Women's rights face 'full-on assault' due to UN and aid funding cuts
GENEVA (Reuters) -Four major international reports on women's rights, including recommendations on how to prevent domestic violence and discrimination, will not be published this year, a U.N. document showed, part of what rights groups describe as a broader backlash against gender equality.
Voluntary funding for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is down $60 million this year due to unpaid contributions and major U.S. foreign aid cuts under President Trump, around 14% of its total income last year.
An OHCHR document circulated to member states and reviewed by Reuters shows that 13 human rights reports have been delayed, four of them specifically concerning women, putting off both investigations and discussions on how policies can be improved.
"We're silencing policy dialogue," Pooja Patel, Programme Director at the International Service for Human Rights in Geneva, told Reuters.
One in four countries reported a backlash on women's rights last year, a U.N. report in March said, something rights groups said made monitoring and recommendations all the more important.
"It really does affect the everyday lives of women and girls when these reports and mechanisms are not functioning," said Claire Somerville, a lecturer and Executive Director of the Gender Centre at the Geneva Graduate Institute.
Several countries raised concerns at the 59th Session of the Human Rights Council on Tuesday, where the resolution to pause the mandates was passed by consensus. Ecuador warned in a informal HRC meeting in Geneva in June the decision could send the wrong message amidst a "huge backlash" against the rights of women and girls.
The OHCHR faced new calls on Tuesday to increase transparency regarding the criteria behind its funding decisions after earlier criticism of its choice to halt the launch of a U.N.-mandated commission investigating suspected human rights violations and war crimes in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Volker Turk and his office would provide a comprehensive update on the feasibility of implementing the paused mandates before the next session in September, according to the U.N. document.
In a letter seen by Reuters, Turk told Council members the situation was "deeply regrettable" and expressed concern about the impact funding cuts would have on the protection of human rights.
In May the leading U.N. agency for gender equality, U.N. Women, reported that 90% of women's rights organizations in crisis-affected countries have been hit by cuts.
"They signal a broader de-prioritisation of gender equality at a global level," said Laura Somoggi, Co-CEO of Womanity, a private foundation in Geneva for advancing gender equality.
The OHCHR announced on Friday that the next meeting of the Commission on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, ongoing since 1979, would not take place due to liquidity issues with future ones "to be confirmed". Somerville called it a "huge setback" among many others.
"We can describe this as a full-on assault on gender and the rights of women and girls," she said.
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Boston Globe
3 hours ago
- Boston Globe
‘Who speaks for the Jews?' The ADL, some say. Wrong, say others.
In a time of escalating global crises, including Israel's devastating siege of Gaza, which the UN has called Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up Phillips argues that disproportionate criticism of Israel reveals latent antisemitism. But this ignores both the extraordinary scale of suffering in Gaza and the billions in US military aid that make this war possible. Holding a US-funded ally to account is not bigotry — it's our moral responsibility. Advertisement Today, perhaps more than ever, we need principled, not punitive, leadership from the ADL. Sandy Light Cambridge Caroline Light Belmont Miriam Cubstead Watertown Caroline Light is a senior lecturer and director of undergraduate studies in women, gender, and sexuality studies at Harvard University. The views expressed here are her own and do not represent the university. Advertisement 'The Anti-Defamation League really is a bulwark' against hate My compliments to Colette A.M. Phillips for writing 'In defense of the Anti-Defamation League.' She is spot-on: Whatever the targeted group, violence can materialize from lack of education, prejudicial upbringing, or visceral hate, as shown, in the case of Jews, in Pittsburgh (mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue, Oct. 27, 2018); Boulder, Colo. (fire attack June 1 of this year on a group marching in solidarity with the hostages taken from Israel on Oct. 7, 2023); and Marietta, Ga. (the conviction in 1913, and subsequent lynching in 1915, of Leo Frank). The Anti-Defamation League really is a bulwark against people who have hate issues. It tries to raise awareness that there are better ways to bring respect and understanding for all people when there is division in society. Edward Sloan North Andover 'I have never felt represented or protected by the ADL' As a Jewish person who believes that all lives are sacred, including those of Palestinians, I have never felt represented or protected by the Anti-Defamation League. While in principle the ADL allows that not all criticism of Israel is antisemitic, the organization has not afforded the same benefit of the doubt to pro-Palestinian protesters as it has done, for example, to Elon Musk for giving what appeared to be Colette A.M. Phillips argues that, since Israel's actions in Gaza have generated more