The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Women human rights defenders play a crucial role in protecting migrant rights. On today’s International Women Human Rights Defenders Day, UN Women is launching a groundbreaking set of recommendations on the protection of women human rights defenders around the world, especially those at risk in migration contexts.
“We are trying to create an environment, like situations, where women migrants can actually do this work without, you know, risking their lives”, said Inkeri Von Hase, Global Coordinator for UN Women in charge of Making Migration Safe for Women, while speaking to the media at the United Nations in Geneva.
These recommendations are the first of their kind and were developed with experts, including migrant women human rights defenders, to protect women human rights defenders who work in an unpaid manner for which they often are silenced and harassed. They reaffirm the legally binding obligations of States parties to human rights defenders and the defence of human rights articulated in international human rights treaties and related authoritative guidance by human rights treaty bodies such as to counter stigmatization and criminalization, develop effective protection measures for migrant women human rights defenders but also secure the rights of migrant women and girls at all stages of migration.
“They do this kind of work individually, but also collectively, as state as well as non-state actors and through professional and employment-related roles, but also voluntarily, just because they see a need for this work to be done and they do it”, emphasized Ms. Von Hase.
Women human rights defenders play a crucial role in securing the right of people on the move but while doing so, they also face enormous threats such as rape, extorsion, use and force of labor. They are the unsung hero who are working in the background of people’s life to protect their rights on the move “by providing food, water, shelter, emergency medical supplies, by documenting and publicizing human rights violations, by accompanying migrants through dangerous routes, searching for those who are missing, reuniting families and facilitating access to justice, just to name a few”.
UN Women documented in recent years a dramatic rise in anti-rights moments, resulting in a backlash against women’s right organizations and a rise in attacks against women human rights defenders and activities. They are exposed to smear campaigns, indirect discrimination, criminalization, censorship, restriction and reprisal.
Furthermore, due to their status as migrants, they are also experiencing “arrest, detention and deportation, refoulement, deprivation of status, deprivation of their liberty, disappearances, torture, cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, again sexual and gender-based violence, digital and physical surveillance, and racial profiling and public stigmatization,” said UN Women’s Global Coordinator for Making Migration Safe for Women.
According to estimates there are 281 million migrants worldwide, escaping poverty, unemployment, political instability, violence while others leave to pursue opportunities such as better education or to be with their family.
-ends-
STORY: Defending Migrants’ Human Rights – UN Women
TRT: 01:45 mins.
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 28 November 2022 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- Medium shot, UN Palais with flags
- Wide shot, Press briefing
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Inkeri Von Hase, Global Coordinator, Making Migration Safe for Women, UN Women: “We are trying to create an environment, like situations, where women migrants can actually do this work without, you know, risking their lives.”
- Medium shot, journalist
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Inkeri Von Hase, Global Coordinator, Making Migration Safe for Women, UN Women: “They do this kind of work individually, but also collectively, as state as well as non-state actors and through professional and employment-related roles, but also voluntarily, just because they see a need for this work to be done and they do it”.
- Medium shot, speaker on laptop screen and at podium
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Inkeri Von Hase, Global Coordinator, Making Migration Safe for Women, UN Women: “By providing food, water, shelter, emergency medical supplies, by documenting and publicizing human rights violations, by accompanying migrants through dangerous routes, searching for those who are missing, reuniting families and facilitating access to justice, just to name a few”.
- Medium shot, panelists
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Inkeri Von Hase, Global Coordinator, Making Migration Safe for Women, UN Women: “So these include arrest, detention and deportation, refoulement, deprivation of status, deprivation of their liberty, disappearances, torture, cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, again sexual and gender-based violence, digital and physical surveillance, and racial profiling and public stigmatization”.
- Close up, journalist listening
- Wide shot, panel with speakers
- Close up, speaker in camera view finder
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
The UN human rights office (OHCHR) on Friday called for an end to continuing expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, where “unchecked” settler violence has surged since the war in Gaza began more than two years ago.
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP
The crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continues to worsen amid ongoing fighting that has driven tens of thousands of people from their homes and created acute hunger, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | OHCHR , UNHCR , UNICEF , WFP , WHO
Alessandra Vellucci, Director, United Nations Information Service Geneva, chaired a hybrid press briefing, which was attended by spokespersons and representatives of the World Food Programme, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and the World Health Organization.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | WMO , UNOG
2025 set to be second or third warmest year on record, continuing exceptionally high warming trend
The alarming streak of exceptional temperatures continued in 2025, which is set to be either the second or third warmest year on record, according to the State of the Global Climate Update from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
1
1
1
Press Conferences | UNECE
UNECE report: Forests of North America, Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP
Gaza: One million receive food parcels as humanitarians race to ‘push back hunger’
Food is slowly returning to the shelves in Gaza amid “apocalyptic scenes” but supplies are still desperately inadequate, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday, as they issued fresh calls for wider access and continued financial support.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | WMO , ITU , WFP , WHO , UNHCR , IFRC
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, which was attended by spokespersons and representatives from the International Telecommunication Union, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the United Nations Children's Fund.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Seif Magango today told the bi-weekly UN press briefing in Geneva of more details that are emerging on the atrocities committed in El Fasher, in Sudan during and after its takeover by the Rapid Support Forces.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Seif Magango made the following comment on Friday at the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani made the following comment on Friday at the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , WHO
Sudan: UN Raises Alarm Over Mass Atrocities in El Fasher as Survivors Report Executions, Killings and Rapes
More details continue to emerge about atrocities committed during and after the fall of El Fasher to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan on 23 October. Since the powerful paramilitary group made a major incursion into the city last week, the UN Human Rights Office has received “horrendous accounts of summary executions, mass killings, rapes, attacks against humanitarian workers, looting, abductions and forced displacement,” said Seif Magango, spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
1
1
1
Press Conferences | IFRC , OHCHR , UNDP , WFP , WHO
Rolando Gómez, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section at the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired a hybrid press briefing, which was attended by the representatives and spokespersons of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Development Programme, and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.