Good morning, this is Michelle. A UN-backed expert stirred controversy this week at the Human Rights Council.
Reem Alsalem, the special rapporteur on violence against women, issued a report that rights campaigners warn could undo 30 years of progress amid a resurgence of anti-gender rhetoric in UN spaces.
Also, an update to our story from earlier this week on the US-China tug-of-war over the ITU’s flagship radiocommunications conference. According to sources, the results are in, and the meeting will be in Shanghai. |
|
Reem Alsalem, UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls at a press conference at the United Nations in Geneva, 23 June 23 2023. (Keystone/Martial Trezzini)
|
|
Special rapporteurs are typically known for pushing human rights boundaries forward. But Reem Alsalem, the current UN expert on violence against women and girls, appears to be pulling in the opposite direction. Her outspoken opposition to gender self-identification laws and trans women's participation in women’s sports, along with her calls to abolish sex work, have long drawn outcry from civil society and stirred unease within the UN system itself.
Her latest report, presented to the Human Rights Council on Wednesday in Geneva, was no exception. The Jordanian expert, first appointed in 2021, argued that violence faced by women and girls is ultimately rooted in their biology rather than gender, and claimed that “the conflation of sex with gender and gender identity” is eroding their protections.
The response from states laid bare the global schism over gender and rights. While European and Latin American countries defended the centrality of gender in human rights frameworks, Arab and African countries embraced Alsalem’s call to “go back to basics”. The result was a geopolitical tug-of-war, with progressive campaigners fearing that Alsalem’s framing will offer legitimacy to those seeking a broader rollback of women’s and LGBTQI rights.
Read the full story on Geneva Solutions.
|
|
Here's what else is happening
|
ITU
|
|
🛜CONNECTING SCHOOLS INITIATIVE OPENS IN GENEVA.
While some organisations in the international city hub are bracing for possible relocations as part of a painful UN shake-up, others are just moving in.
Giga, a joint initiative of Unicef, the United Nations Children's Fund and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) that aims to connect all schools worldwide to the internet, officially opened its new headquarters in Geneva on Wednesday.
Located at the Campus Biotech, the so-called Giga connectivity centre will serve “as a space for collaboration and innovation”, its backers said, supporting countries in procurement and fundraising, as well as hosting a learning hub that will deliver training in areas such as school mapping and project management. It comes after Giga launched a research and development centre in Barcelona’s tech district in 2023.
School mapping. Among the initiatives it has launched so far is a digital tool mapping over a third of the six million estimated schools across the world, and whether they have access to the internet or not. It has already partnered with dozens of countries to develop a plan for those that don’t.
📖Read our past coverage: How the UN is connecting the world’s classrooms
|
|
|
GS news is a new media project covering the world of international cooperation and development. Don’t hesitate to forward our newsletter!
Have a good day!
|
|
|
Avenue du Bouchet 2
1209 Genève
Suisse
|
|
|
|
