Archived news from 2011-2019 | WEI Publications library
Posts from 2019–2020
- Joint submission to OHCHR on promoting and protecting the human rights of women and girls with disabilities in conflict and post-conflict situationsWEI joined forces with Human Rights Watch, Humanity and Inclusion, International Disability Alliance, and Women’s Refugee Commission to submit this short report on women and girls with disabilities in conflict and post-conflict situations to the U.N. Office of the High Commission for Human Rights. This short report will help promote an intersectional approach to the U.N. Human Rights Council’s forthcoming discussions on the 20th anniversary of a groundbreaking Security Council resolution, focusing on the role of women in ensuring peace and security. Continue reading Joint submission to OHCHR on promoting and protecting the human rights of women and girls with disabilities in conflict and post-conflict situations
- Submission to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Preparation of a General Comment on Article 27 of the CRPD (the right to work and employment) This submission highlights how discrimination at the intersection of gender and disability leads to significant pay gaps, unemployment, harassment in the workplace, and other issues that disproportionately impact women and gender non-conforming persons with disabilities as related to work and employment, including as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. Continue reading Submission to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Preparation of a General Comment on Article 27 of the CRPD (the right to work and employment)
- Disabled Women in Africa and Women Enabled International: Joint Submission to the Human Rights Committee for its Development of Malawi’s List of Issues Prior to Reporting This submission, done in partnership with Disabled Women in Africa (DIWA), highlights human rights abuses against women and girls in Malawi, including in the context of the COVID-19 crisis. Continue reading Disabled Women in Africa and Women Enabled International: Joint Submission to the Human Rights Committee for its Development of Malawi’s List of Issues Prior to Reporting
- Feminists with Disabilities Joint Submission to the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls: Women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights in situations of crisis This submission, produced in partnership between Women Enabled International (WEI), My Life My Choice (U.K.), CIMUNIDIS (Chile), Shanta Memorial Rehabilitation Centre (India), Women with Disabilities India Network, HYPE Sri Lan, ka, and Disabled Women in Africa (Malawi), highlights how the COVID-19 crisis has impacted the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of women, girls, and gender non-conforming persons with disabilities. Continue reading Feminists with Disabilities Joint Submission to the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls: Women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights in situations of crisis
- New Fact Sheet Available: Rights of Women and Girls with Disabilities in Conflict and Humanitarian EmergenciesWomen, girls, and gender non-conforming people with disabilities are disproportionally impacted by conflict and humanitarian emergencies due to multiple forms of discrimination that heighten exclusion and risks. Despite the important perspective they can bring to addressing these challenges, women with disabilities are routinely excluded from peacebuilding and recovery processes. Failure to engage women with disabilities in these efforts perpetuates exclusion, discrimination, and violations of their human rights. Women Enabled International is deeply concerned by this issue. Please read our new Fact Sheet, which offers guidelines for governments on what they must do to realize the rights of women and girls with disabilities in conflict situations. Continue reading New Fact Sheet Available: Rights of Women and Girls with Disabilities in Conflict and Humanitarian Emergencies
- Statement on Abortion Access in PolandWomen Enabled International is deeply concerned about the decision by Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal ruling unconstitutional Poland’s law permitting abortion on grounds of “a severe and irreversible fetal defect or incurable illness that threatens the fetus’s life.” This decision effectively bans access to safe and legal abortion for women—including women with disabilities—in Poland, violating the fundamental human rights of Poland’s women. Continue reading Statement on Abortion Access in Poland
- The loss of a true feminist iconWomen Enabled International deeply mourns the death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a true feminist icon, brilliant thinker and advocate for the rights of women worldwide. —Stephanie Ortoleva Continue reading The loss of a true feminist icon
- WEI Comments on the USAID 2020 Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Policy DraftThe U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has drafted the 2020 Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Policy and has solicited comments from organizations including WEI before it is finalized. Although USAID has indicated Continue reading WEI Comments on the USAID 2020 Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Policy Draft
- WEI Submission on Domestic Violence and COVID-19 at the Intersection of Gender and Disability to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Violence against WomenAlongside the global COVID-19 pandemic, there is an increased risk of domestic violence for women, girls, non-binary, trans, and gender non-conforming persons with disabilities. WEI reported information from its own research and that of organizations around the world to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women about this “hidden pandemic” of domestic violence. Continue reading WEI Submission on Domestic Violence and COVID-19 at the Intersection of Gender and Disability to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women
- Response to U.N. Special Procedures Questionnaire on COVID-19 and Human RightsWEI, as a member of the Nairobi Principles Working Group, submitted information to several U.N. human rights experts on the situation of rights related to gender, disability, and sexuality during the COVID-19 crisis. Continue reading Response to U.N. Special Procedures Questionnaire on COVID-19 and Human Rights
- Women Enabled International Demands JusticeWomen Enabled International stands with protestors around the world in demanding justice and action to address the systemic human rights violations in the United States that contribute to the ongoing oppression of members of the Black community in any form—from police violence, police failures to address gender-based violence and government failures to address the COVID-19 pandemic, all of which disproportionally impact the Black community. Continue reading Women Enabled International Demands Justice
