UN experts today said the latest actions by Taliban de facto authorities targeting women and girls deepen existing flagrant violations of their human rights and freedoms that are already the most draconian globally and may amount to gender persecution, a crime against humanity. Their statement is as follows:

“In recent months, violations of women and girls’ fundamental rights and freedoms in Afghanistan, already the most severe and unacceptable in the world, have sharply increased. While girls remain excluded from secondary education, women have been further stopped from entering public places such as parks and gyms, and in at least one region young women were recently blocked from entering their university. Banning women’s access to parks also denies children the opportunity for leisure and exercise and their right to engage in play and recreational activities. Confining women to their homes is tantamount to imprisonment and is likely leading to increased levels of domestic violence and mental health challenges.

This episode features Lisa Davis, Associate Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Human Rights and Gender Justice (HRGJ) Clinic at the CUNY School of Law.  Prof. Davis explains the particular vulnerabilities that women and LGBTIQ persons face in contexts of armed conflict, developments in international law concerning gender-based violence, and the crime of gender persecution. Also discussed is the work of the HRGJ Clinic, the stigma of sexual violence and associated challenges, and partnerships with nongovernmental organizations.   

Today, Colombians will return to the polls to vote in the second round of the country’s presidential elections. Six years after the peace deal between the government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) brought five decades of conflict to an end, voters will choose between two different futures for Colombia.

The fate of the country’s historic peace process — and how it impacts Colombians living amid a fragile truce — may well be at stake. Both candidates have said they are going to support the implementation of the peace process but the detail of that support isn’t always clear. This has understandably made those most impacted by the conflict, who worked hard to broker peace, apprehensive.

UN Security Council Resolution 2467 significantly advanced recognition of the impact of conflict on exacerbating gender-based violence including by implicitly recognising LGBTI+ and non binary people, however mechanisms to document, understand and respond to the vulnerabilities faced by this group remain limited. Join Professor Lisa Davis, Special Advisor Gender Persecution with the International Criminal Court (ICC), and Dr Charbel Maydaa from the MENA Organization for Services, Advocacy, Integration and Capacity building (MOSAIC),  as they discuss the policy advancements and practical challenges in responding to the needs of LGBTI+ survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.