Violations of human rights and gender equality over the past 12 months have reduced protection and increased threats against women and girls around the world, Amnesty International said on Tuesday, March 8.
At the same time, the armed conflict in Ukraine plunges the world into a new crisis. “Images of women giving birth while sheltering from airstrikes, women fleeing bombs, children in the arms of grieving mothers demonstrate what conflict and humanitarian crises mean for women and children,” Amnesty International said in a statement on International Women’s Day. The women and girls involved in the conflict in Ukraine are now joining the millions of others affected by armed conflicts in Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan and far beyond, the text says.
The increased militarization of everyday life as weapons circulate, the escalation of violence and the diversion of public resources to military spending all come at a high and unsustainable price that women and girls pay in everyday life, once again being at serious risk, the organization said. Amnesty International has already documented how the militarization of recent years in conflict-affected eastern Ukraine has led to increased levels of gender-based violence and reduced access to basic services. Now this model will spread throughout the country, human rights activists believe.
Women at human rights protests
Women activists have been at the forefront of human rights resistance and protests in countries including Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, Russia, the United States and Afghanistan, the organization said. In many cases, they did so even in the face of threats to their lives and their families, or imprisonment and bodily injury. They deserve global support, emphasizes Amnesty International.
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