prohibition of torture, femicide, and other grievous forms of gender-based violence,” CEDAW said.   The Committee voiced serious concern that the protection from violence for women and girls in Turkey risked being undermined further as a result of the country’s withdrawal from the Convention.   CEDAW urged Turkey to reconsider its decision as a matter of highest priority and by all possible means. At the same time, it invited Turkey to strengthen its dialogue and cooperation with the Committee. http://bit.ly/3yxs5TT   http://www.coe.int/en/web/istanbul-convention/newsroom   May 2021   Failure to tackle domestic violence a violation of women’s rights, highlights UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination   South Africa’s low levels of prosecution and conviction in domestic violence cases and the frequent failures by the police to serve and enforce protection orders, exposed survivors to repeated abuses and resulted in the violation of women’s fundamental rights, the UN women’s rights committee has found.   In a report published today, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) said available evidence indicated that the scale of domestic violence, including femicide, is alarmingly high in South Africa.   Many women and girls in South Africa, especially in rural areas, are victims of harmful practices, including child marriage, abduction for marriage (“ukuthwala”) and polygamy or polygamous unions that often give rise to domestic violence.   Those who reported their abuser often did not get the protection they needed, CEDAW found. According to official figures, out of 143, 824 requests for protection orders in 2018-2019, only 22,211 were granted – and in many of these cases, the protection order just instructed the abuser to sleep in another room in the same house.   The Committee highlighted the substantial suffering inflicted on women and girls frequently exposed to domestic violence, including sexual violence from a very young age. “Many victims described physical violence including rape, battery with objects, kicks and inflicted burns by their partners, who often abused alcohol or drugs, had low self-esteem or had sadistic tendencies,” the Committee said.   “Some survivors used drugs to cope with the violence or had attempted to commit suicide. Even after leaving an abusive relationship, many continued to suffer from depression, trauma and anxiety,” the Committee added. The report also noted that in many cases, women had been killed by their partners.   The Committee noted the absence of State-run shelters for women and their children. South Africa “cannot absolve itself from its obligation to ensure protection and assistance to victims of domestic violence by delegating the provision of such services to NGO-run shelters without adequately funding them,” CEDAW said.   The Committee concluded that South Africa failed to comply with its obligation to effectively investigate, prosecute and punish cases of domestic violence, and provide systematic and effective capacity building for the judiciary and law enforcement bodies, thereby violating the right of South African women to live free from domestic violence.   The Committee has made 34 recommendations for action. These include effective law enforcement, policies ensuring adequate access to justice, protection and victim support services, and measures dismantling patriarchal attitudes and discriminatory stereotypes that legitimize domestic violence.   Committee members visited South Africa in September 2019 to conduct a confidential inquiry into allegations by civil society organizations that women in South Africa were subjected to extreme levels of domestic violence. The Committee stressed that it had received the full co-operation of the Government of South Africa.   In this regard, it remains ready to continue to work with the government, traditional and community leaders, and other stakeholders in the implementation of its recommendations. http://bit.ly/35WSeiX   http://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/cedaw/pages/cedawindex.aspx http://bit.ly/3DAvO5x http://mg.co.za/news/2021-06-22-facts-and-figures-global-domestic-violence-numbers/ http://www.ips-journal.eu/topics/democracy-and-society/how-to-tackle-the-femicide-epidemic-5568/ http://dartcenter.org/resources/denied-justice http://www.sparknews.com/towards-equality/ Visit the related web page
	COVID-19 will widen poverty gap between women and men by UNDP, UN Women, WEIGO   Sep. 2021   Beyond COVID-19: A feminist plan for sustainability and social justice. (UN Women)   As the world learns to live with COVID-19, to emerge from the current crisis, and to “build back better”, UN Women’s new “Feminist plan” provides a visionary but practical roadmap for putting gender equality, social justice, and sustainability at the centre of the recovery and transformation.   COVID-19 has revealed and worsened inequalities and is a reminder of just how unsustainable and fragile the world’s economies and democracies are. The crisis also provides a warning about what is rapidly coming down the track on climate change and environmental degradation. This has created both a need and an opening to rethink economic and social policies and re-evaluate what needs to be prioritized.   The “Feminist plan” maps the ambitious and transformative policies—on livelihoods, care, and the environment—that are needed to build a more equal and sustainable future. To get there, it calls for context-specific policy pathways, tailored political strategies, and financing. The plan identifies key levers that can create change and the actors at global, national, and local levels that need to take action to move towards this vision.   