The 47th Session of the UN Human Rights Council

 21 June - 14 July 2021

Items 2 and 3

 Annual Full-Day Discussion on the Human Rights of Women

(5 and 6 July)

By Jennifer Tapia Boada, Karin Heisen, and Melanie Ouma

Executive Summary

At its 6th session in 2007, the Human Rights Council decided to incorporate a minimum of one full-day meeting annually into its programme of work to discuss the human rights of women, including measures that can be adopted by States and other stakeholders to address human rights violations experienced by women. The 2021 discussion featured two thematic panels: violence against women and girls with disabilities and gender-equal socioeconomic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The first panel focused on the violations experienced by women and girls with disabilities and assessed good practices in public policies, as well as the implementation of prevention mechanisms and response services for gender-based violence against women and girls with disabilities. The United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights opened by highlighting the difficult experiences women and girls with disabilities face and reiterated the need for these issues and these women to be brought to light. She emphasized that in order to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls in accordance with Sustainable Development Goal 5, violence against women and girls with disabilities must be eradicated. The subsequent panellists discussed the heightened risk of gender violence experienced by women and girls with disabilities, as well as the legal, social and attitudinal barriers that contribute to this oppression. Gender-based violence against women and girls with disabilities is difficult to eliminate because it is prevalent in all spaces physical and digital, and it can occur at home or institutions and at the hands of close familial relations as well as strangers. While some States have taken considerable steps to minimize risks to this group, the pandemic has exacerbated violence in most States.

The second panel aimed to discuss concrete ways to ensure that COVID-19 socioeconomic recovery plans can advance gender equality. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing socioeconomic inequalities, impacting women the most. It has burdened economic sectors where women are overrepresented and has declined women’s participation in the labour force more rapidly than men. The focus of finding solutions to this problem must be on immediate and long-term policy priorities. The immediate priority should be to protect women care workers. Secondly, the world must invest in the care economy to rectify undervaluation and unequal share of unpaid work. This can be achieved through investments in infrastructure, such as expanding rural electricity access to help women spend less time on unpaid work, and by creating more secure, professional, and fairly-paid care jobs. In addition, gender-responsive financing can dismantle structures and systems that create and reinforce inequality. Accordingly, the debt burden on low- and middle-income countries should be cancelled in order to free up their resources for public services, social protection, and boosting of the informal sector.  As gender equality is a prerequisite for policy success in every sphere of society, governments must keep their international commitments on gender equality by increasing women’s participation in decision-making at all levels and investing in women’s empowerment during the post-pandemic recovery period.

At this 47th HRC session, Canada submitted draft proposal Resolution 47.L.18 which intends to accelerate efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls, as well as prevent and respond to all forms of violence against women and girls with disabilities. Member States of the Human Rights Council adopted the resolution at the end of the session without a vote.

Background

At its 6th session, held in September and December 2007, the Human Rights Council (HRC) unanimously adopted resolution A/HRC/RES/6/30, entitled Integrating the human rights of women throughout the United Nations System.

Reaffirming the equal rights of women and men and the international commitments on gender equality and the human rights of women, the resolution incorporates at minimum one full-day meeting annually into its programme of work, starting 2008, to discuss the human rights of women, including measures that can be adopted by States and other stakeholders to address human rights violations experienced by women.

Additionally, at its 44th session in June 2020, the HRC requested the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to present a report at the 47th HRC  summarizing the 2020 annual discussion on women’s human rights:

Against this backdrop, the annual full day discussion on the human rights of women in 2021 focused on two thematic panels of two hours duration each: 

• Panel 1: Violence against women and girls with disabilities
• Panel 2: Gender-equal socioeconomic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic

Panel 1: Violence against women and girls with disabilities – 5 July 2021

Geneva, 5 July 2021- At the 21st meeting of the 47th HRC session, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. local time, the Council held the first panel of the annual full-day discussion on the human rights of women. 

The panel featured Nada Al-Nashif, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights; Ms. Ana Pelaez, Vice-Chair of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW); Ms. Gulmira Kantinovna, Chair of the Union of People with Disabilities of Kyrgyzstan; and Ms. Maulani A. Rotinsulu, Chairperson of the Indonesian Association of Women with Disabilities. Mr. Jarrod Clyne, Human Rights Advisor of the International Disability Alliance, moderated the discussion.

The first panel of the full-day discussion sought to discuss the violations experienced by women and girls with disabilities, and to assess good practices in the implementation of prevention mechanisms and response for gender-based violence against them. 

