Five Major Landmark Occurrences in the Assault on the Rights of Females in the Past Year.
This time last year, women’s rights organisations were bracing themselves for a new Trump administration. Few were prepared for. The sheer number and rapid pace of administrative decrees emanating from the White House were regarded as a intentional maneuver to induce a state of shock. In many ways it worked – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as groups rushed to compensate for the loss left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But that was just the beginning.
The US administration has been the main instigator, aided by vigorous campaigning by religious fundamentalist networks exploiting the situation to forge international alliances with political allies.
The anti-rights movement denotes an international coalition of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as wealthy philanthropists and dynasties that work to dismantle advances on numerous fronts. These include reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.
They accomplish their goals by advocating to officials, financing legal challenges, sabotaging multilateral work to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.
We review five instances that influenced the safety, dignity and lives of women and girls.
USAID Effectively Dismantled
In the month of March, shortly after a major US aid agency is halted, causing widespread distress, a senior US official confirms that a vast majority of the institution's work will be scrapped. American foreign service officers, ex-presidents and humanitarian and health experts condemn the news, stating that lives will be lost. Human rights advocates say that the closure of the organization is not just a financial shortfall, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and access to contraception and reproductive health services. A multitude of agencies say females will bear the brunt by shrinking assistance, especially in war zones. As the year ends, evidence indicates how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with many more millions at risk. Additional key contributing countries announce their own austerity measures. A leader of an international advocacy group says a choice to reduce international development funding is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.
Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit
In the same month, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a two-day conference held in parallel with the annual UN Women gathering. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to oppose what they term a UN overreach. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they applaud new Washington directives on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the gender equality forum with a somber alert that “the poison of patriarchy” is returning, after a analysis demonstrates that anti-rights actors are actively undermining longstanding consensus on core aspects of gender equality around the world.
Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa
Over the warmer months, a cluster of meetings in Africa themed around the traditional family and national sovereignty sparks alarm among rights advocates. In May, a national leader and spouse open a large assembly to combat what they label external influences undermining local norms. A shortly thereafter, another regional summit on traditional morals is held. Both events are participated in by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to push back against “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of global institutions. In June, a major religious institution hosts a family strengthening conference in West Africa, an event that health activists say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Campaigners note that the scale of their presence has increased markedly.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
As health facilities across Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in midsummer plans to destroy a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a storage facility in Belgium. A leading family planning organization states that their destruction will deny a huge female population from contraceptive supplies, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an politically-motivated move “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains at a standstill as local authorities are blocking perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Reviving the global gag rule, which halts US aid to groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is typical of certain US administrations. It was widely expected when the policy was restored in the first month of the year. The administration also reaffirmed membership in a pro-life declaration. But in October, the US announces it intends to expand the global gag rule to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. Additional information regarding the broader enforcement are likely forthcoming. A leader in global maternal health says widening the scope will have “unimaginable effects”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that new US aid packages being arranged with states on the continent will become dependent on agreeing to the expanded global gag.
