Two years ago, South Africa’s government announced it would scrap taxes on sanitary pads from April of the following year. It was part of its plans to address an issue now referred to as period poverty and for which online and offline protests are frequent in South Africa. Period poverty is simply the inability to...
Statement by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women Date: Thursday, July 2, 2020 UN Women is 10 years old today. On 2 July 2010, the General Assembly adopted a landmark resolution to merge four parts of the United Nations system into the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of...
Urgent, and accelerated action is needed to end female genital mutilation, child marriage, and other “harmful practices” and abuses carried out against women and girls, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency (UNFPA), said on Tuesday, in its latest major report on the state of the world’s population. Every year, millions of girls are subjected...
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...
KEY FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Data shows that in some humanitarian settings, there has been a drastic increase in online searches and requests for help due to gender-based violence (GBV) since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Lebanon, after the implementation of a hotline, IRC saw the number of women and girls seeking support more...
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...
Violence continues to manifest itself in new forms and trend against women and girls in Nigeria is now a source of serious concern to stakeholders. In the past three weeks, there have been demonstrations by many gender groups on the rape pandemic, with the Inspector- General of Police, Mohammed Adamu stating that in the first...
The Deputy Minister for Research Planning and Policy at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection Mr. Hassan Karneh has rolled out remarkable achievements the Ministry has achieved within a period of a year. Appearing Saturday, June 20, 2020 on an online talkshow styled ‘Focus on Liberia’ based in Atlanta Georgia, USA – Mr....