http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2021/09/feminist-plan-for-sustainability-and-social-justice http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2021/09/progress-on-the-sustainable-development-goals-the-gender-snapshot-2021 http://socialeurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Women-and-the-Coronavirus-Crisis-final.pdf   Sep. 2020   The COVID-19 crisis will dramatically increase the poverty rate for women and widen the gap between men and women who live in poverty, according to new data released by UN Women and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).   The poverty rate for women was expected to decrease by 2.7 per cent between 2019 and 2021, but projections now point to an increase of 9.1 per cent due to the pandemic and its fallout.   The projections, commissioned by UN Women and UNDP, and carried out by the Pardee Centre for International Futures at the University of Denver, show that while the pandemic will impact global poverty generally, women will be disproportionately affected, especially women of reproductive age.   By 2021, for every 100 men aged 25 to 34 living in extreme poverty (living on 1.90 USD a day or less), there will be 118 women, a gap that is expected to increase to 121 women per 100 men by 2030.   “The increases in women’s extreme poverty, in particular at these two stages of their lives, are a stark indictment of deep flaws in the ways we have constructed our societies and economies,” said UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.   “We know that women take most of the responsibility for caring for the family; they earn less, save less and hold much less secure jobs – in fact, overall, women’s employment is 19% more at risk than men’s. The evidence we have here of multiple inequalities is critical to drive swift, restorative policy action that puts women at the heart of pandemic recovery,“ said UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.   The data, summarized in a UN Women report From Insights to Action: Gender Equality in the wake of COVID-19, also show that the pandemic will push at least 96 million people into extreme poverty by 2021, 47 million of whom are women and girls. This will increase the total number of women and girls living in extreme poverty to 435 million, with projections showing that this number will not revert to pre-pandemic levels until 2030.   The pandemic has posed a serious threat to the prospects of eradicating extreme poverty by the end of this decade. And the reality might be even grimmer as these projections of increased poverty rates for women and girls only account for the downward revision of the gross domestic product (GDP), excluding other factors - such as women leaving the workforce due to childcare responsibilities - that may also affect the sex distribution of poverty.   “More than 100 million women and girls could be lifted out of poverty if governments implement a comprehensive strategy aimed at improving access to education and family planning, fair and equal wages, and expanding social transfers,” said Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator.   “Women are bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 crisis as they are more likely to lose their source of income and less likely to be covered by social protection measures. Investing in reducing gender inequality is not only smart and affordable, but also an urgent choice that governments can make to reverse the impact of the pandemic on poverty reduction,” he added.   The fallout of the pandemic will shift forecasts of extreme poverty across regions. With 59 per cent of the world’s poor women currently living in sub-Saharan Africa, the region will continue to host the highest number of the world’s extreme poor.   Yet, after making significant gains in poverty reduction in the past few years, South Asia is projected to experience a resurgence in extreme poverty. By 2030, for every 100 men aged 25–34 living in poverty in Southern Asia there will be 129 poor women, an increase from 118 in 2021.   While these figures are alarming, the study estimates it would take just 0.14 per cent of global GDP (USD 2 trillion) to lift the world out of extreme poverty by 2030; and US$48 billion to close the gender poverty gap. However, the real number could end up being much higher, especially if governments fail to act – or act too late.   The unabated rise of other pre-existing gender inequalities will also impact these figures. Women are employed in some of the most affected sectors, like accommodation, food services, and domestic work. They have been particularly vulnerable to layoffs and loss of livelihood.   According to International Labour Organization (ILO), by June 2020, it is estimated that 72 per cent of domestic workers globally had lost their jobs as a result of COVID-19. Women and men are both taking on more household chores and care for children and family members during lockdowns, but the majority of work still falls on the shoulders of women and girls.   Backtracking on progress is not inevitable. Recommendations to prevent women from falling behind permanently because of the pandemic range from addressing occupational segregation, gender pay gaps and inadequate access to affordable childcare to introducing economic support packages for vulnerable women to countries increasing social protection measures targeting women and girls and expanding research and data availability on the gendered impacts of COVID-19.   http://reliefweb.int/report/world/covid-19-will-widen-poverty-gap-between-women-and-men-new-un-women-and-undp-data-shows http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/generation-equality-forum-paris http://reliefweb.int/report/world/insights-action-gender-equality-wake-covid-19 http://data.undp.org/gendertracker/ http://www.acaps.org/report-thematics/gender-covid-19 http://cwgl.rutgers.edu/blog-details/625-what-s-next-money-in-our-pockets-covid-socio-economic-consequences   June 2020   COVID-19 and the world’s 800 million women working in the Informal Economy. (WIEGO)   Informal economy workers’ organizations across the global economy call on governments at all levels to partner with us on relief, recovery and resilience efforts that are emerging from the grassroots during this time of unprecedented crisis.   