The pandemic is gifting us an unprecedented opportunity to take innovative action and comprehensively confront the scourge of violence against women. We have a unique window in which, as a human family, we are able to boldly address the social ills Covid-19 is unearthing, and redesign and rebuild our social fabric. In this process of...
Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, to the ministerial round table on “Transformative approaches: State support to promote women’s participation in peacebuilding”, in New York today: I thank the Government of Sweden and the International Peace Institute for convening this virtual platform. 2020 was set to be a...
As lead coordinating entity of joint Executive Board activities this year, the UN Women Executive Board secretariat will convene this year’s Joint Meeting of the Executive Boards of UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS, UNICEF, UN Women and WFP, starting at 10 a.m. EDT, Friday 29 May 2020 on the topic: United Nations development system reform in the context of the...
Women in Ghana are disproportionately underrepresented in the fast-moving digital economy. What can be done to redress the balance, especially in a time where digital skills are needed more than ever? The race for high quality jobs in the rapidly evolving digital economy is aggressive, global in nature and male dominated. In African countries, getting a foothold...
A new report documents major challenges to women’s access to justice in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and puts forth recommendations to accelerate action and push back against threats to progress. Date: Thursday, May 21, 2020 21 May 2020 – The COVID-19 pandemic escalates threats to women’s access to justice, according to a new joint report, Justice for...
Activists have welcomed the Sudanese government’s move to criminalise Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). The transitional government amended the criminal code in an effort to protect women and girls from the traditional practice that is considered a violation of human rights. “There is so much that women’s groups are pushing for and the criminalization of FGM...
Emanuela Paul is the Rethinking Power Program Coordinator with Beyond Borders/Depase Fwontyè yo. The programme focuses on preventing violence against women and girls, including women and girls with disabilities, in Haiti and implements a project with funding from the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women. In light of COVID-19, she explains how her...
This commentary is co-signed by Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ghana; Kamina Johnson-Smith, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Jamaica; Kang Kyung-wha, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea; Retno Marsudi, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Indonesia; Grace Naledi Mandisa Pandor, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, South Africa; Marise...
The COVID-19 pandemic is a disaster that has severely disrupted the normal functioning of populations around the world and continues to proliferate indiscriminately. Disease outbreaks like COVID-19 threaten the health of all. But women and girls are disproportionately affected. During epidemics, the very measures taken to protect populations and keep health systems afloat leave women and girls especially...
Women and girls in Africa are among the most vulnerable groups exposed to the negative impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. Although preliminary evidence from China, Italy, and New York shows that men are at higher risk of contraction and death from the disease—more than 58 percent of COVID-19 patients were men, and they had an...
