In the words of Nahla Haidar: “States have a due diligence responsibility on the protection of women human rights defenders”

Date: Wednesday, December 9, 2020

Nahla Haidar is a member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and a Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ). She has over 30 years of professional experience mainly within the United Nations System, ranging from social development, to relief coordination, to peace-building and human rights. Ms. Haidar is CEDAW’s rapporteur on reprisals and covers cases on women human rights defenders.

In the words of Yana Panfilova: “You can talk about HIV a lot, but a personal example is what can really change people’s attitude”

Date: Friday, November 29, 2019

Yana Panfilova, 22, is a Ukrainian HIV positive activist and co-founder as well as chairwoman of Teenergizer, an organization that supports and advocates for the rights of HIV positive youth in Europe and Central Asia (Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia). She was also nominated as a heroine for UN Women’s Generation Equality campaign in Ukraine.  

In Geneva, Member States and gender advocates call for urgent and effective measures to accelerate gender equality

Date: Friday, November 1, 2019

From young gender equality advocates to high-ranking government officials, key stakeholders from North America, Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia called for the urgent realization of women’s and girl’s human rights and for turning the commitments to gender equality into reality.

Statement by UN Women Executive Director for International Widows’ Day, 23 June

Date: Thursday, June 20, 2019

On this International Widows' Day, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka calls to recognize widows in all their diversity, and acknowledge the need to integrate them fully and visibly into work on gender equality so that we break cycles of poverty and disadvantage and ensure that all widows can enjoy their full human rights.

Statement by UN Women on discrimination against female athletes

Date: Sunday, May 5, 2019

UN Women expresses its strong concern that the recent ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on female athletes with naturally elevated levels of testosterone contravenes the international human rights norms and standards expressed in the United Nations Human Rights Council’s resolution of March 2019 on the ‘Elimination of Discrimination against Women and Girls in Sport’.

The sheroes of human rights

Date: Monday, December 10, 2018

As we close out the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence on Human Rights Day (10 December), we stand in solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of women human rights defenders who are leading the fight for universal human rights and lives free from violence.

Statement by the Executive Director: Those who defend our rights in turn need our defense

Date: Wednesday, November 28, 2018

In a statement for International Women Human Rights Defenders Day, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka says: "We honour today the women whose courageous efforts—and sometimes whose lives—are given in defense of the universal human rights agenda and women’s empowerment".

Everything you need to know about gender equality at the United Nations General Assembly

Date: Wednesday, September 19, 2018

A guide to the global gender equality agenda at the 73rd United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 73), who will be there and what’s at stake

Take five: “Yemeni women and girls are the ones who are paying the price of war”

Date: Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Areej Jamal Al- Khawlani has worked with UN Women as a Programme Associate in Yemen since 2017. Prior to joining UN Women, she was part of the Yemen Parliamentarians Against Corruption and worked for the Mwatana Organization for Human Rights. As the conflict in Yemen nears its fourth year, the conditions are worsening for women and girls: 76 per cent of internally displaced persons (IDPs) are women and children, and an estimated 3 million women and girls are at risk of gender-based violence, according to UNFPA. In this interview, Ms. Al-Khawlani shares the current needs and priorities of Yemeni women and girls.

In the words of Kadire Tahiraj: “Sexual violence during the war remains an unpunished crime in Kosovo"

Date: Monday, March 5, 2018

Kadire Tahiraj is the founder and director of Centre for Promotion of Women’s Rights in Drenas, central Kosovo, which has been advocating for the rights of survivors of sexual violence during the war in 1998-1999. The centre provides support and services to survivors who still face many challenges in the face of post-conflict transformation.

The Supreme Court of India bans instant divorce in a move to protect Muslim women’s rights

Date: Friday, August 25, 2017

The Supreme Court of India gave a landmark judgment on 22 August, declaring the practice of unilateral and instantaneous triple talaq under the Muslim personal law unconstitutional by a 3:2 majority. The triple talaq is a practice under which a Muslim man can instantly divorce his wife by uttering the word “talaq” three times.

Statement: Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka on the continued detention of women human rights activists in Turkey

Date: Tuesday, July 18, 2017

In a statement on the continued detention of women human rights activists in Turkey, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka calls for immediate release of the arrested women’s rights and human rights activists and support to those, like women’s human rights defenders, who work for the good of their societies.

Take five: Migration and women’s rights—where do we go from here?

Date: Monday, January 16, 2017

Donna Gabaccia, a Professor of History at the University of Toronto and former Director of the Immigration History Research Center at the University of Minnesota and award-winning author on gender and migration, speaks to UN Women about the challenges and opportunities to protect women’s rights and support families in the context of migration.

Statement by UN Women on the release of Homa Hoodfar from Iranian prison

Date: Wednesday, September 28, 2016

UN Women welcomes the release on 26 September 2016 of the Canadian-Iranian academic Homa Hoodfar from prison in Iran, where she had been detained since 6th June 2015.

“Together we can ensure that…no woman or girl on the move is left behind”

Date: Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Remarks by UN Women Deputy Executive Director, Lakshmi Puri at a side event on “Human Rights Protection in the context of large movements of migrants and refugees”

Executive Director at AWID discusses “feminist futures”

Date: Friday, September 9, 2016

UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka participated in the 13th International Forum of the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) in Costa do Sauípe, Brazil.

In the words of Ndèye Daro Niang: “I am a valued member of my community”

Date: Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Ms. Niang is one of 213 women with disabilities who have benefited from the Gender Equitable Local Development programme implemented by UN Women in 58 local councils in Senegal, with financial support from Luxembourg. Through workshops and information sessions, women with disabilities have been sensitized and trained on Senegal’s landmark social orientation law, adopted in 2010, and on addressing the unique and specific needs of disabled women in menstrual hygiene management.

From where I stand: Khateeja Mallah

Date: Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Khateeja Mallah (Durdana), 31, is a widow from Pakistan’s Dadu District in Sindh Province. She is one of 1,214 landless women farmers who have received land tenancy rights through a programme being implemented by UN Women, FAO and ILO.

From child labourer to women’s rights defender

Date: Friday, June 10, 2016

In Bolivia, after studying at the UN Women-supported School for Women Leaders, an indigenous Aymara woman managed to overcome a childhood and adolescence of labour exploitation to become an advocate for women's rights.

UN Women’s Constitutional Database boosts efforts towards women’s rights

Date: Friday, May 6, 2016

On 6 May, professors and students from the University of Chicago Law School, University of Pennsylvania Law School, Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, the University of Milan, shared their experiences in utilizing UN Women’s revised Global Gender Constitutional Database (GECD) at a symposium co-hosted by UN Women and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).