To make the HRC more accessible to persons with disabilities, the panel offered international sign interpretation and real-time captioning. 

Ms. Nada Al-Nashif, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, delivered the opening statement. Ms. Nada stated that there are 700 million women and girls with disabilities in the world today according to UN Women, and these women and girls face persistent discrimination based on stereotypes and stigma, increasing their risk of gender-based violence. Around 40% to 68% of young women with disabilities experience sexual violence before the age of 18. Women and girls with disabilities remain largely invisible and excluded from participation in most decisions pertaining to their lives, further placing them at risk of gender-based violence. Accessibility of all discussions at the national level is paramount. She added that Sustainable Development Goal 5 cannot be achieved without ending violence against women and girls with disabilities and without a comprehensive, accessible and inclusive approach to policies.

Mr. Jarrod Clyne, Human Rights Advisor of the International Disability Alliance, took the floor and said that violence implies physical force, legal compulsion, economic coercion, intimidation, psychological manipulation, and the absence of free and informed consent. Legal, social and attitudinal barriers perpetuate this oppression and women with disabilities face many barriers to accessing remedies for violations of their rights due to stereotypes that create the discriminatory laws in practice. He added the panel is a timely opportunity to discuss the wide-ranging violations experienced by women and girls with disabilities and reflect on States’ progress in implementing their due diligence obligation to address violence against women and girls with disabilities and consider good practice.

Ms. Ana Pelaez, Vice-Chair of CEDAW, encouraged States to address their protection as a priority. One in every five women lives with a disability. In fact, studies show that disabilities are more prevalent among women than men, and these women are at higher risk of being subject to gender-based violence. She mentioned that the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities states that women do not experience such violence as a homogeneous group, but rather as individuals with multidimensional identities.  Some groups, such as indigenous women, are even more vulnerable to violence because of multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination. She went on to analyse that gender-based violence against women and girls with disabilities can occur in the home or in institutions, at the hands of immediate family members, caregivers, or strangers, in the world of work, and in digital spaces. Examples are numerous and may include: trafficking, misinformation, abandonment, lack of free and informed consent and legal coercion. She asserted that despite international commitments by States to respect the rights of persons with disabilities, measures adopted often fail to include the voices, perspectives and needs of women and girls with disabilities in normative and institutional frameworks, including within women's movements.

Ms. Gulmira Kantinovna, Chair of the Union of People with Disabilities of Kyrgyzstan took the floor and mentioned that unfortunately, after the ratification of the Convention of People with Disabilities in the Kyrgys Republic, there has been little progress in this regard in the country. She referenced a survey that identified harmful stereotypes: the general public responded that women with disabilities should marry men with disabilities, but men with disabilities should marry women without disabilities as they later could not reproduce.

Ms. Maulani A. Rotinsulu, Chairperson of the Indonesian Association of Women with Disabilities said that the pandemic has exacerbated violence against women with disabilties as they are especially adversely impacted by the situation. She stated that women are at high risk of various forms of violence and exploitation, such as sexual abuse, forced impregnation, forced abortion, and forced sterilization. An online survey undertaken in Indonesia found that gender-based violence is rampant: 80% of respondents experienced gender-based violence regularly. 

After the presentations by the panellists, delegations took the floor for interventions. The Minister of Justice of Namibia expressed concern by the level of disproportionate violence against women with disabilties including harmful cultural practices, which is exacerbated by widespread underreporting and lack of dissagregated statistics. Finland, on behalf of a group of countries, stated that women with disabilities face barriers to public services and the emergence of a pandemic of violence has put them at higher risk. Finland and Belgium encouraged all States to join the Istanbul Convention to eliminate violence against women and girls once and for all. Uruguay, on behalf of a group of countries, recognised there remains a long path to erradicate all forms of violence against women with disabilities. Australia, on behalf of a group of countries, said that gender equality will not be realised until all women and girls are free from violence and that the intersection of gender and disabilities requires they receive special attention. Azerbaijan, on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement and the European Union, called for strengthening public policies to address violence against women with disabilities. Fiji stated that the intersectionality of this particular issue requires States to recognise the vulnerability of women and girls with disabilities. Poland also highlighted the intersectional nature of human rights violations against women with disabilities. 

When the moderator gave the floor to National Human Rights Institutions and civil society organizations, they underscored the alarming reports which show women have been affected severely by the COVID-19 pandemic and called on UN Member States to strengthen health systems, public services, and rehabilitation mechanisms to remedy the lack of access to reproductive services for women with disabilities. 

