During this years’s Taiwan Gender Equality Week (TGEW) a seminar was held in New York City on the subject “Promoting Gender Equality in the Digital Age.” Co-hosted by Palau and Saint Lucia, the event was held at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in New York during the 67th session of the U.N. Commission…
Human Rights
Defending Women’s Rights
Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash Justyna Wydrzyńska, a women’s rights defender, was sentenced to eight months community service for helping a woman in need obtain an abortion. She is a member of the Abortion Dream Team, an abortion rights organisation. In 2020, she helped a woman in an abusive relationship to access abortion pills. The woman’s husband…
Russian Army Atrocities Have No Limits
Russia continues to violate the laws and customs of war on a massive scale, constantly shelling civilian infrastructure and demonstrating cruel treatment of prisoners of war. In the last few days alone, the Russian army has massively shelled residential houses and civilian infrastructure in many settlements in Ukraine-controlled territory of Donetsk Region. On 13 March,…
The Cult of Inhumanity
Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash The international community received evidence that Russia violated all possible taboos at the level of international law and the rules and customs of warfare in early April 2022, when the Ukrainian army liberated the Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy regions of Ukraine. Foreign journalists and human rights defenders have received many indications that…
Preventing Violence Against Women
Photo by Sinitta Leunen on Unsplash MEPs from across the political divide insist that the European Union should ratify the Convention on preventing and combating violence against women, in line with a 2021 Court of Justice opinion. The EU signed the Istanbul Convention in 2017 and signalled its commitment to eradicating gender-based violence. However, the EU ratification process has been stuck…
Discrimination Against Muslims
Photo by Rumman Amin on Unsplash Campaign group ENAR says it welcomes the appointment of Marion Lalisse as the new EU Anti-Muslim hatred Coordinator following the vacancy of the position of over a year and a half. Although it says the EU has one of the strongest legal frameworks on human rights in the world, Islamophobia/Anti-Muslim hatred “continues…
EU Condemns Iranian Brutality
Photo by Thiago Rocha on Unsplash MEPs say that any counter-measures targeting the EU taken by what they call the “brutal regime of Iran” will not stop them from denouncing the “lack of democracy, freedom and respect of human rights in the country.” Deputies have again “strongly condemned” the Iranian authorities’ decision to impose sanctions against EU and…
Sanctions Against Iran
Photo by Tianlei Wu on Unsplash EU member states have decided to add 18 individuals and 19 entities to the list of those subject to restrictive measures in the context of the existing Iran human rights sanctions regime. This is in view of their role in what the EU calls the “widespread and disproportionate use of force against non-violent protestors following the death…
European Parliament Adopts Resolutions on the Respect for Human Rights in Brazil and Morocco
Photo by Noah Buscher on Unsplash Parliament said it expresses solidarity with democratically elected President Lula Da Silva, his government and Brazilian institutions and condemns in the strongest terms the criminal actions perpetrated by supporters of ex-president Bolsonaro, urging them to accept the democratic outcome of the elections. MEPs said they welcome the efforts to ensure a prompt…
Equal Rights
Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash Political debate across the EU has recently been dominated by the cost-of-living crisis, the rising cost of health and social care and the cost of supplying additional weaponry to combat Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In the UK a new issue has risen to the top of the agenda: what should be the…