protest than other atrocities around the globe, this protest must be a 'fig leaf' for antisemitism. This argument ignores both the scale of devastation — Gaza has been cited as Advertisement But for me, the reason to protest goes deeper. Growing up Jewish, I was told not only that Israel is the sacred ancestral home of our people but also that we have a special responsibility to ensure that what happened to us in the Holocaust does not happen to any people. When I see mass atrocities being committed by the country that is said to be my home, how can I remain silent? Ben Allen Boston 'The ADL is now a partisan organization' I am a Jewish American and found Colette A.M. Phillips's op-ed very disturbing. Despite claiming that 'criticizing a government is fair game,' she then says much political criticism of Israel is not fair game. Instead, she establishes an impossible test for permissible criticism: that the speaker must prove their criticism is not 'selective.' People have countless reasons for caring about some issues more than others. It has never been right to censor speech for its selectivity nor the imputed motives behind selectivity. Yet Phillips wants us to believe that in the case of Israel, we should reduce all special concern to hidden antisemitism. This is trying to win an argument without making it. Phillips falls back on the exhausted argument that 'we have learned to listen' to the oppressed. They decide what counts as bigoted. Even if true in principle, Advertisement Alex Gourevitch Cambridge The writer is an associate professor of political science at Brown University. The views expressed here are his own and do not represent the university. 'All of us are capable of monstrous acts' I was raised with awareness of antisemitism — my grandparents fled the anti-Jewish pogroms in Ukraine, and many family friends were German, Polish, or Austrian survivors of the Holocaust. In 1980, my junior high school in Arlington was one of the first cohorts to use the Facing History and Ourselves curriculum. We studied the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, and the war in Cambodia. It was painful to hear specifics of the slaughter of Jews and of the passivity of bystanders who knew but did not act in opposition. However, in studying the Holocaust in the context of these other atrocities, it was always clear that this particular history was part of a much larger pattern of cruelty and resistance. As Jews, our suffering was not something that made us 'special'; rather, it was a dramatic example of recurring human barbarism. The ADL's defense of fascist acts is a bitter irony. Those who claim Israel is not committing genocide in Gaza are willfully ignoring mass starvation and heartless slaughter. It feels excruciating, but we must be honest that Americans, Israelis, Jews, indeed all of us are capable of monstrous acts, and we must put aside our pride and act with determination to stop the horror. Julia Halperin Jamaica Plain
CNN
4 hours ago
- CNN
Under attack from all sides, armed clans try to protect aid coming into Gaza
The Middle East The UNFacebookTweetLink Follow Securing the trucks carrying aid into Gaza is a tight balancing act for the Abu Mughsaib clan. Getting too close to the Israeli military checkpoints can turn deadly. But staying too far away gives looters a chance to get to the precious cargo first. 'This is the biggest challenge we face. We cannot approach army positions any closer, as doing so would put us at risk,' a member of the group that acts as a protection for the trucks told CNN. Two weeks ago, Hamas killed one of his team members and last month two were injured by Israeli fire, he said. As law and order further breaks down and famine takes hold across Gaza, agencies trying to get aid to warehouses and distribution points in the territory rely on groups such as Abu Mughsaib. 'Once the trucks enter (Gaza), we receive them before they are intercepted by looters or overwhelmed by crowds,' said the man, who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons. 'As for our weapons, they are simple family-owned firearms, and we also carry sticks and batons.' Aid convoys are increasingly being attacked by armed looters seeking to resell the aid at exorbitant prices, as well as crowds of starving people who are just hoping to feed their families. The UN said this week that it was still struggling to deliver aid to where it is needed most, and blamed Israel for delaying convoys by making the procedures too cumbersome. While the World Food Program said on Sunday that Israel has agreed to streamline the process and allow the use of alternative routes, the UN says a large proportion of trucks are still being blocked. Faced with allegations of purposefully starving the Gaza population, Israel has in turn blamed the UN, saying it is not distributing the supplies properly, and Hamas, which it accused of stealing aid. In the absence of official security, the Abu Mughsaib clan and other groups are stepping in. A member of the clan told CNN that international organizations including the World Health Organization had asked for security in delivering their aid. 'After we succeeded, our family-based group was formally established to serve that purpose,' the clan member told CNN, adding that the family is part of the Tarabin tribe, a prominent Bedouin family. 