human rights day Archives | Stop Street Harassment

16 Days: Human Rights Day (Day 16)

December 10, 2015 By HKearl

Today is Human Rights Day and also the final day of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. That’s because violence against women IS a human rights violation. Everyone should live lives from from violence.

*Ministers and Deputy Ministers from 17 countries talk talk about violence against women in their country and what they will do about it.*

For the last two days, I’ve had the honor to attend — and today present at — a global conference on ending violence against women (VAW) in Istanbul, Turkey, organized by UN agencies and the government of Turkey and timed to fall within the end of the 16 Days (there’s been lots of orange everywhere!).

Via UN Women’s website:

“The two-day meeting will be held 20 years after the landmark Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action – Violence against Women, was adopted by 189 countries in 1995. Turkey, being the host of the international meeting, echoes the leading role the country has played as the first government to ratify the Istanbul Convention, which sets legally binding standards to prevent violence against women and girls, protect victims and punish perpetrators.

Meeting objectives include reviewing progress and challenges since the Beijing Declaration; sharing the latest data and good practices to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls; and, importantly in light of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by world leaders in September 2015, to get fresh political commitments from Governments to end violence against women.”

UN estimates 300 people from around 70 countries attended. Ministers and deputy ministers of 17 countries attended and made statements of commitment to ending VAW. We heard from the Prime Minister of Turkey yesterday and tonight at the closing reception, we heard from the mayor of Istanbul.

I took a lot of notes and will write about the highlights during my long flight home tomorrow. In the meantime, here is a UN write-up about the first day, yesterday, which includes this message:

*Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women*

“Violence against women and girls remains one of the most widespread and tolerated violations of human rights – but it is not inevitable, and we can prevent it. We are here today to say that this is enough. Now is the moment for coherently executed, decisive action to eliminate violence against women and girls for good,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, at the opening session.

This evening at the closing reception, she said, “In the 19th century, the world abolished slavery. In the 20th century, we ended colonialism. Now, in the 21st century, we will end violence against women. It is an idea whose time has come.”

Yes, it has!

Our Streets, Our Rights

December 10, 2012 By HKearl

I was recently contacted by a woman who almost dropped out of her PhD program. Why did she consider doing this? Because of the trauma and stress she felt after a group of men harassed her several times and then retaliated against her when she told them to stop. With some support, she has decided to stay at her program.

But I am still MAD she even felt she had to consider switching programs just because of some jerks on the street.

Street harassment is too often dismissed as being a joke, a compliment or no big deal, but it’s actually a human rights violation precisely because it does make us feel unsafe and to be safe, we feel like we have no other choice but to move, change jobs, switch schools, pick different routes or routines, quit hobbies, and stop shopping at local stores.

No country has achieved gender equality and no country ever will as long as we are unsafe in public spaces simply because we are or present as or are mistaken for being female.

Today is Human Rights Day and it is time for street harassment to be recognized as a human rights issue! It’s time for our government leaders, educators, law enforcement officials, and regular citizens to work in tandem to prevent street harassment.

It’s also time for us to each do our part. Speak out. Take community action. And safe the date to participate in Meet Us on the Street: International Anti-Street Harassment Week during April 7-13, 2013!

These are our streets, too.

“We can all be human rights defenders”

December 10, 2010 By HKearl

Happy Human Rights Day!

I really like the Human Rights Day speech from the United Nations High Commissioner Navi Pillay. In her speech, she notes that there are many famous people who have made a difference in promoting human rights…

“But these inspirational figures could not have done what they did without the help of many others whose names we don’t know. Efforts to end slavery spanned 1,000 years, and still continue with adults and children being trafficked for sex and indentured labour. After a mammoth struggle that lasted more than 150 years, women have won the right to vote almost everywhere, but still lack many other fundamental rights.

We owe the progress we have made to the enormous efforts of hundreds of thousands of largely unsung heroes, known collectively as human rights defenders.

Human rights defenders come from all walks of life, ranging from princesses and politicians, to professionals such as journalists, teachers and doctors, to people with little or no formal education. There are no special qualifications. All it takes is commitment, and courage.

We can all be human rights defenders, and – given how much we owe to others for the rights many of us now take for granted – we all should be human rights defenders. At the very least, we should do our utmost to support those who do defend human rights. Every year, thousands of human rights defenders are harassed, abused, unjustly jailed and murdered. That is why Human Rights Day 2010 is dedicated to Human Rights Defenders and their courageous battle to stop discrimination of all sorts. We need to stand up for their rights as much as they stand up for ours.” (emphasis mine)

With 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo in jail in China and his wife and family members and friends banned from attending the ceremony today, it could not be clearer why it’s important to help the defenders of human rights when too often their opponents jail them – and in other cases murder them.

I also want to pick up on the part of the speech that I made bold: “There are no special qualifications. All it takes is commitment, and courage. We can all be human rights defenders, and – given how much we owe to others for the rights many of us now take for granted – we all should be human rights defenders.”

I feel choked up thinking about the many human rights defenders I know. I started to list them but I deleted my list because it is so long and I’d also hate to miss acknowledging someone. In one way or another, most people I know are doing something human rights-related and all of my role models are too (and that’s why they’re my role models). They inspire me and keep me from losing faith in humanity.

Each person who shares their stories on this blog and does anything else to speak out against, raise awareness of, and work to end street harassment is a human rights defender. After all, it should be everyone’s human right to be safe and un-harassed in public spaces and to have equal access to them! So thank you for everything you are doing to make public places safe and welcoming for everyone. You inspire me to do as much as I can to make the world a better, more humane place.

If you need ideas for how you can do more to defend the human right of safe access to public spaces, check out my new blog page Do Something! which lists lots of ideas, many of them from other human rights defenders. And feel free to share other ideas in the comments section.

As Pillay said, making a difference only takes commitment and courage. Human rights are worth that effort.