Gender

For generations, African families, schools, religious sects and peer groups have tried to ‘convert’ those who identify as LGBTQ+ in an effort to force them to conform to the heterosexual narrative promoted as ‘homogeneous’. However, individuals undergo serious physical and psychological suffering in the name of this pseudo-therapy.

A series of attempts to ban LGBTIQ+ events and content in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina hinder freedoms of assembly and expression. Upholding democratic values of tolerance and inclusivity is vital to combat exclusionary politics and ensure equality for all.

The absence of a legally binding instrument on IDPs protection, considering their unique vulnerabilities and needs, leaves a growing number of individuals in limbo. It is high time to create an innovative, holistic European convention on IDPs, adopting new lenses on human rights and related challenges.

COVID-19 provided a context to advocate for change in crisis response and recovery efforts. To ensure just and inclusive responses to future emergencies, it is crucial to retain this momentum by adopting a feminist human rights-based approach to preparedness, rather than feminised approaches followed in states such as Ireland and Germany.

The rise of Islamophobia in Europe specifically affects covered Muslim women. Legal restrictions and social hostility towards headscarves impede their right to express their faith, identity, and access to other human rights. These prohibitions must be approached as oppressive policies that limit the freedom of women to make their own decisions.

Last elections in Italy marked the victory of the far right, confirming a European tendency of recent years. This shift poses some basic questions for the country and the European Union in relation to an effective promotion and protection of human rights.

Since their takeover of power in Afghanistan, the Taliban have made several decisions to radicalise the education and higher education systems, on the basis of an extremely conservative interpretation of Sharia. The consequences are dire and far-reaching, affecting certain disadvantaged groups more than others. The most affected are young girls whose access to secondary education is banned.

The European Union (EU) proposal for a Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence deserves some key reflections as the draft challenges the patriarchal structure of intergovernmental bodies of the EU.

People working in the sex industry have been severely affected by the social and economic crisis stemming from COVID-19. As a business generating immense profits worldwide, whether in person or online, it is time to bring this industry into the global debate over business and human rights, with a focus on gender and intersectional perspectives.

Home may not be a safe place for women. This became all the more evident when domestic violence incidents soared because staying at home was imposed in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. States are obliged to protect women against their abusers during and after the crisis.