UNIFEM: Human Rights and Gender Issues


Posted on 11-22-2009	Translate this page

UNIFEM is the UN agency committed to advancing women’s human rights. Worldwide, women confront manifold violations of their human rights. When they cannot participate in the decisions that affect their lives or claim fair political representation, when they face discrimination in employment, when they are denied entitlement to land and property, or when they suffer violence within their own home. Other obstacles to rights arise when women and girls are prevented from going to school or attaining health care, or are subject to harmful traditional practices.

Governments around the world have undertaken legal human rights obligations to combat gender inequalities. The key international agreement on women’s human rights is the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which is also described as the international bill of women’s rights. Ratified by 185 UN Member States, CEDAW encompasses a global consensus on the changes that need to take place in order to realize women’s human rights. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Convention’s adoption through the UN General Assembly in 1979.

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