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The European Parliament Intergroup on Freedom of Religion or Belief and Religious Tolerance published their 2014 Annual Report on the State of Freedom of Religion or Belief in the World.

Table of contents

1. About the Intergroup 7
2. Foreword 9
3. Introduction 11
4. Report Content and Methodology 13
5. The State of Freedom of Religion or Belief  15
   1. The Americas 16
   2. Summary and conclusions 18
   3. The Middle East and North Africa 19
   4. Summary and conclusions  28
   5. Sub-Saharan Africa 30
   6. Summary and conclusions  36
   7. Asia and Oceania  37
   8. Non-EU Europe  46
6. Highlight: Violence against places of worship and holy places 49
7. Freedom of religion or belief in EU foreign policy 53
   1. The European Parliament 56
   2. Institutional recommendations 58
   3. Country-specific recommendations 60
8. We have a dream 66

This European Parliament resolution of 4 February 2016 deals with the systematic mass murder of religious minorities by the so-called ‘ISIS/Daesh’.

The European Parliament strongly condemns the atrocities committed by ‘ISIS/Daesh’ including the genocide especially against Yazidis and Christians. It calls for a criminal investigation into the war crimes committed by ‘ISIS/Daesh’.

The Foundation for European Progressive Studies and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung released a report on the position and role of conservative and far right parties in the anti-gender mobilisations in Europe, especially France, Germany, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

This topic is of high importance due to the current mobilisations rejecting the term ‘gender’ itself. Anti-gender movements want to claim that gender equality is an “ideology”, and introduce the misleading terms “gender ideology” or “gender theory” which distort the achievements of gender equality. The main targets are the alleged “propaganda” for LGBTI rights, for reproductive rights and biotechnology, for sexual and equality education. This phenomenon has negative consequences for the legislation on gender equality.

In the current publication, we are looking at this phenomenon in connection to the programmes and discourses of far right and conservative parties, as well as the overlaps among them. Following the argumentation presented in the papers, these political parties have a stake on the issue.

All the peer-reviewed papers follow a common structure. The authors drafted conclusions and subsequent policy recommendations for the progressive side to stand up against fundamentalist political activism.

 

The European Parliament, the Council and the Commission proclaimed this text as the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union in 2010.

Article 23 proclaims the equality between women and men. It demands that equality between women and men must be ensured in all areas, including employment, work and pay.

In addition, the principle of equality shall not prevent the maintenance or adoption of measures providing for specific advantages in favour of the under-represented sex.

This Submission to UN Working Group on the Issue of Discrimination against Women in Law and Practice to the Report on “Non-Discrimination and Equality in Family and Cultural Life” was compiled by ESCR.

The ESCR-Net Women and ESCR Working Group has collectively developed this submission, which compiles information ​​provided by its members on how laws and practices discriminate against women within the family and cultural life.

A special focus has been put to women’s rights and substantive equality, highlighting the dichotomies that exist in some cases between the formal rights to which women are entitled and the actual situations they face in their daily lives.

It is unfortunate to note that although all the questionnaires emerged from State Parties of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the collected information shows that “all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations” have not been undertaken in these countries.

Seventeen questionnaires were sent by members of the ESCR-Net Women and ESCR Working Group from the following countries: Brazil, Bulgaria, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mali, Mexico, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Panama, Dominican Republic, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay. We are thankful to the organizations and members who contributed to this document:  Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation, Bulgaria; Cladem (Brazil, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Dominican Rep, Uruguay); Collectif des Femmes du Mali (COFEM), Mali; Equis, Mexico; Fundacion Qukumatz, Guatemala; Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre, Nigeria; Legal Resources Centre, South Africa; National Union of Domestic Employees, Trinidad and Tobago; Patricia Ramírez Parra, Colombia.

Equality Now published a report on gender discrimination and sexism in nationality laws in January 2016.

The Equality Now 2013 report focused on sex discrimination in the transferral of citizenship to children and foreign spouses. This report is expanded to also analyse nationality laws in terms of equality in the right to acquire, change and retain nationality as provided for in international law.

In order to clearly highlight the continuing existence of discriminatory nationality law we focused on the crucial areas of discrimination that have a clear negative impact on the lives of individuals.

1. Progress Towards Equality
2. The State We’re in – Discrimination in Law and Its Effects
3. Graphics: Sex Discriminatory Nationality Laws
4. Transferring Nationality to Children
5. Laws affecting Spouses/Marriage
6. Case Studies
   1. Jordan
   2. Malaysia
   3. Bahamas
   4. Tanzania
   5. Senegal
7. International Law on Equality and Citizenship Rights
8. Recommendations
9. What you can do

The Equal Right Review is a biannual publication of The Equal Rights Trust, which promotes equality as a fundamental human right and a basic principle of social justice. This is Volume 10 published in 2013.

In this issue:

• Special: Equal Rights to Family Life
• Marriage equality in Indonesia and Ireland
• Testimony from an intersex person
• Equality legislation in Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Domestic servitude in Singapore
• Equality jurisprudence in the Caribbean

This is a report about gender discrimination in nationality laws, the effects these laws have on women and their families and the process of reforming such laws  published by the Equal Rights Trust in September 2015.

Twenty seven countries still do not allow women to pass their nationality to their children. The report documents the impact of this in two of the 27 countries – Madagascar and Nepal. As a result of the discriminatory nationality laws, children suffer a series of negative impacts. In addition to the inability to acquire citizenship, they are also unable to access a range of critical human rights such as education, health and work. In some cases, the children are stateless. Separately, their mothers often suffer a sense of guilt and helplessness. Women from disadvantaged groups such as racial minority women or those of disadvantaged socio-economic status are, together with their children, acutely affected. The situation is dire. Both political realities and socio-cultural discrimination act as barriers to reform.

Elsewhere, reform of gender discriminatory nationality laws has slowly been taking place and the number of countries which do not allow women to pass their nationality to their children is decreasing. The report examines two countries which have recently reformed their laws, Indonesia and Kenya. While implementation of law reform in these countries remains an ongoing challenge, the report argues that there are valuable lessons to be learned from their experiences. The report concludes in an optimistic tone, arguing that learning from these countries can assist in accelerating the rate of change.

Today, the global movement for the eradication of such laws is growing behind the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights, which was launched in 2014. The Equal Rights Trust, a founding steering committee member of the Global Campaign, is publishing this report as a resource and advocacy tool to contribute to the movement towards legal reform.

The report ENDING VIOLENCE and other human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity: A joint dialogue of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and United Nations was published in 2016.

On 3 November 2015, a joint dialogue on sexual orientation and gender identity was held between the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Commission or ACHPR), Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (Inter-American Commission or IACHR), and United Nations (UN) human rights mechanisms in Banjul, The Gambia, ahead of the 57th ordinary session of the African Commission.

The dialogue hosted by the African Commission was supported and organised by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

It built on recent developments in the African, Inter-American and UN human rights systems in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity. The dialogue allowed for interactive discussions among the three human rights systems on substantive issues relating to sexual orientation and gender identity including:

• Rights to life, integrity, freedom from torture, prohibition of violence and related rights;
• Right to liberty, freedom of association and assembly, freedom of expression, human rights defenders and related rights; and
• Right to health and other economic and social rights.

This 2013 Monitoring Report on the Status of Sexual and Reproductive Health in the Middle East and North Africa was published by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Contextualizing Women’s Rights and Health Expenditure
3. Reproductive Health and Rights
4. Sexual Health and Rights
5. Voices from the Region
6. Conclusion and Recommendations