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On October 31, 2000, the United Nations Security Council handed down a bold vision mandating the full, equal, and meaningful participation of women in all aspects of peace and security. Sadly, much of the progress made since then remains rhetoric rather than a reality for most women around the world. |
Excerpt of CBC Radio program that features GJC President Akila Radhakrishnan.
"We set something out there that's aspirational, but it doesn't make it perfect," Radakrishnan tells IDEAS. She explains that a common issue in the discourse around human rights is the focus is often on protecting the law and "not about protecting the people."
"If something is written in a way that is too much in the colonial tradition, we need to rethink it.
"We should be listening to those voices and thinking about how to adapt (the law) and put it into practice in a way that responds to real needs."
Excerpt of International Bar Association article that quotes GJC President Akila Radhakrishnan.
Akila Radhakrishnan is President of the Global Justice Center, which develops legal strategies to establish and protect human rights and gender equity. Although she sees the ‘deep misogyny’ of the backlash against abortion as the entry point, she says, ‘in many cases, abortion has been a test case of how far you can take a right down. Through the abortion pushback, a model has been created for dismantling other fundamental rights.’
Radhakrishnan notes Justice Ginsburg was ‘a stalwart on a range of civil rights issues that are on the table right now’. Without her, and with those abortion test cases, alongside cases on LGBTQI+ rights and voting rights, currently working their way up to a potentially conservative-skewed Supreme Court, Radhakrishnan is deeply concerned.
Excerpt of Ms. Magazine op-ed from GJC Special Counsel Michelle Onello.
The recent death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg puts reproductive rights guaranteed by Roe v. Wade in grave jeopardy. As part of its war on abortion, the Trump administration has banned scientists from using human fetal tissue (HFT) donated from terminated pregnancies in medical research.
The ban on HFT research is not only another attack on reproductive freedoms; it is limiting crucial medical advances, putting lives in danger and demonstrating the vast collateral damage unleashed by the war on abortion. Reproductive rights advocates must seize upon this dangerous politicization of medical research to forge new allies and further broaden advocacy coalitions.
Description:
This webinar addresses the plight of survivors of sexual and gender-based violence and their access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) under EU humanitarian aid, in particular their access to safe abortion.
In 2015, former VP/HR Mogherini and former Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Mr Stylianides stated that “in cases where a pregnancy threatens a woman’s or girl’s life or causes unbearable suffering, international humanitarian law and/or international human rights law may justify offering a safe abortion rather than perpetuating what amounts to inhumane treatment”. The Commission has continuously reaffirmed this policy since then. However, the provision of abortion services on the ground by humanitarian health actors remains incomplete. This webinar will thus explore possible steps to ensure that the EU can continue to guarantee equality of care to survivors of armed conflict.
The EU Commissioner for Crisis Management will deliver a keynote speech and panelists will share the experiences of humanitarian organisations on the ground.
Speakers:
Sophie in ‘t Veld (MEP), Renew Europe, Co-chair of MEPs for Sexual and Reproductive Rights
Petra de Sutter (MEP), Greens/EFA, Co-chair of MEPs for Sexual and Reproductive Rights
Janez Lenarčič - EU Commissioner for Crisis Management
Akila Radhakrishnan, President, Global Justice Center
Rajat Kohsla - Senior Director, Research, Advocacy and Policy, Amnesty International
Cyprien Masaka Lepepo, Deputy Reproductive Health Coordinator, International Rescue Committee DRC
Manisha Kumar - Head of the Task Force for Safe Abortion Care , Médecins Sans Frontières
Michael Koehler, Deputy Director General, DG ECHO, European Commission
