Welcome to the United Nations 
OHCHR 
Statements
OHCHR and women’s human rights and gender equality
2023
High Commissioner: Women human rights defenders are targeted twice over, Türk says, 29 November 2023
High Commissioner: Türk urges progress on ‘unfinished agenda’ of women’s sexual and reproductive health rights, 19 October 2023
Human Rights Council: Annual discussion on the integration of a gender perspective, Gender parity, Opening Statement, 25 September 2023
Human Rights Council: Annual full-day discussion on the human rights of women - Gender-based violence against women and girls in public and political life, Türk urges zero tolerance for gender-based violence against women and girls in public and political life, Opening Statement, 30 June 2023
High Commissioner: Türk urges solidarity in face of gender equality backlash, 23 June 2023
High Commissioner: Türk pledges solidarity with LGBTIQ+ activists, 17 May 2023
High Commissioner: HC Türk pledges to advance the rights and equality of women and girls in every society, Statement on International Women´s Day, 8 March 2023
High Commissioner: Human Rights 75 - Time to transform care and support systems, 7 February 2023
2022
High Commissioner: Comment by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on reported ban on women attending university in Afghanistan, 21 December 2022
High Commissioner: Opening remarks by Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights at the High-Level Discussion celebrating the adoption of the CEDAW General Recommendation 39 on the Rights of Indigenous Women and Girls, 9 December 2022
High Commissioner: International Day for Women Human Rights Defenders - Statement by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, 29 November 2022
High Commissioner: 3rd Eurasian Women’s Forum: Women: a Global Mission in a New Reality, Statement, 18 October 2021
Human Rights Council Annual Discussion on Gender Integration: Overcoming gender-based barriers to freedom of opinion and expression, 23 September 2019
Meeting Summary
Webcast archive
Assistant Secretary-General: Opening statement by ASG Ilze Brands Kehris on the situation of human rights of women and girls in Afghanistan, 12 September 2022
Spokesperson: Comment by UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Liz Throssell after Saudi woman jailed for 34 years, 19 August 2022
Human Rights Council: Afghanistan: Update to the Human Rights Council Urgent Debate, Statement at the 50th Session of the Human Rights Council Urgent Debate on the Situation of Women and Girls in Afghanistan, 1 July 2022
High Commissioner: Feminist Economics and the Fight for Human Rights, 29 June 2022
Human Rights Council: Annual full-day discussion on the human rights of women: Panel 1: Exploring the nexus between climate change and violence against women and girls through a human rights lens, Opening Statement, 27 June 2022
Human Rights Council: Annual full-day discussion on the human rights of women: Panel 2: Human rights-based and gender-responsive care and support systems, Opening Statement, 27 June 2022
High Commissioner: Bachelet on US ruling on Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 24 June 2022
High commissioner: International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, 17 May 2022
High commissioner: Monaco Women Forum, 3 May 2022
High commissioner: Failure to adhere to commitments to re-open schools for all girls deeply disappointing and damaging for Afghanistan, Bachelet warns, 23 March 2022
High commissioner: Video Q and A with Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at the Sixty-Sixth Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, UN Women side event, 17 March 2022
Assistant Secretary-General: Global Alliance for Care - "The relevance of care work for gender equality – action for sustainability", Side Event in the context of the Sixty-Sixth Commission on the Status of Women, Concluding remarks, 16 March 2022
Assistant Secretary-General: Building a common front against the digital dimension of violence against women, Side event organized by the Platform of Independent Expert Mechanisms on Discrimination and Violence against Women, Keynote speech, 15 March 2022
High commissioner: Women’s rights in Afghanistan, 10 March 2022
High Commissioner: Celebrating Women and Girls’ Bodily Autonomy and Empowerment, 8 March 2022
High Commissioner: United States Institute of Peace: International Women's Day event, 8 March 2022
High Commissioner: International Women's Day 2022, 8 March 2022
High Commissioner: Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security - Protecting Participation: Addressing violence targeting women in peace and security processes, Statement, 18 January 2022
Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights: Global Launch of the New WPHF Funding Window for Women and Human Rights Defenders, Closing remarks, 18 January 2022
2021
Human Rights Council Annual Discussion on Gender Integration: The gender digital divide in times of the COVID-19 pandemic, Opening statement, 27 September 2021
High Commissioner: Interactive Dialogue on the analytical report of the High Commissioner on the current state of play of the mainstreaming of the human rights of women and girls in conflict and post-conflict situations, Statement, 17 September 2021
Human Rights Council: Annual full-day discussion on the human rights of women: Panel 1: Violence against women and girls with disabilities, Statement, 5 July 2021
Human Rights Council: Annual full-day discussion on the human rights of women: Panel 2: Gender-equal socioeconomic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, Opening statement, 6 July 2021
High Commissioner: Generation Equality Forum, Statement, 2 July 2021
Human Rights Council: High-level Panel on the Multi-Sectoral Prevention of and Response to Female Genital Mutilation, Statement, 23 June 2021
Human Rights Council, Efforts to combat violence against women in Egypt: milestones, challenges, and recommendations, Statement, 8 June 2021
High Commissioner: The Crisis of the human rights of women and girls, including in the COVID-19 context, and the issues of migration, social and racial justice, at the Video Forum Generation Equality in Mexico, 29 March 2021 (Only in Spanish)
High Commissioner: Creating an enabling environment for women’s full and effective participation and decision-making in public life, at the 65th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, 16 March 2021
