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UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 3 (AP) The United Nations General Assembly on Friday adopted a resolution condemning all forms of sexual and gender-based violence and urging all nations to provide victims and survivors with justice, reparations and assistance Opportunity.
The resolution, co-sponsored by Sierra Leone and Japan, was adopted by consensus after a vote on four amendments that sought to water down their language. All four were defeated by more than 2-1.
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Sierra Leone’s foreign minister, David Francis, who introduced the resolution, cited an estimate by the United Nations World Health Organization that 35 percent of the world’s women (about 1.3 billion) are survivors of sexual violence.
He called the resolution, titled “International cooperation to provide justice, redress and assistance to survivors of sexual violence,” an “important first step” in “addressing the scourge of sexual violence.”
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“Our focus is on strengthening cooperation to end sexual violence and strengthening the international community’s support for victims and survivors,” Francis said.
An amendment would remove references to “intimate partner violence” to express serious concern that domestic violence “remains the most prevalent and least visible form of violence across all social classes in the world”.
Two of the amendments would remove references to acknowledging “the particular risk of sexual and gender-based violence faced by all persons who experience multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination.”
The Fourth Amendment would remove language from previous General Assembly resolutions urging States to protect women’s sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, including strengthening health systems “to provide universal access to and availability of quality, comprehensive sexual and safe and effective modern contraception. methods, emergency contraception, teen pregnancy prevention programs.”
Nigeria has proposed amendments, which are supported by many Middle Eastern countries, as well as by Russia, China, Malaysia, Nicaragua and others. Some countries claim that language on sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights will allow abortion.
Ultimately, the original resolution, which was overwhelmingly supported by Western countries and many others, was passed without any changes and contained all the language that the amendment’s supporters sought to remove.
Unlike Security Council resolutions, General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, but they do have influence and reflect global opinion.
Czech Ambassador Jakub Kurhanek, speaking on behalf of the 27 EU member states, welcomed the adoption of the resolution.Three years ago, the EU held its first UN town hall for survivors of sexual violence, calling on the General Assembly to adopt a resolution “on the human rights of survivors”
“Apart from the trauma itself, survivors often face unacceptable barriers to accessing aid, justice and reparation,” Kurhanek said.
Unfortunately, the boycott of gender equality and women’s rights that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned about two years ago was playing out during negotiations on the resolution, he said.
Nonetheless, he said the resolution outlines specific actions all countries should take and acknowledges the need to combat conflict-related sexual violence
“Any attempt to return to human rights is unacceptable,” Kurhanek said. “Women’s rights are human rights … Discrimination fuels violence. To stop violence, we must prohibit all forms of discrimination.” (The Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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