United Nations

The Arms Trade Treaty: A Small Step Forward

Following Dr Gilles Giacca’s post last Monday on the Arms Trade Treaty, Dr. Laurence Lustgarten argues that the Treaty is a historic accomplishment, but it has several limitations. It would...

Bread, Freedom and Social Justice for Women Too?

By Rhea Fernandes – As member states unanimously passed the final draft proposal at the 57th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, Egypt’s Muslim...

The Arms Trade Treaty: A Historic Achievement

Last month Dr Gilles Giacca wrote on the progress of the Arms Trade Negotiations recently held in New York. Today, in the first of a special two-part series, he provides...

The Agreed Conclusion of CSW57 – Reaffirmation of the Universality of Women’s Human Rights

Last month we ran a special themed post series on the 57th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW57). We are delighted to conclude this series with...

So Near and Yet So Far: The International Arms Trade Treaty and Human Rights

By Dr Gilles Giacca – The renewed United Nations Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty opened on 18 March 2013 for a total of nine days. Optimism is running high...

Contesting Refugee Status Cessation: The Rwandan Case

By Kelly O’Connor – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recommends that the refugee status of all Rwandans who fled the country between 1959 and 1998 should cease...

CSW57: Violence against Indigenous Women and Girls

Today we continue our special themed post series focusing on CSW57. Claire Overman reflects on one of the discussions at CSW57 last week concerning the specific challenges surrounding violence against...

Reversing Roles: Bringing men into the frame

On Tuesday 12 March, the fifty-seventh session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW57) turns its attention to the ‘equal sharing of responsibilities between men and women’. In...

The Challenge of Human Security

By John Bond OAM In September 2012 the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on Human Security, which it describes as ‘an approach to assist Member States in addressing widespread...

Fight hunger and discrimination by empowering women – Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food

In rural areas around the world it is often men who migrate first to cities in search of waged labour. When they do so, it falls to women to sustain...

CSW57, MGDs and Gendered Poverty

One of the themes the delegates at CSW57 will be confronting over the next two weeks are the challenge of de facto achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for...

Development and Conflict

One does not need to look for long for examples of conflict impacting on development. Take the case of Mali: a year ago, conflict in the north of the country...