In their concluding remarks, the panelists mentioned good practices in this regard, including imparting training sessions for public servants and members of civil society on how to include the perspective of disabilities in general policies related to women, and prohibiting forced sterilization of women with disabilities.  They also underlined the need to garner stronger commitment from policy makers to free women with disabilities from violence and discrimination.  Lastly, the panelists voiced that respecting the rights of women with disabilities is a priority.

Panel 2: Gender-equal socioeconomic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic – 6 July 2021

Geneva, 6 July 2021- The second panel, at the 23rd meeting of the 47th HRC session from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. local time, aimed to discuss concrete ways to ensure COVID-19 socioeconomic recovery plans advance gender equality.

The panel featured Mr. Mohammend Naciri, UN-Women Regional Director for Asia-Pacific; Ms. Maria Alesi, feminist and development practitioner from Uganda; and Ms. Kateryna Levchenko, Government Commissioner for Gender Equality Policy of Ukraine and Vice-Chair of the Gender Equality Commission of the Council of Europe.

In her opening statement, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Ms. Michelle Bachelet —pleased to address a topic so close to her heart— explained that the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated pre-existing socioeconomic inequalities, impacting women the most. The pandemic burdened economic sectors where women are overrepresented, declined women’s participation in the labour force more rapidly than men, and placed the burden of unpaid care work on women more than men. In Latin America and the Caribbean, COVID-19 setback women’s labour participation by 18 years.

Ms. Bachelet underscored that women are crucial to overcoming the crisis: their equal participation makes society stronger and more resilient. Yet, women represent only 24% of membership of national institutions created to respond to the pandemic.

The moderator passed the floor to Ms. M​​ónica Zalaquett Said, Minister for Women and Gender Equity of Chile, who outlined how Chile’s government is responding to gender inequality by reactivating its economy through a gendered perspective. It created the COVID Women’s Council, a group of female representatives from civil society, academia, politics, and the private sector, who are developing short- and medium-term proposals to address violence and health, economic recovery, and care. Further, the government convened a working group called the COVID Social Roundtable and is also helping women reintegrate into the workforce through numerous subsidies, laws, and bills that cover their care needs.

The first panellist, Mr. Mohammad Naciri, UN-Women Regional Director for Asia-Pacific, provided solutions to women’s economic insecurity, especially in the care economy. Pre-pandemic, women in some Asia-Pacific countries already did eleven times more unpaid care work than men, an obvious detriment to their ability to do paid work. The pandemic pushed this inequity to a breaking point. Mr. Naciri outlined that the focus must be on immediate and long-term policy priorities. The immediate priority should be to protect women care workers, both on the front lines and those doing essential but unpaid work at home. Secondly, the world must invest in the care economy to rectify undervaluation and unequal share of unpaid work. This can be achieved through investments in infrastructure, such as expanding rural electricity access, to help women spend less time on unpaid work; stimulating the market, which requires treating the care economy as a real economy; and creating more secure, professional, and fairly-paid care jobs.

Next, Ms. Maria Alesi, feminist and development practitioner, explained a key pillar for equal recovery: gender-responsive financing. Such financing aims to dismantle structures and systems that create and reinforce inequality. Accordingly, we must cancel the debt burden on low- and middle-income countries in order to free up their resources for public services and social protection that propagate gender equality. Secondly, we must finance the informal sector, where the pandemic impacted women especially hard, through both business recovery loans and social protection measures. Thirdly, policymakers need to create and implement progressive tax regimes, which are fair for low-income earners, the majority of whom are women. Fourth, governance must be accountable: if corruption and violence take root and civic space shrinks, social and economic services break down and this always disproportionately impacts women. Lastly, none of these measures can be implemented if lower-income countries continue to not have equal access to vaccines. Ms. Alesi concluded by calling for centring the lives of women in low- and middle-income countries in order to ensure a gender-equal recovery.

Ms. Kateryna Levchenko, Government Commissioner for Gender Equality Policy of Ukraine and Vice-Chair of the Gender Equality Commission of the Council of Europe, stated that the Ukrainian government firmly believes that gender equality is a prerequisite for policy success in every sphere of society and a key condition for Ukraine’s European integration. To get the process right, governments must keep their international commitments on women’s rights and gender equality; increase women’s participation in decision-making at all levels; cooperate with civil society, specifically feminist and women’s rights organisations; and ensure multi-agency cooperation in developing and implementing policy. To increase participation, Ms. Levchenko advocated for gender quotas, taking example by Ukraine’s adoption of a 40% gender quota in its 2020 local elections.

