Every person has fundamental human rights, but conflict and polarization are driving widespread backsliding – especially for women and girls.
Countries around the world have taken steps to ensure human rights, guarantee bodily autonomy and counter gender-based violence, yet many discriminatory laws remain. Only a small minority of women and girls, about 14 per cent, enjoy strong legal protections of fundamental human rights. Even where laws to protect rights are in place, social norms in many places block access to sexual and reproductive healthcare and condone gender-based violence.
Human rights are not abstractions. They are essential to meeting people’s everyday needs and hopes. With that in mind, the theme for Human Rights Day this year is “Human rights: Our everyday essentials.”
Human rights enable opportunities, choices and protections, and serve as the foundation of equality and dignity. Standing up for human rights works, as shown in countries with domestic violence legislation, which have significantly lower rates of intimate partner violence.
We must unite our strengths to stand up for human rights for everyone, everywhere.
Almost all governments have made commitments to human rights, gender equality and bodily autonomy, but greater engagement with international, regional and national human rights bodies would strengthen accountability and action. Improved collection and use of disaggregated data, whether by gender, race, disability, age or any other factor, would ensure everyone is counted and that policies are better designed to uphold rights. And demographic changes require comprehensive policy reviews – not scapegoating of women for fertility declines.
It’s crucial that civil society, especially women’s rights organizations and youth groups, have a protected space to safely operate and advocate for human rights, including in the digital world.