High Commissioner: Statement by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, commemorating International Women’s Day, 8 March 2021 (العربية | 中文 | English | Français | Русский | Español )
High Commissioner: Back in Geneva: New Frontiers for Human Rights: Pandemic Preparedness and Response Climate Change, Women and Human Rights, 24 February 2021
2020
High Commissioner: Insights of the World Bank Inspection Panel:Responding to Project Gender-Based Violence Complaints Through an Independent Accountability Mechanism, 9 December 2020
High Commissioner: Fifth High-level UfM Women for Mediterranean Conference "Accelerating gender equality in the context of COVID-19 pandemic”, 16-20 November 2020
High Commissioner: The Digital Development Dialogue (3D) seminar Göttingen University, 29 October 2020
High Commissioner: Rape is a monstrous crime, perpetrators must be held accountable – but death penalty and torture are not the answers, 15 October 2020 (العربية | 中文 | English | Français | Русский | Español)
Human Rights Council Annual Discussion on Gender Integration: Gender and diversity: strengthening the intersectional perspective in the work of the Human Rights Council, Opening statement, 28 September 2020
High Commissioner: LGBTI Core Group Side Event: Building Back Better – how to create a virtuous circle for inclusion of all LGBTI persons, at the 75th session of the UN General Assembly, 23 September 2020
Human Rights Council Annual Full Day of Discussion on Women’s Rights: Panel 2: COVID-19 and women’s rights, Opening statement, 14 July 2020
Human Rights Council Annual Full Day of Discussion on Women’s Rights: Panel 1: Accountability for women and girls in humanitarian settings, Opening statement, 13 July 2020
High Commissioner: Global Pride 2020, 27 June 2020
High Commissioner: Statement by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the impact of COVID-19 on women and girls, 12 June 2020 (Spanish only)
Assistant Secretary-General: Virtual Launch Event for the Handbook for UN Field Missions on Preventing and Responding to Conflict-Related Sexual Violence, 5 June 2020 (English | Español)
High Commissioner: Survivors of sexual violence in South Sudan struggle to access health care, 19 May 2020 (English | Español)
High Commissioner: Inter-American Dialogue Webinar on the impact of COVID on human rights, especially women’s rights, in Latin America, 29 April 2020 (中文 | English | Español)
High Commissioner: Statement at the Human Rights Council for International Women’s Day, 6 March 2020
High Commissioner: High-Level Panel discussion commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action Accelerating the commitments of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, 25 February 2020
High Commissioner: Good Human Rights Stories Initiative on Women’s empowerments and gender equality, 24 February 2020
High Commissioner: “Let Girls be Girls”: Joining efforts to eliminate harmful practices, 14 January 2020
2019
High Commissioner: 25th session of the Conference of the Parties: Generation Equality: Promoting women’s leadership for environmental sustainability, 10 December 2019
High Commissioner: UNFPA Nairobi Summit on ICPD 25: Accelerating the Promise, Fulfilling the Cairo Promise in a Fragile World , 13 November 2019
High Commissioner: 25th Annual International Women’s Conference – “East and West meet in Saint-Petersburg”, 17 October 2019
High Commissioner: Women’s Heritage festival, 5 October 2019
Human Rights Council Annual Discussion on Gender Integration: Gender-responsive initiatives to accelerate gender equality, Opening statement, 23 September 2019
High Commissioner: Women’s empowerment, gender equality and social protection: Where next?, 16 September 2019
Human Rights Council Annual Discussion on gender integration: Gender-responsive initiatives to accelerate gender equality, 10 September 2019
High Commissioner: World Humanitarian Day, 19 August 2019
Human Rights Council Annual Full Day of Discussion on Women’s Rights: Panel 2: The rights of older women and their economic empowerment, Opening statement, 28 June 2019
Human Rights Council Annual Full Day of Discussion on Women’s Rights: Panel 1: Violence against women in the world of work, Opening statement, 27 June 2019
High Commissioner: Plan International, Global Leadership Conference 2019 Mobilising power to change the world with & for girls, 7 June 2019
High Commissioner: Women Deliver 2019 : Side-event on gender and human rights, 3-6 June 2019
High Commissioner: Statement at the Human Rights Council for International Women’s Day, 8 March 2019 (العربية | English | Español)
High Commissioner: Celebrating the Contribution of the International Conference on Population and Development to the Realization of Women’s Rights, International Women’s Day 2019, 8 March 2019
Assistant Secretary-General: Strengthening the work of the Security Council on sexual and gender-based violence in conflict: the strategic use of evidence from UN investigations, 24 April 2019
High Commissioner: Annual Women Economic Forum 2019, 11-16 April 2019
High Commissioner: Fifth World Assembly for Women: WAW! 2019/ Women 20 (W20), 23 March 2019
2018
High Commissioner: Human Rights Defenders World Summit, 29 October 2018
High Commissioner: FOR ALL Coalition: For the Promotion of Gender Equality and Human Rights in Environment Agreements, 28 September 2018
Human Rights Council Annual Discussion on gender integration: Committee on the Rights of the Child, Day of General Discussion "Children as Human Rights Defenders", Opening statement, 28 September 2018
High Commissioner: The 2018 Annual Trygve Lie Symposium on Fundamental Freedoms Human Rights Defenders: A Global Movement for Peace, 27 September 2018
High Commissioner: Women at work, High-Level discussion, Economic Growth through Women’s Empowerment, 27 September 2018
Deputy High Commissioner: Panel discussion HRC 39 on Gender integration and human rights investigations, 24 September 2018
Assistant Secretary-General: Women and LGBTI persons report particular barriers and violence - Oral presentation UN reprisals report, 19 September 2018
High Commissioner: Meeting with NGOs, 13 September 2018
High Commissioner: The impact of online violence on women human rights defenders and women’s organisations, 21 June 2018
High Commissioner: Inter-sessional Expert Meeting on the full enjoyment of human rights by all women and girls and the systematic mainstreaming of a gender perspective into the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, Opening statement, 2 May 2018
2017
Joint United Nations statement on ending discrimination in health care settings