CSBR joined co-working group members of the Observatory on the Universality of Rights for a CSW61 event on “Reclaiming the Universality of Rights: Gender, Economic Justice and Anti-Rights Threats”.

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About: Rising (mis)use of religion, culture, tradition, and nationalism to justify discrimination in many areas around the world is having disastrous consequences for gender justice and women’s economic rights and empowerment.

Anti-human rights actors employing these arguments increasingly undermine women’s rights, including their rights to work and rights related to gender and sexuality. Through their attempts to control women’s bodies and autonomy, they propagate gendered restrictions on employment, restrict pathways to employment, and fuel gender stereotypes that undermine women’s access to work and justify violence in the workplace.

This event will highlight the findings of the first trends report from the Observatory on the Universality of Rights (OURs) initiative regarding regressive trends and actors on our human rights norms and systems and open up a critical reflection on the tactics, discourses, strategies and increasing impact of ultra-conservative actors to undermine the universality and indivisibility of our human rights standards. This event will then examine and discuss the strategic opportunities and challenges that lie ahead for gender justice movements.

Panelists: The panel featured interventions from Naureen Shameem (AWID), Susan Tahmasebi (ICAN), Azra Abdul Cader (ARROW), Gillian Kane (IPAS) and Cynthia Rothschild, and was moderated by CSBR coordinator Rima Athar.

Watch the panel here: Reclaiming the Universality of Rights (CSW61)

Read highlights of OURS report key findings here: OURs Flyer CSW61

Join the conversation on Twitter #RightsAreUniversal