Women's Human Rights Resources Database

Adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights held 1993, the Vienna Declaration states that "gender-based violence and all forms of sexual harassment and exploitation, including those resulting from cultural prejudice and international trafficking, are incompatible with the dignity and worth of the human person, and must be eliminated. This can be achieved by legal measures and through national action and international cooperation in such fields as economic and social development, education, safe maternity and health care, and social support" (paragraph 18). [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - Overview, International]

This report summarizes the extensive consultations between United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations, civil society and governments on the issue of HIV/AIDS and human rights. The outcome of these consultations were the Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, which state the importance of providing community support for vulnerable groups including women. The background report recognizes women as a vulnerable group and examines their specific experience with HIV/AIDS. In outlining the human rights of women, the report sets out essential state action in preventing transmission and in empowering women through ensuring the recognition of their full legal equality. The conclusion of the report elaborates on the Guidelines and the obligations of states to protect human rights in the context of HIV/AIDS. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - HIV/AIDS, International]

This General Recommendation focuses on elaborating the right to health under Article 12 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The recommendation outlines the obligations of states in respecting, protecting and fulfilling the right to health for women. The United Nations Committee also recognizes the central importance of addressing HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases in fulfilling the right to health for women and places an emphasis on the responsibility of governments in providing full educational information. The Committee concludes with recommendations for governments in ensuring women's right to health. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - HIV/AIDS, International]

This report from UNAIDS was produced for the 2004 International AIDS Conference in Bangkok. The report begins by providing an overview of the global nature and impact of the AIDS epidemic. The report proceeds to examine the impact of AIDS on people and families, with a particular focus on the ways in which the AIDS epidemic disproportionately affects women. The report reviews issues involving treatment and care and utilizes a human rights framework in this assessment. The report concludes with an examination of national responses to the epidemic. The appendices of the report contain detailed information on the status of AIDS in individual countries and list of relevant resources. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - HIV/AIDS, International}

This report highlights the potential to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic through consideration of the position of women and girls. The report identifies key issues to consider including girl's education, violence, and property and inheritance rights. There is also a review of the regional and international commitments to addressing HIV/AIDS and a recognition of the gap between policy and practice in many cases. The report then reviews strategies to address these gender inequalities including strengthening the legal and policy frameworks supporting women's rights to economic independence and empowering women. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - HIV/AIDS, International]

These documents are presentations made at the ministerial roundtables organized by UNIFEM in April 2003 in New York in preparation for ECOSOC meetings in July 2003 in Geneva. The roundtable talks focused on issues such as: the relationship between the spread of HIV/AIDS and food insecurity, women's work in the food production industry, the impact water privatization on poverty, and how economic policies and poverty reduction frameworks can respond. Overall, the speakers concluded that the interaction between poverty and HIV/AIDS threatens women's lives and health, and impedes development of rural societies. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - HIV/AIDS, International]

This report examines international human rights in the context of their application to disabled persons. The authors report that disabled mothers and women with intellectual impairments are discriminated against in terms of access to family programs and reproductive rights. The United Nations Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities, adopted by the General Assembly in 1993, is used to interpret provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) relating to marriage and family life. [Descriptors: Marriage - International]

This General Comment aims to strengthen the understanding of the rights of children in the context of HIV/AIDS and to identify means through which states can increase the protection of these rights. The Comment identifies key rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which are threatened by HIV/AIDS. The Committee notes a particular concern over gender-based discrimination and urges states to recognize the impact this discrimination has upon girls. The Comment concludes with specific recommendations for state parties to the Convention, including the incorporation of policies on HIV/AIDS which recognize the particular challenges facing children in this epidemic. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - HIV/AIDS, International]

This is the first draft UN Resolution aimed at the practice of ending female genital mutilation (FGM), urging states to take measures, including legislative means to not only protect women and girls from FGM, but to end impunity for those who practice it. In addition to the development, implementation, support and financing of national legislative frameworks for the strategic elimination of FGM, the General Assembly calls for enhanced awareness-raising, so that key actors can better work to eliminate the attitudes that lead to this practice. The Assembly also calls upon states to support programmes that engage local community practitioners of FGM in community-based initiatives for the abandonment of the practice and the identification of alternative sources of livelihood for its practitioners. The Assembly calls upon the international community for the financial support, technical assistance, and implementation of targeted programs necessary to coordinate the elimination of FGM within a generation, and establishes February 6th as the International Day of zero tolerance for female genital mutilation.

This report on FGM covers the background necessary to understanding the practice, and focuses on how the United States has responded to its prevalence. International response is also reveiwed. The report covers the laws applicable to FGM in countries where it is practiced and in countries where immigrants from those cultures reside. Recommendations for ending the practice include education, empowerment, enforcement of laws banning FGM, and monitoring of effective programs for its elimination. At the end of the report, a chart lists countries and indicates the prevalence of types of FGM, groups involved, and laws or measures taken with regard to it.

This information sheet from the World Health Organization begins by noting the pervasive lack of respect for women's rights to safe sexuality and links this issue to women's lack of economic security. Other concerns relating to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and women include issues of sexual violence and the lack of education for adolescents on these issues. The publication also contains information regarding human rights issues raised on preventing transmission of the virus from mother to child. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - HIV/AIDS, International]

This bulletin addresses how conflict situations increase the risk of sexual violence and vulnerability to HIV for women and girls: women in conflict have usually fled their homes, lost their families and livelihoods, and have little or no access to health care. The bulletin discusses how these factors allow for situations where abusive sexual relationships are more accepted, and where sex is viewed as an easy service to obtain. The bulletin notes that programs to mitigate gendered violence and to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS in conflict situations are difficult to operate due to the lack of rule of law, police, judicial system and health care services. However, it concludes by emphasizing the urgent need for such programs. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - HIV/AIDS, Violence Against Women, International]