The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Women human rights defenders play a crucial role in protecting migrant rights. On today’s International Women Human Rights Defenders Day, UN Women is launching a groundbreaking set of recommendations on the protection of women human rights defenders around the world, especially those at risk in migration contexts.
“We are trying to create an environment, like situations, where women migrants can actually do this work without, you know, risking their lives”, said Inkeri Von Hase, Global Coordinator for UN Women in charge of Making Migration Safe for Women, while speaking to the media at the United Nations in Geneva.
These recommendations are the first of their kind and were developed with experts, including migrant women human rights defenders, to protect women human rights defenders who work in an unpaid manner for which they often are silenced and harassed. They reaffirm the legally binding obligations of States parties to human rights defenders and the defence of human rights articulated in international human rights treaties and related authoritative guidance by human rights treaty bodies such as to counter stigmatization and criminalization, develop effective protection measures for migrant women human rights defenders but also secure the rights of migrant women and girls at all stages of migration.
“They do this kind of work individually, but also collectively, as state as well as non-state actors and through professional and employment-related roles, but also voluntarily, just because they see a need for this work to be done and they do it”, emphasized Ms. Von Hase.
Women human rights defenders play a crucial role in securing the right of people on the move but while doing so, they also face enormous threats such as rape, extorsion, use and force of labor. They are the unsung hero who are working in the background of people’s life to protect their rights on the move “by providing food, water, shelter, emergency medical supplies, by documenting and publicizing human rights violations, by accompanying migrants through dangerous routes, searching for those who are missing, reuniting families and facilitating access to justice, just to name a few”.
UN Women documented in recent years a dramatic rise in anti-rights moments, resulting in a backlash against women’s right organizations and a rise in attacks against women human rights defenders and activities. They are exposed to smear campaigns, indirect discrimination, criminalization, censorship, restriction and reprisal.
Furthermore, due to their status as migrants, they are also experiencing “arrest, detention and deportation, refoulement, deprivation of status, deprivation of their liberty, disappearances, torture, cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, again sexual and gender-based violence, digital and physical surveillance, and racial profiling and public stigmatization,” said UN Women’s Global Coordinator for Making Migration Safe for Women.
According to estimates there are 281 million migrants worldwide, escaping poverty, unemployment, political instability, violence while others leave to pursue opportunities such as better education or to be with their family.
-ends-
STORY: Defending Migrants’ Human Rights – UN Women
TRT: 01:45 mins.
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 28 November 2022 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- Medium shot, UN Palais with flags
- Wide shot, Press briefing
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Inkeri Von Hase, Global Coordinator, Making Migration Safe for Women, UN Women: “We are trying to create an environment, like situations, where women migrants can actually do this work without, you know, risking their lives.”
- Medium shot, journalist
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Inkeri Von Hase, Global Coordinator, Making Migration Safe for Women, UN Women: “They do this kind of work individually, but also collectively, as state as well as non-state actors and through professional and employment-related roles, but also voluntarily, just because they see a need for this work to be done and they do it”.
- Medium shot, speaker on laptop screen and at podium
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Inkeri Von Hase, Global Coordinator, Making Migration Safe for Women, UN Women: “By providing food, water, shelter, emergency medical supplies, by documenting and publicizing human rights violations, by accompanying migrants through dangerous routes, searching for those who are missing, reuniting families and facilitating access to justice, just to name a few”.
- Medium shot, panelists
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Inkeri Von Hase, Global Coordinator, Making Migration Safe for Women, UN Women: “So these include arrest, detention and deportation, refoulement, deprivation of status, deprivation of their liberty, disappearances, torture, cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, again sexual and gender-based violence, digital and physical surveillance, and racial profiling and public stigmatization”.
- Close up, journalist listening
- Wide shot, panel with speakers
- Close up, speaker in camera view finder
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The appointment on Thursday of Karla Quintana as head of the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic is a key development after nearly a year and a half of work by the UN Human Rights Office supporting the institution’s launch.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , UNICEF , UNRWA , WHO
The head of the UN migration agency stressed on Friday that Syria is in no position to take back millions of Syrians following the fall of the Assad regime, while there is an urgent need to “re-evaluate” sanctions impacting the war-ravaged country.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | OHCHR , UNHCR , WHO , UNICEF , UNRWA , OHCHR
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired a hybrid briefing, which was attended by the Director-General of the International Organization for Migration, representatives and spokespersons of the World Health Organization, the United Nations Human Rights, the United Nations Children’s Fund, United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the United Nations Refugee Agency, and the International Labour Organization.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | IOM
Amy Pope, IOM Director General, briefs the Geneva press corps on her recent mission to Syria.
1
1
1
Edited News | IIIM , UNHCR
Syria: ‘Key priority’ is to preserve evidence of crimes – UN investigators
In Syria, new access to evidence of horrific human rights violations means that accountability may be closer than ever – if only proof can be preserved, a top UN investigator said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | FAO , UNHCR , WHO , WOAH
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired a hybrid briefing, which was attended by the Head of the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism Investigating Serious Crimes in Syria, representatives and spokespersons of the United Nations Refugee Agency, the World Health Organization, the World Organization for Animal Health, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and the World Meteorological Organization.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | IIIM
Robert Petit, Head of IIIM: opportunities and challenges for justice in Syria in the wake of current events.
1
1
1
Edited News | OSE , ICRC , UNHCR
Syria: UN and partners urge action to preserve evidence of prison atrocities, stabilize country
Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria five days ago, hundreds of people have rushed to Saydnaya prison, desperate to find loved ones. Disturbing images from the prison and other detention centers have since surfaced, exposing the “unimaginable barbarity Syrians have endured for years,” said Jenifer Fenton, spokesperson for the UN special envoy for Syria, on Friday.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | OSE , UNHCR , ICRC , UNRWA , HRC , ILO , WHO
Rolando Gómez, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired a hybrid briefing, which was attended by the representatives and spokespersons of the Office of the Special Envoy for Syria, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the International Labour Organization, the World Health Organization, the Human Rights Council, and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
1
1
2
Edited News | UNRWA
Gaza: “Sickening normalisation” of suffering, amid attacks on people and aid convoys
Ongoing military operations by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in Gaza continue to devastate Palestinian children and families, with mounting casualties and a critical lack of humanitarian aid for the desperate population.
“Local media reporting here that last night, 30 people were killed in this area in strikes” said a senior emergency officer with the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Louise Wateridge, speaking to reporters in Geneva from central Gaza.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | OHCHR
Rights experts call for end to impunity for Israel’s violations of international law
Four independent human rights experts have jointly called for the international community to sanction Israel’s conduct of hostilities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as well as in the wider Middle East region - including in Syria, Lebanon and Iran. They also called for the restoration of trust in the international justice system through the abandonment of “extreme interpretations” and “double standards” in the application of the universal norms regulating the conduct of war.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNHCR
Syria: needs continue to grow amid highly uncertain situation, say aid teams
The historic power shift in Syria and the still volatile situation two days after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime have increased humanitarian needs in a country where nearly 17 million people, including millions of internally displaced, already depended on humanitarian aid before the recent events, UN aid teams said on Tuesday.