About 50,000 women and girls would be murdered worldwide by 2024, most of them by family members, he said, during ongoing hearings in the US Congress into the ring of child molester Jeffrey Epstein and after the shocking case of French woman Gisèle Pelicot, who was drugged by her husband and raped by dozens of men while unconscious over a nine-year period:
“Does anyone think there aren’t many more men like Dominique Pelicot, or Jeffrey Epstein?” the UN rights chief wondered.
Social enablers
“Such horrific abuse is enabled by social systems that silence women and girls and isolate powerful men from accountability.”
The UN High Commissioner expressed his deep concern about the growing number of attacks on women in public life.
“Every female politician I meet tells me they constantly face misogyny and online hatred,” he told the council, the UN’s main human rights forum.
Denmark eliminates mother-to-child transmission of syphilis and HIV
Denmark has made significant progress in healthcare, with news Friday that the country has eradicated mother-to-child transmission of syphilis and HIV.
Without treatment, the risk of HIV transmission is 15 to 45 percent, while untreated syphilis can cause half of all pregnancies to end in stillbirth or neonatal death, according to the UN World Health Organization.WHO).
Testimony of a ‘sustainable commitment’
The UN agency welcomed Denmark’s announcement, describing it as a milestone due to the Scandinavian country’s “continued commitment” to tackling the problem, which poses a major global public health challenge.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus identified strong political commitment and consistent investment in primary care as key factors in Denmark to eradicate mother-to-baby transmission of the two diseases.
With integrated maternal and child health services, “countries can protect every pregnant woman and newborn from these diseases,” Tedros emphasizes.
The release of prisoners is welcome in Belarus, but hundreds remain imprisoned in ‘alarming’ conditions
The UN group independent human rights experts On Friday, Belarus monitors welcomed the release of more than a hundred political prisoners but warned of “alarming” conditions for release, including forced deportation.
More than a thousand are imprisoned for politically motivated reasons, say experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, who receive no salary for their work and are not UN staff.
Forced expulsion and arbitrary deportation constitute a clear violation of international human rights standards, they continued.
“We urge the government of Belarus to comply with its human rights obligations and immediately and unconditionally release all prisoners held for politically motivated reasons,” said Karinna Moskalenko, chair of the Group of Independent Experts.
Silencing dissent
Their reportdocumenting violations continued by Belarusian authorities since May 2020, highlights a state-led strategy to silence dissent through arbitrary arrest, detention and subjecting detainees to torture, ill-treatment and inhumane conditions.
The deaths of at least eight people in detention were also reported, “demonstrating the harsh conditions of confinement and the denial of adequate medical care.”
The report warned that “a culture of impunity allows these violations to continue and cited a complete lack of accountability within the domestic justice system.”
“In the absence of domestic justice, it called on the international community to take decisive action… to ensure that those responsible for these systematic violations are ultimately brought to justice,” the experts’ statement said.
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