In just six months the COVID-19 pandemic has travelled the world, profoundly testing the resilience of even the most advanced health systems, and causing massive shocks to national economies. It has also deepened systematic and structural racial, ethnic and gender inequities everywhere. As the pandemic hit and countries grappled with how best to address the...
Date: Friday, June 26, 2020 Today we commemorate the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, on 26 June 1945, in San Francisco. It is the text that formalized the fundamental concept of the United Nations, “We, the peoples’. It set out the determination of those peoples to avoid future wars, and reaffirmed the...
The Secretary-General urged all governments to make the prevention and redress of violence against women and girls a key part of their national response plans for COVID-19. The appeal was answered in a statement by 146 Member States and Observers that expressed strong support. As the UN system, we continue to be dedicated to ending...
The Ngorongoro district in Arusha region is a land of craters, sacred forests and mountains, wild animals and the Maasai people. This community has learnt to co-exist with nature, sharing land, wild food, herbs and water with the wild animals that roam freely. Rosemary Satunini Berere, 23, grew up in Samunge village where each morning...
The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection has praised fathers for their contribution towards the development of children in the country. It urged them to continue to provide support for all children to help the country mitigate all forms of abuse against the child. A statement issued by the Ministry to mark this year’s...
The AIDS response has taught the world the importance of protecting human rights and promoting gender equality when fighting a disease. COVID-19 has amplified that lesson. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, UNAIDS has repeated the call that governments must protect human rights and prevent and address gender-based violence—an issue that is even more...
Covid-19 has exposed just how much work remains to be done to wipe out female genital mutilation (FGM) around the world. Two million girls who would otherwise be safe from the practice are believed to be at risk over the next decade as a direct result of the virus. As lockdowns linger and economies tumble,...
The recent news making the rounds concerning the rape, assault, molestation, and murder of young Nigerian women as young as nine years old is overwhelming for any woman. Uwa, Tina, Jennifer, Barakat represent the limits that exist around women and the restrictions we must place on ourselves just to be considered worthy of humanity. As...
12 June 2020 Good morning, good afternoon and good evening. WHO is a global organization, but we are also proud and active members of the cities and communities we live in. Since the 20th of March, Geneva’s famous Jet d’Eau fountain has been switched off while the city was in lockdown. Yesterday I had the...
Group of protesters on Friday stormed the Nigeria Police Force Headquarters in Abuja, and police command in Lagos to protest the rising spate of rape, sexual violence, assault against women, incest in the country. Unanimously, they demanded that there should be declaration of state-of-emergency on gender-based violence in the country. The protesters who demanded justice...
