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Website of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/SRHRDefenders/Pages/SRHRDefendersIndex.aspx
SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS REPORT TO THE UN 2015 - FULL 20-PAGE REPORT IS ATTACHED.
Multiple components related to WOMEN HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS.
54.
During his first consultations in Geneva and Brussels and the bilateral
discussions that he held with representatives of regional networks of human
rights defenders, the Special Rapporteur was struck by the repeated statements
drawing his attention to the groups that were most exposed: those working on
economic, social and cultural rights and minority rights; environmental
defenders; defenders of LGBTI rights; women defenders and those who work for
women’s rights; defenders who work in the area of business and human rights;
those who work in an area exposed to internal conflict or a national disaster;
defenders living in isolated regions; and those working on past abuses, such as
the families of victims of enforced disappearance.
55.
This is a central feature of the kind of communications received by the mandate
holders on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and
expression, on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and on the situation of human
rights defenders and also by other mandate holders, such as the Working Group
on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances or the Special Rapporteur on
extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.
56. The
Special Rapporteur has noted with great interest that, over the past few years,
human rights defenders have been active in ensuring that the protection
promised by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is extended to new
threats to human dignity. As a result of their work to combat gender-related
violence against women, they argue that rights should be protected also within
the household and the community. They contend that multinational
corporations should be held morally and legally liable for their actions and
omissions that deprive men and women of their fundamental rights. They are
working to ensure that universal access to primary education and antiretroviral
treatment becomes a fundamental right and is not treated as a service that is
dependent on charitable action or an aspect of economic development.