OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — In war-weakened Burkina Faso, several aid groups are still in the early stages of gender data collection. Attacks linked to Islamic militants, local defense forces, and the army have ravaged the once-peaceful country, making it hard for organizations to reach vulnerable populations — including some 850,000 internally displaced people — and to collect...
“Since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Ethiopia, one-stop crisis centres and shelters haven’t been able to support survivors because of the lack of isolation rooms for newcomers and insufficient human resources and personal protective equipment. To fill this gap, a transitional shelter was opened to serve as a space where survivors could...
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...
The call came in at 10 p.m.—two hours after the COVID-19 curfew in Bosnia and Herzegovina in March. The caller was noticeably shaken, after being thrown across the room and having her hair ripped out by her ex-husband—all in front of her children, aged 10 and 15. The woman and her children fled and stood...
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...
