Preventing Conflict, Transforming Justice, Securing the Peace
To mark the fifteenth anniversary of the adoption of resolution 1325 (2000), the Security Council adopted resolution 2122 (2013) inviting the Secretary-General to conduct a review with regard to the implementation of resolution 1325. The review was to identify the gaps and challenges, as well as emerging trends and priorities for action. It requested the Secretary General to thereafter submit a report based on the findings of this review to the Security Council in October 2015. The Secretary-General requested Radhika Coomaraswamy to be the lead author of the study on the recommendation of the United Nations Standing Committee on Women, Peace and Security. UN Women was requested to be the secretariat of the study. A High-Level Advisory Group was constituted from all regions of the world to assist Ms. Coomaraswamy.
It was decided that Ms. Coomaraswamy would lead a comprehensive study with regard to developments in the fifteen-year period since resolution 1325 was adopted. Ms. Coomaraswamy and the members of her High-Level Advisory Group held consultations with a diverse group of stakeholders, in all regions of the world. In addition, UN Women commissioned research papers for the Global Study, which will be published separately in an accompanying volume. More than 60 Member States, international and regional organizations responded to requests for submissions to the Global Study and 47 civil society organizations, academics and research institutes provided inputs via a public website. A survey of civil society organizations generated responses from 317 organizations in 71 countries.
The world has changed since the Security Council adopted resolution 1325 in October 2000. The nature of conflict in certain regions is qualitatively different, the content of what we mean by ‘peace’ and ‘security’ is evolving, and the understanding of what we mean by ‘justice’ has also transformed. This ever-changing and ever evolving reality poses major dilemmas for the four pillars of Security Council resolution 1325 and its subsequent resolutions: the pillars of prevention, protection, participation, and peacebuilding and recovery. It is in this context of a changing world and shifting dynamics for peace and security, that the Global Study undertakes a fifteen-year review of the implementation of resolution 1325.
UN Human Rights Committee
General Comment 28, interpreting Article 3 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
The Committee has decided to update its general comment on article 3 of the Covenant and to replace general comment No. 4 (thirteenth session, 1981), in the light of the experience it has gathered in its activities over the last 20 years. The present revision seeks to take account of the important impact of this article on the enjoyment by women of the human rights protected under the Covenant.
Article 3 implies that all human beings should enjoy the rights provided for in the Covenant, on an equal basis and in their totality. The full effect of this provision is impaired whenever any person is denied the full and equal enjoyment of any right. Consequently, States should ensure to men and women equally the enjoyment of all rights provided for in the Covenant.
UN Human Rights Council
Elimination of Discrimination against Women, Resolution 23/7
June 2013
OHCHR, International Labour Organization, UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNODC, UN Women, World Food Programme, World Health Organization, UNAIDS
Joint Agency Statement
United Nations entities call on States to act urgently to end violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) adults, adolescents and children.
All people have an equal right to live free from violence, persecution, discrimination and stigma. International human rights law establishes legal obligations on States to ensure that every person, without distinction, can enjoy these rights. While welcoming increasing efforts in many countries to protect the rights of LGBTI people, we remain seriously concerned that around the world, millions of LGBTI individuals, those perceived as LGBTI and their families face widespread human rights violations. This is cause for alarm – and action.
Report of the United Nations Secretary General
The Secretary-General’s in-depth study on violence against women, mandated by General Assembly resolution 58/185, was prepared by the Division for the Advancement of Women of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat.
UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
Thematic Report
The Secretariat has the honour to transmit to the Human Rights Council the report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan E. Méndez, prepared pursuant to Council resolution 25/13. In the report, the Special Rapporteur assesses the applicability of the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in international law to the unique experiences of women, girls, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons.
Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights
Thematic Report
UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief
Interim Report
In the present report, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Heiner Bielefeldt, provides an overview of his mandated activities since the submission of the previous report to the General Assembly (A/67/303), including his country visits, communications and other activities.
In the face of complicated conflicts in the interplay of freedom of religion or belief and equality between men and women, the Special Rapporteur has decided to focus the present report on the relationship between those two human rights, with the purpose of contributing to a systematic clarification. Existing conflicts in this area should always be addressed with empirical and normative precision. Without in any sense denying the reality of conflicting human rights concerns in the intersection of freedom of religion or belief and equality between men and women, the Special Rapporteur would like to point out that it remains important not to turn concrete conflicts between human rights issues into an abstract antagonism on the normative level itself.
Unfortunately, the impression that freedom of religion or belief and equality between men and women allegedly constitute two essentially contradictory human rights norms seems to be widely shared. This can cause serious protection gaps. For instance, efforts to explore and create synergies between freedom of religion or belief and gender equality are sometimes ignored or even openly discouraged. Moreover, the abstractly antagonistic misconstruction of the relationship between freedom of religion or belief and equality between men and women fails to do justice to the life situation of many millions of individuals whose specific needs, wishes, claims, experiences and vulnerabilities fall into the intersection of both human rights, a problem disproportionately affecting women from religious minorities.
The Special Rapporteur therefore emphasizes the significance of upholding a holistic perspective in conformity with the formula coined at the World Conference on Human Rights that “[a]ll human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent and interrelated”. Based on this holistic perspective, which deserves to be defended even in complicated and tense situations, he formulates a number of practical recommendations addressed to States and other stakeholders.
UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief
Thematic Report
Violence committed “in the name of religion”, that is, on the basis of or arrogated to religious tenets of the perpetrator, can lead to massive violations of human rights, including freedom of religion or belief.
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| In the present report, the Special Rapporteur first provides a typological description of various forms of violence carried out in the name of religion. He subsequently explores root causes and relevant factors that underlie such violence. The main message is that violence in the name of religion should not be misperceived as a “natural” outbreak of collective acts of aggression that supposedly reflect sectarian hostilities existing since time immemorial. Rather, it typically originates from contemporary factors and actors, including political circumstances.
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The Special Rapporteur also recommends concerted actions by all relevant stakeholders, including States, religious communities, interreligious dialogue initiatives, civil society organizations and media representatives, in order to contain and eventually eliminate the scourge of violence committed in the name of religion.
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UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
Thematic Report
In follow-up to her previous reports on violence against women in the family and in the community, the present report analyses various forms of violence against women as perpetrated and/or condoned by the State. The first chapter addresses violence against women in armed conflict. In chapter II, the Special Rapporteur looks at custodial violence against women. In chapter III, she examines violence against refugee and internally displaced women.