Next, delegates took the floor for interventions. Among these, the European Union pointed out the fundamental role women play in fighting COVID and building the post-pandemic world. Considering that it takes longer for women to return to the job market in the recovery phase, it should be mandatory for Member States to invest in projects since social and economic recovery is possible only if all women and girls are on board. Investing in women’s empowerment means investing in a sustainable recovery and future.

Cameroon, on behalf of the African Group, called attention to the low vaccine rollout in Africa and stated that any measures that ignore the inequality in vaccine access will not be successful in the long-term. The delegation asked the panel how they assess the impact of the vaccine passport on exacerbating inequalities given the extremely limited supply of vaccines in places like Africa.

Albania expressed concern by the increase in domestic violence as girls and women are sheltering in place with their abusers. Failing to address violence against women and girls as one of the most prevalent human rights violations entails a significant cost for the future by undermining the health, dignity, security, and autonomy of victims while fostering the culture of silence.

The United Nations Development Programme reported that only 13% of governmental measures responding to COVID-19 address women’s economic insecurity. The UNDP stated it would keep pushing for women’s equal participation in public life, for universal social protection, to transform discriminatory social norms, to improve women’s control over resources, and to eliminate segregation of the labour market.

Israel highlighted the importance of cultural and social changes focused not only on increasing the number of women in key positions but also embracing gendered thinking in decision making, policy planning, and allocation of resources.

Civil society organizations expressed concerns about how the pandemic is threatening to roll back decades of hard gains in gender equality and Sustainable Development Goals. One NGO pointed out that creating and integrating new strategies to tackle violence against women should be pursued by investing in technology and digital inventions. Civil society also pointed out the importance of collecting data to help put in place measures that reach those at high risk and in most need. Women’s rights violations must be treated as serious human rights violations in order to truly address the impact of COVID-19.

In their concluding remarks, the three panelists reiterated best practices for gender-equal recovery. Ms. Alesi specifically responded to the delegations’ question regarding vaccine passports, vocalizing that its imposition is rooted in colonialism and racism and blocks out business in countries that have low vaccine access. She also expressed the need to reject the 15% global corporate tax rate, which continues to divert money from low- and middle-income countries. Ms. Alesi encouraged African countries and their allies to protest these practices that ultimately lead to the exclusion of women and girls in low- and middle-income countries. Mr. Naceri urged that we cannot return to the same, failed measures. He voiced it is not too late to join the global movement for gender equality.

Resolution 47.L.18

At the 47th session of the Human Rights Council, Canada submitted the draft proposal resolution entitled:

Accelerating efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls; preventing and responding to all forms of violence against women and girls with disabilities. 

The resolution, inter alia, “urges States to prevent and respond to the increase in violence against women and girls, including those with disabilities, amid the COVID-19 pandemic by integrating accessible and inclusive prevention, response and protection measures” into pandemic responses and recovery plans. 

The resolution also welcomes the annual full-day discussion on the human rights of women and requests the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a summary report on the annual discussion held during this 47th session, to present at the 50th session next year. In addition, the resolution requests the OHCHR to write a summary report on the annual discussion to be held at the 50th session in 2022 and to present the report at its 53th session in 2023.

The said resolution was adopted by consensus without a vote by the Member States of the Human Rights Council.

GICJ’s Position

Geneva International Centre for Justice expresses its strong support for the HRC’s efforts to integrate the protection and promotion of the human rights of women throughout the United Nations system by incorporating into its programme of work annual full-day panels to discuss State measures to address human rights violations experienced by women. 

GICJ notes that despite the international community’s commitments to respect the rights of women with disabilities, the measures adopted tend to fail to include their voices as well as their participation in decision-making processes and leadership roles in society. From the first panel, GICJ underscores that only by ensuring access of women and girls with disabilities to information and services, including water and sanitation, health care, education and social protection, gender equality can be fully achieved. Moreover, GICJ stresses that States must address stereotypes against women with disabilities, improve access to disability services, and change regulations that fail to incorporate equal rights or that discourage women and girls with disabilities from reporting gender-based violence.

In addition, GICJ urges all actors to not only discuss concrete ways to ensure that COVID-19 socioeconomic recovery plans can advance gender equality but to also be proactive in finding solutions to this problem. GICJ stands firm in the belief that this must be an immediate and long-term policy priority for all States. To have lasting policies, women's participation in decision-making at all levels is necessary, as well as an active investment in women’s empowerment in the post-pandemic recovery period. The world is stronger and more resilient when women have an equal seat at the table.

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