Informal Economy Workers Are — and Have Always Been — Essential Workers   Street vendors and market traders are a crucial link to food security and basic necessities, especially for the poorest segments of society. Waste pickers / recyclers provide sanitation and solid waste services that contribute to public health, lower landfill costs and a healthier environment.   Domestic workers are on the frontlines of meeting hygiene standards and providing care, including for the sick and elderly. Home-based workers keep supply chains running and are sewing masks and medical coveralls for the frontline workers. Economies everywhere depend on our work.   Lockdowns and other restrictions to contain COVID-19 are negatively impacting 81% of the world’s 3.3 billion workers, according to the International Labour Organization. Fully 61% of that global workforce — some two billion workers — are informally employed. In developing countries we make up 90% of total employment.   Public health measures restricting movement have prevented many of our members from working at all. Every day they are unable to work, they are unable to earn. They cannot stay at home without starving and they cannot work without being exposed to the virus. Relief efforts in many countries are not reaching our workers. Brutal evictions and domestic violence against women are pervasive.   Our study of the early impact of the crisis shows the pathways through which earnings in our sectors have been affected. Workers in the informal economy who have long lacked social protection and access to health care are suffering the harshest consequences.   Societies need informal economy workers’ organizations to help design more effective public policies in response to the crisis, and in view of longer-term recovery and structural reform.   The COVID-19 crisis has drawn the world’s attention to longstanding inequalities in the way governments and industry deal with the world’s massive informal workforce.   The International Domestic Workers Federation, StreetNet International, HomeNet South Asia, HomeNet Southeast Asia, HomeNet Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and the Global Alliance of Waste Pickers — as members of the WIEGO Network — urge policymakers to implement the following principles in all their emergency relief and recovery actions, and in their strategies to manage public health and economic activity:   We, the global movement of workers in the informal economy, have decades of experience with organizing and facilitating connections between workers, communities, governments and companies. Our leaders are experienced negotiators and peer educators, know the inner workings of their respective sectors, and are working tirelessly to address the acute crisis facing our grassroots members and to maintain social cohesion in crisis contexts.   Including us in decision-making will benefit not just the 61% of the world’s workers who are informally employed, but local communities, national economies and the global systems that connect us all.   Policies and practices during and after the COVID-19 crisis must recognize informal economy workers and their organizations, and issue clear directives to enforcement agents to refrain from harassment, violence, bribery, forced evictions, and demolition of workers’ assets, including their homes and workplaces. Special attention needs to be paid to risks and costs borne by women workers in the current context and in the long term.   There is a need for a new model of work and production, equitable and redistributive, that recognizes and values all forms of work. The transformation required to achieve that model must begin now, with a commitment to recovery plans that focus on transitions from the informal to the formal economy in line with the rights-based ILO Recommendation 204.   Long-term investments are needed to rebuild economies around the understanding that informal economy workers, especially women, sustain households, communities, and economies; are central to the rebuilding of local value chains; and require a guarantee of decent work standards in all sectors. http://www.wiego.org/COVID19-Platform   * Women in Informal Employment (WEIGO) COVID Crisis updates: http://bit.ly/3kkH1O4   http://16dayscampaign.org/2020/07/30/new-report-draws-attention-to-human-rights-concerns-of-women-workers-in-the-informal-economy/   * 2020: 16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM AGAINST GENDER–BASED VIOLENCE CAMPAIGN   The world is facing the worst economic recession since the Great Depression and an estimated 1.6 billion workers in the informal economy are at risk of losing their livelihoods. 92% of total women’s employment in developing countries is informal employment.   Early evidence shows that women, children, migrants and refugees, persons with disabilities, and the elderly have been hit hardest by the pandemic.   COVID–19 relief measures have not reached all informal workers in vulnerable situations. Their insecurity has been compounded by the widespread increase in domestic violence and informal women workers in particular have been targeted for violence and harassment in public spaces.   Human rights experts monitoring the situation of women globally have warned that women in the most vulnerable forms of informal work will be the most harshly affected unless the world of work is reimagined and traditional patterns of work are disrupted.   http://16dayscampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/OFFICIAL-CWGL-2020-16-Days-Campaign-Advocacy-Guide.pdf (45pp) Visit the related web page
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