GENEVA (10 December 2024) – On Human Rights Day, marking the culmination of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, the Platform of Independent Experts on Refugee Rights (PIERR), a group of UN and regional human rights experts, issued the following statement:
Gender-based violence is a grave violation of human rights.
We echo the concerns expressed by the Platform of Independent Expert Mechanisms on Discrimination and Violence against Women (EDVAW Platform) over the increasing violence faced by women and girls in conflict areas, particularly the devastating impact of small arms and light weapons. The escalation of armed violence in conflict settings has disproportionate and severe effects on women and girls, who are subjected to various forms of gender-based violence, abuse, and discrimination in these contexts.
But the violence women and girls face is not confined to situations of conflict – it also prevails in the home. The numbers are staggering: nearly 1 in 3 women experience violence in their lifetime. Girls are at risk of violence too. By the age of 19, 1 in 4 adolescent girls who have been in a relationship have already been physically, sexually, or psychologically abused by a partner.
Refugee and asylum-seeking women and girls are especially at risk of becoming victims and survivors of gender-related human rights violations in the context of forced displacement. The risk exists in many situations, from gender-based violence occurring in conflicts, during their journeys in search of safety, to violence in their own homes, and in receiving states, where some may also become victims of sexual exploitation, including in displacement settings. With an estimated 122.6 million people forcibly displaced globally, about half of whom are women or girls, the magnitude of this violence is great.
It is essential that women and girls should not only be perceived as victims and survivors of gender-based armed violence, but also recognized as active and key players in advocating for arms control, disarmament, and non-proliferation. As we approach the 25th anniversary of the Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, we urge States to ensure increased representation of women at all decision-making levels in national, regional, and international institutions and mechanisms for the prevention, management, and resolution of conflict, and in policymaking, planning and implementation processes related to disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control.
We highlight the obligation on all States to ensure effective access to asylum for refugee women and girls, to effective protection of their rights at all stages of displacement, and their participation and leadership in policy making and planning in design and implementation of durable solutions.
We recall the many reasons why women and girls are compelled to leave their homes and seek asylum in other countries. As highlighted by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in General Recommendation No. 32, “In addition to aggravated or cumulative forms of discrimination against women amounting to persecution, women experience violations of their rights throughout the displacement cycle. The Committee recognizes that displacement arising from armed conflict, gender-related persecution and other serious human rights violations that affect women compounds existing challenges to the elimination of discrimination against women. It also recognizes the persistence of other forms of exploitation concomitant with displacement, such as trafficking for purposes of sexual or labour exploitation, slavery and servitude.”
We, PIERR members, echo these calls of the CEDAW and join in the 16 Days of Activism campaign: “The crisis of gender-based violence is urgent. There is #NoExcuse for violence against women and girls."
We stand ready to cooperate with States and the international community to work towards greater protection of and solutions for refugees and asylum-seeking women and girls in all contexts and stages of forced displacement.
ENDS
About the PIERR: The PIERR is currently composed of the mandates of the United Nations Special Rapporteurs on the human rights of migrants and on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, the Working Group on arbitrary detention, the UN Committee against Torture, the Special Rapporteur on refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons and migrants in Africa of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Rapporteurship on Human Mobility of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Siobhán Mullally, PIERR Chair and UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children; Gehad Madi, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants; Matthew Gillett (Chair-Rapporteur) and Priya Gopalan (Vice-Chair on Follow-Up), UN Working Group on arbitrary detention; Jorge Contesse, Member of the Committee against Torture; Selma Sassi-Safer, Commissioner and Special Rapporteur on refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons and migrants in Africa of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
The Platform is supported by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.
For more information on the PIERR, please refer to www.pierr.org.
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