WUNRN
Women Human Rights
Defenders International Coalition
Oral
Statement of the Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition
on
the Women Human Rights Defenders’ Report of the
UN
Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders
Mr. President,
On behalf of the
Women Human Rights International Coalition, we welcome the report of the UN
Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders focusing on the situation of women
human rights defenders. Her report
raises the seriousness of the violations against defenders of women’s human rights
and gender equality particularly LGBTI defenders as well as advocates of sexual
and reproductive rights. These
defenders are particularly at risk, but often are not considered as human
rights defenders entitled to support and protection.
Women human
rights defenders have been persecuted because of their identities as lesbian,
gay, bisexual or transgender people or as women such as in the cases of
femicide in Mexico and other Latin American countries. They are also targeted to contest, often
through violent means, the universality of the rights they advocate for such as
in murder of David Kato in Uganda last 27 January. In light of these heightened
risks, what measures are the member-states undertaking to adopt the
Rapporteur’s recommendations and provide gender-responsive security and support
to women human rights defenders?
Sex
discrimination and gender inequality are at the heart of violations against
women human rights defenders throughout the world. As a follow up to this report and pursuant to
Human Rights Council Resolution 7/8 of 2008, how does the current Rapporteur
plan to further carry out this directive “to integrate a gender perspective
throughout the work of his/her mandate”? For example, the manipulative use of
religion, culture or tradition to justify violations of women’s human rights
has resulted in attacks against women human rights defenders such as in the
impact of blasphemy laws in Pakistan. Would the Rapporteur consider a joint
mission or other possible collaborations with the Independent Expert on
Cultural Rights?
We commend the
Special Rapporteur for bringing attention to the role of non-state actors as
perpetrators. In many instances, these
actors act in complicity with the State, but they have also become all too
powerful such as in the cases of paramilitaries, organized crime gangs, drug
cartels, religious fundamentalists and other extremists that violently attack
women human rights defenders. Under the
principle of due diligence, what measures have member-states undertaken to
strengthen national mechanisms to protect women human rights defenders?
Reprisals against
human rights defenders and those cooperating with UN bodies continue, in some
instances sanctioned by government officials. Yet, little progress has been
made in developing an appropriate mechanism on reprisals. And in spite of her
efforts to cooperate with member-states, the Rapporteur also called attention
to the low level of responses to communications sent by her office. For her next term, what steps does the
Rapporteur propose to encourage more responses from member-states? What
initiatives have the Human Rights Council taken to address this and also hasten
the process of putting in place a mechanism to address reprisals against
defenders engaging with the UN system?
Thank you, Mr.
President.