Call for Inputs from the Mandate of the Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls for Its Upcoming Report “Human Security of Women and Girls in the Context of Poverty and Inequality”

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Working Group on Discrimination Against Women & Girls

Call for Inputs from the Mandate of the Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls for Its Upcoming Report “Human Security of Women and Girls in the Context of Poverty and Inequality”

DEADLINE: 03 October 2022

Purpose To collect information/data on human security of women and girls in the context of poverty and inequality. To inform stakeholders on the upcoming (2023) thematic report on the above mentioned issue.

Background

The Working Group on discrimination against women and girls, in preparation for its thematic report to be presented at the 53rd session of the Human Rights Council in June 2023, will be examining the topic of women’s and girls’ human security in the context of poverty and inequality. Human security can be understood as the protection from severe and critical threats encountered by persons and communities, and it encompasses economic security, food security, health security, environmental security, personal security, community security, and political security. The human security approach means creating systems that give people the building blocks of survival, livelihood and dignity. Human security is comprehensive, multidimensional, context-specific, and prevention-oriented. The common understanding of the concept reached by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in 2012 (A/Res/66/290) affirms that human security includes the right of people to live in freedom and dignity, free from poverty and despair, stressing that all individuals, in particular those living in situations of vulnerability, are entitled to an equal opportunity to enjoy all their rights, and it specifically asserts that human security ‘equally considers’ all human rights: civil, political, economic, social and cultural. As such, the scope of this questionnaire will cover the various aspects of risks experienced by women and girls living in poverty and inequality in relation to the enjoyment and fulfilment of their human rights. Concept note was prepared to support this questionnaire.

In this regard, the Working Group would like to seek inputs from the States, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other stakeholders, such as National Human Rights Institutions, international economic institutions, and academic institutions or human rights clinics, to inform the preparation of the report in line with its mandate to maintain a constructive approach and dialogue with States and other stakeholders.

Objectives

Identify the causes of structural discrimination in the realization of human rights, especially lack of access to economic and social rights, due to cross-cutting risk factors stemming from both gender inequality and socioeconomic inequality;
Deepen the understanding of the implications for women’s and girls’ multiple human insecurities and vulnerability to experiencing human rights abuses primarily in the socioeconomic dimension of their lives, leading to a series of other violations, including lack of access to justice and undue/disproportionate/excessive criminalization;
Reveal the opportunities for strengthening women’s and girls’ human security and socioeconomic equality (e.g. obligations of prevention of human rights’ violations by identifying risk factors and addressing known risks; norms and policies for countering women’s and girls’ poverty; norms and policies for reducing economic inequality, such as taxation, debt and redistribution measures, gendered perspective in free trade agreements, and gendered budgeting in economic and social policy);
Identify promising approaches and make recommendations for promoting and protecting women’s and girls’ human security, through addressing their condition of poverty and socioeconomic inequality due to systemic gender-based discrimination.

Key questions and types of input/comments sought