This oral statement was broadcasted at the 58th Session of the Human Rights Council Annual High-level Panel Discussion on Human Rights Mainstreaming. Click here to watch the statement.
I am Menka Goundan and I am making this statement on behalf of the Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW).
As we commemorate the thirty years of adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the sad realities of pushbacks against women’s human rights and gender equality cannot be discounted.
The increasing shift to right-wing, non-democratic, and restrictive governance in the region has resulted in regressive policies, increased discrimination and violence, disproportionate impacts of climate crises and curbed access to basic human rights and systems of social protection like education and comprehensive health services, including Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights, particularly for women and girls in all their diversities.
In this context of severe backlog in achieving gender equality in the region, it is with great urgency that we call upon the states to:
- Accelerate the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action grounding equality, justice, non-discrimination, human rights, and sustainability in the lived realities of women and girls in all their diversities and struggles
- Strengthen health systems ensuring universal access to quality sexual and reproductive health and rights services
- Promote meaningful and inclusive leadership of all women and girls in decision-making and policy-making.
- Ensure sustainable, flexible, accessible, and gender-transformative funding.
