The United States Delivered the Following Joint Statement at the 54th Session of the Human Rights Council
Safeguarding the Human Rights of Women and Girls Across the Americas
54th Session of UN Human Rights Council
Joint Statement as Delivered by Ambassador Michèle Taylor
Thank you, Mr. Vice President.
I deliver this statement on behalf of the following countries from across the Americas: Argentina, Antigua and Barbuda, Brazil, Barbados, Canada, Costa Rica, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Uruguay, and the United States of America, that are deeply committed to advancing gender equality across the region and across the globe.
Together we have pressed forward on our shared responsibility to the human rights of women and girls in all their diversity. As we continue our work to promote gender equality, we are deeply concerned about the growing efforts to roll back progress on gender equality and women’s and girl’s rights at the UN Human Rights Council and throughout the UN system.
Across the Americas, we will continue our steadfast commitment to holding States accountable for their obligations and responsibilities towards women and girls. As a key component of these efforts, we wish to underscore the specific threat of gender-based violence. Although individuals of all gender identities may experience gender-based violence, women, girls, and gender non-conforming individuals face a disproportionate risk of gender-based violence in nearly every context. Addressing and preventing gender-based violence is fundamental to achieving gender equality and to promoting and protecting the human rights of all women and girls. Our shared values compel us to stand up for and safeguard those rights.
It is imperative that States work to ensure that women and girls live free from all forms of violence and discrimination. Despite international legal protections for the rights of women and girls, and despite remarkable advances at the national level to promote those rights, in many parts of the world, human rights violations and abuses against women and girls persist, and gender-based violence is being committed with great frequency.
We call on governments around the world, including our own governments in the Americas, to uphold their responsibility to respect, protect, and promote the rights of women and girls, which is not only beneficial to half the world’s population, but to humanity as a whole.
I thank you.
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