Gender-based violence (GBV) often referred to as “violence against women” is considered as any harmful act that is perpetrated against a person’s will and that is based on socially ascribed (i.e. gender) differences between males and females. It can ...
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Over the past twenty-nine years of Equality Now’s quest to realize a just world for women and girls, it has been critical for us to ensure the voices of women and girls are at the center of our work. As we adapt to this unique time of the COVID pandemic, a ...
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Around the world, rape and sexual abuse are everyday violent occurrences. Rape is always an act of violence and an expression of power and control. However, the way laws are framed in many countries dismisses this reality. The law should never interpret a ...
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Online sexual exploitation and abuse are growing at an alarming pace globally. Women and girls are particularly vulnerable as offenders take advantage of the sex, gender, and structural discrimination inherent in our patriarchal society. International ...
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Being able to live a life free from violence, including sexual violence, is a fundamental human right. Despite this, sexual violence is wide-ranging and pervasive throughout the world, including in the Americas. It is rooted in discrimination, sex and gender ...
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These recommendations have been collated by the National Council of Women Leaders (NCWL) with support from the Dalit Human Rights Defenders Network, Equality Labs, and Equality Now. We believe that sexual violence is being used ...
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Protection gaps in rape laws and barriers to accessing justice continue to lead to effective denial of justice for survivors of sexual violence in South Asia. Recent and widespread public protests in response to high profile rape cases in the region have ...
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This publication tells the stories of seven women, victims of violence, who were forced to marry as children. Some were able to escape before marriage, and all have now gained their freedom. It is dedicated to everyone who decides to speak up about violence. ...
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The upcoming UK General Election offers an opportunity for all political parties to explicitly support equality for women. Women’s lives have changed significantly in the last 50 years but there is still lots of work to ...
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Dalits – officially designated as Scheduled Castes by India’s Constitution – are at the bottom of caste and class hierarchies in India. The intersectionality of gender, class, and caste in the case of gender-based violence against Dalit women ...
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This document, produced in partnership with Abolish Article 153, is an analysis of the domestic provisions with regard to international human rights standards that Kuwait should be adhering to and provides recommendations for amendments to ...
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For more than a decade and a half, the Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (SOAWR) Coalition has remained an indefatigable and resolute force for gender equality, calling upon African governments to adopt, ratify, domesticate and ...
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Submission to the public consultation on the Republic of Ireland’s Independent Review of the Operation of Part 4 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017, which deals with the Purchase of Sexual ...
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On 27 May 2020, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences (UN SR VAW), Ms. Dubravka Šimonović and the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR), in collaboration with Equality Now, co-organized a virtual ...
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To mark World Day Against Trafficking in Persons 2020, Equality Now released Combating trafficking for sexual exploitation amidst the COVID-19 pandemic: lockdowns, online sexual abuse, & supporting survivors remotely. The briefing covers the ...
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The 15th of May 2020 marks two years since the beginning of a campaign of arrests of Saudi Women’s Human Rights Defenders. Since May 2018 the Free Saudi Activists Coalition has been advocating for the release of women human rights defenders (WHRDs) who were ...
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The COVID-19 crisis has shown an urgent need for Governments in Eurasia to overcome violence and discrimination against women with strong legal and policy frameworks. The period of the pandemic and its aftermath is the chance for the Governments to ...
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Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) is internationally recognized as a gross violation of human rights, a form of violence against women and girls, and a manifestation of gender inequality. The importance of eliminating FGM/C is recognized within Goal 5 ...
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Moroccan Women’s Legislative Gains and Opportunities for Reform in Lebanon is the latest publication from Equality Now MENA on women’s rights and legal reform in the region. The book focuses on the unique and pioneering experience of Morocco with ...
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The 4th UN Conference on Women in 1995 was the birth of The Beijing Platform for Action, the most progressive blueprint ever for advancing women’s rights. Governments around the world pledged to change or remove their existing unfair laws and make legal ...
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This manifesto, calling for FGM to be eradicated worldwide by 2030, was delivered to the UK Prime Minister to mark the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM 2020 by ACTION: FGM, a coalition of FGM survivors, medical professionals, academics, ...
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In Georgia, sexual violence survivors are coming together to demand justice and calling upon the government not to treat perpetrators with impunity. Although laws on women’s rights and violence against women in Georgia have improved in the past few ...
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Released in January 2019, this report contains a general overview of the laws on sexual violence in the 15 countries of the former Soviet Union and an analysis of gaps in the law and examples of practice allowing for impunity for perpetrators of sexual ...
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This Digest aims to promote the use of one of the world’s most comprehensive and progressive human rights instruments – the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol or the ...
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Around the world, rape and sexual abuse are everyday violent occurrences — affecting close to a billion women and girls over their lifetimes. However, despite the pervasiveness of these crimes, laws are insufficient, inconsistent, not systematically ...
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In December 2016, Equality Now, Safe Hands for Girls, The United States Institute of Peace, and the US Network to End FGM/C came together to host the first-ever End Violence Against Girls: Summit on FGM/C in the US, with generous support from the Human ...
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Tens of thousands of girls are raped and become pregnant across Latin America every year. The ages of these girls show that these pregnancies were from sexual abuse and constituted forced pregnancy and motherhood. The Latin American and Caribbean Committee ...
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Equality Now’s report, which has been sent to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, documents a wide range of harmful consequences and calls on governments to remove all discrimination against women in passing on their nationality to ...
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Representing the knowledge gained from cases undertaken as part of Equality Now’s Adolescent Girls’ Legal Defense Fund (AGLDF), this report identifies and addresses the common obstacles faced by adolescent girls in their pursuit of justice. Since its ...
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This report contains estimates of the numbers of women with female genital mutilation (FGM) living in England and Wales, the numbers of women with FGM giving birth, and the numbers of girls born to women with FGM. Headline figures for England and Wales as a ...
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In 1995, at the historic United Nations 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing, governments from around the world agreed on one of the most progressive plans to advance women’s rights and achieve gender equality – the Beijing Platform for Action. In ...
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This report complements Equality Now and partner advocacy in Sudan aimed at getting clarity and guidance in the law to address discriminatory legislation on rape and sexual violence, particularly provisions of the 1991 Sudanese Criminal Code (section 149) ...
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Building on the body of Equality Now’s work for the protection of girls and women’s rights, this report illustrates the impact of child marriage through 11 case studies and includes an analysis of the laws and issues surrounding child marriage from 18 ...
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The recommendations contained in this report from the Intercollegiate Group (Equality Now, Royal Colleges of Midwives, Nursing and Obstetricians, and Gynaecologists and UNITE) and its partners, demonstrate solidarity to raise awareness of the need to ...
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To draw international attention to the experiences, needs, and demands of women and girls who have faced commercial sexual exploitation firsthand, and to call on policymakers and top officials to enact policies and laws that take survivors’ voices and ...
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To explore the methodological options for the collection of robust prevalence data on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in England and Wales, Equality Now, collaborated with the Department of Midwifery, City University London; the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson ...
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This booklet explores the challenges and accomplishments of Equality Now partners in Kenya (Tasaru Ntromonok Initiative) and Tanzania (Network Against Female Genital Mutilation) as they work to eliminate the harmful practice of FGM in the Maasai community ...
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This report draws from the Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Since 2005, this committee has referenced discrimination against women in law in 137 ...
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War Against Rape, Lahore (WAR Lahore), Nasreen Welfare Trust Legal Aid Services (NWT) and Equality Now pro-actively undertook a preliminary study on the subject of incest in Pakistan prompted by the case of a 15-year-old survivor “Mariam” and due to a ...
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