- WEI and Disability Rights International Comments to the CEDAW Committee on the Draft General Recommendation on Trafficking in Women and Girls in the Context of Global MigrationWomen and girls with disabilities face an increased risk of trafficking and yet are often excluded from services to prevent and remedy trafficking situations. Language about women with disabilities is key to ensuring that States meet their obligations to tackle trafficking of all women and girls. Read WEI’s feedback on the recent CEDAW Draft General Recommendation on Trafficking in Women and Girls in the Context of Global Migration. Continue reading WEI and Disability Rights International Comments to the CEDAW Committee on the Draft General Recommendation on Trafficking in Women and Girls in the Context of Global Migration
- COVID-19 at the Intersection of Gender and Disability: Findings of a Global Survey
WEI report pulls together responses to a global survey from 100 women, non-binary, and trans persons with disabilities and seeks to provide the guidance for responding to this crisis in a way that protects rights at the intersection of gender and disability. Continue reading COVID-19 at the Intersection of Gender and Disability: Findings of a Global Survey - From Global Coordination to Local Strategies: A Practical Approach to Prevent, Address and Document Domestic Violence under COVID-19A practical guide for preventing, addressing, and documenting domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic. A collaboration of WEI, MADRE, Media Matters for Women, MenEngage Alliance, Nobel Women’s Initiative, OutRight Action International, and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). Continue reading From Global Coordination to Local Strategies: A Practical Approach to Prevent, Address and Document Domestic Violence under COVID-19
- Endorse the Statement on Rights at the Intersection of Gender and Disability During COVID-19In efforts to respond to COVID-19, women, girls, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming persons with disabilities have been left behind. This Statement seeks to articulate particular issues that are impacting rights at the intersection of gender and disability during this crisis and provide guidance to governments, United Nations entities, healthcare providers, and civil society organizations who are involved in the response. Read the full Statement here. Continue reading Endorse the Statement on Rights at the Intersection of Gender and Disability During COVID-19
- WEI publication: Abortion and Disability: Towards an Intersectional Human Rights-Based Approach
Ongoing debates around fetal impairment as a legal basis for abortion act as a wedge issue between the disability rights and reproductive rights movements. Disability rights advocates are concerned that laws that expressly Continue reading WEI publication: Abortion and Disability: Towards an Intersectional Human Rights-Based Approach - Women Enabled Takes to the Streets to Demand an End to Period Poverty
October 25, 2019 – On October 19, Women Enabled was honored to join over 30 non-profits, student groups, and community organizations to co-host the DC Period Rally on the United States’ first ever Continue reading Women Enabled Takes to the Streets to Demand an End to Period Poverty - Women with Disabilities Submission to the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women: Mistreatment and Violence in Reproductive Health Care, including Facility-Based Childbirth
May 17, 2019 – This submission, intended to inform the Special Rapporteur’s forthcoming report to the U.N. General Assembly, outlines the causes, forms, and consequences of violence and mistreatment against women and girls with Continue reading Women with Disabilities Submission to the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women: Mistreatment and Violence in Reproductive Health Care, including Facility-Based Childbirth - WEI Submission on Older Women with Disabilities to the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with DisabilitiesApril 15, 2019 – This submission, which was endorsed by Ferdous Ara Begum (Gender and Ageing Issues Specialist and former UN CEDAW Committee member) and Lois Herman (Managing Director, Women’s UN Report Network), Continue reading WEI Submission on Older Women with Disabilities to the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- WEI and Disability Rights International Submission to the CEDAW Committee for its half-day of general discussion on trafficking in the context of migration February 14, 2019 – This submission to the CEDAW Committee was authored to inform its half-day of general discussion on February 22, 2019, to prepare for the elaboration by the CEDAW Committee of Continue reading WEI and Disability Rights International Submission to the CEDAW Committee for its half-day of general discussion on trafficking in the context of migration
- Submission to the CEDAW Committee for its 2019 Review of ColombiaCo-authored by WEI, La Liga Colombiana de Autismo, Asdown Colombia, Programa de Acción por la Igualdad y la Inclusión Social, and Profamilia January 28, 2019 – This submission outlines human rights violations in Continue reading Submission to the CEDAW Committee for its 2019 Review of Colombia
- Making CSW Events Accessible to and Inclusive of Persons with DisabilitiesJanuary 17, 2019 – This document provides practical tips to organizations that will be holding events during the upcoming UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), being held from March 11-22, 2019, Continue reading Making CSW Events Accessible to and Inclusive of Persons with Disabilities
- Submission on Women, Girls, and Non-binary Persons with Disabilities in the United States of America for the Human Rights Committee’s List of Issues Prior to Reporting (LOIPR)January 14, 2019 – This is a preliminary submission that provides a brief overview of some of the civil and political rights violations facing women, girls, and nonbinary persons with disabilities in the Continue reading Submission on Women, Girls, and Non-binary Persons with Disabilities in the United States of America for the Human Rights Committee’s List of Issues Prior to Reporting (LOIPR)
- Election Results: States Elect Women with Disabilities to CRPD and CEDAW Committees In June, States elected women with disabilities to serve as members of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD Committee) and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women Continue reading Election Results: States Elect Women with Disabilities to CRPD and CEDAW Committees