London - The UN human rights office has launched a joint report with the AU and UN Women detailing the progress and challenges to women’s struggle for human rights in Africa as the world marked International Women’s Day .
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, on Tuesday warned that the women’s movement around the world was facing a backlash that hurt both men and women.
“We need to be alert - the advances of the past few decades were fragile and should nowhere be taken for granted,” he said ahead of International Women’s Day. He said such rollbacks were “underpinned by the renewed obsession with controlling and limiting women’s decisions over their bodies and lives, and by views that a woman’s role should be essentially restricted to reproduction and the family”.
While such push-backs were carried out in the name of tradition, Zeid noted they were often a response to segments of women and girls in the garment industry who were often subjected to forced overtime and low wages, and on domestic workers because of their work's unprotected nature.
Among examples he gave, Zeid pointed to recent legislation in Bangladesh, Burundi and the Russian Federation, which weakens women’s rights to fight against child marriage, marital rape and domestic violence, respectively.
He noted also the “fierce resistance” in the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua to political and civil society efforts to open up access to sexual and reproductive rights.
“With the world’s young population concentrated in developing nations, retrogressive measures denying women and girls access to sexual and reproductive health services will have a devastating effect,” Zeid said, noting more maternal deaths, more unintended pregnancies and fewer girls finishing school.
In Africa, women continue to be denied full enjoyment of their rights in every country, according to a new report released yesterday, entitled "Women’s Rights in Africa".
Statistics show some African countries have no legal protection for women against domestic violence, are forced to undergo female genital mutilation and forced to marry while still children.
In Africa - as around the globe - when women exercise their rights to access to education, skills and jobs there is a surge in prosperity, positive health outcomes, and greater freedom and well-being.