'We coordinate with a few other families and handle the securing of aid deliveries,' he said, adding that unlike other groups, the Abu Mughsaib are not working with either Israel or Hamas. A spokesperson for WHO said the organization works with 'various community elders' and the health ministry in Gaza to ensure that 'when critical aid is passing through… communities are informed and understand the items are lifesaving medical aid.' Accompanying the trucks is a risky business. The clan sent one video to CNN, which it said shows its members escorting a convoy of 10 trucks delivering aid. It shows armed men – some of whom are masked and some wearing high-vis vests – sat on top of the vehicles speeding along the Salah al-Din road in Deir al-Balah, shooting in the air. People can be seen running alongside the road, but nobody tries to intercept the convoy. The clan also said it has partnered with a third-party transport company in Gaza, which it claimed moves aid for humanitarian groups including the World Central Kitchen. A spokesperson for the World Central Kitchen said the organization does not work with the Mugaiseb Clan. The clan member who spoke to CNN said that while they do receive payments from some groups, they sometimes provide protection for free. 'Like with the World Health Organization, when it involves medicine or infant formula, we work on a voluntary basis. For private sector shipments and commercial goods, we are paid in return for the risks we take. Some organizations also provide small payments to cover fuel, ammunition, and similar costs,' he said. The UN said that the time-consuming approval process to get aid into Gaza often leaves trucks stuck in one location for a long time, attracting large crowds of people. Olga Cherevko, from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), was accompanying one such convoy as it tried to deliver aid from the Kerem Shalom border crossing earlier this week. She said the convoy was held for two and half hours at an Israeli checkpoint. 'By the time we were allowed to pass, we were met on the road by tens of thousands of hungry and desperate people who directly offloaded everything from the backs of our trucks,' Cherevko said. According to its own data, the UN and its partners have offloaded 2,134 trucks of aid at Gaza crossings since May 19, when Israel partially lifted a blockade that was imposed in March. While the UN said a vast majority of them, some 2,010 trucks, had been collected, only 260 arrived at their intended destinations. More than 1,750 were intercepted – either peacefully by hungry people or forcefully by armed gangs. Israel has accused Hamas of stealing aid, but an internal US government review found no evidence of widespread theft. More than 1,060 people have been killed and 7,200 injured while trying to access food in Gaza since May, according to the United Nations. Most died in the vicinity of distribution points set up by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial private venture backed by the United States and Israel. Far too little aid is reaching those most in need, according to humanitarian agencies. Eyad al-Masri, a 31-year-old father of two with a third child on the way, used to buy food from people who got it at the notoriously dangerous aid distribution points. The prices were high, but still lower than at the market. But on Saturday, with no money left, he decided to go to the point near Netzarim in central Gaza himself. His is a common story. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a UN-backed initiative said Tuesday that 'worst-case scenario of famine' is unfolding in Gaza. The health ministry in the territory also said on Tuesday that 900,000 children are going hungry, and 70,000 already show signs of malnutrition. 'I felt I had no other choice,' al-Masri told CNN. 'When the trucks arrived, I was shocked by the number of armed thieves, some carrying knives, others with firearms, operating in large groups.' Al-Masri managed to get a box of food, and was overjoyed at the prospect of giving his children and pregnant wife at least some of what they so desperately needed. 'But as I was leaving the area, a man armed with a knife came at me and tried to take the box by force,' Al-Masri said. He offered to split the contents, but the attacker insisted on taking the entire thing. 'When I refused, he stabbed me multiple times in the head,' he said. Running after the thief, al-Masri didn't realize he was bleeding. He was focused on getting at least some of the food back – which he eventually managed with the help of others. 'There are starving people who come to these distribution areas, but they can't get anything because of the armed groups,' he said. The Abu Mughsaib clan member said attacks against his group are coming from all sides – from other families, organized gangs of looters, Hamas and the Israeli army. He said that in July, a member of the escort team was shot dead by Hamas, who later said the killing was a mistake. 'A month ago, (the Israeli army) opened fire on a vehicle carrying members of our escort team, injuring two of our men,' he added. He added, however, that the group will continue to provide security for as long as necessary. 'Vulnerable people urgently need food and medicine. We are not an alternative to any authority, nor do we aim to replace anyone,' he said. But he admitted the group's power only goes as far. 'We are under strict instructions not to harm any civilians. … Even if they manage to seize a truck in such cases, we let them take it without confronting them.' CLARIFICATION: This story has been updated to reflect the World Central Kitchen's statement that it does not work with the Mughsaib clan.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
New push to reach plastic polution pact
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