Calls Mount For A UN General Assembly Sexual Violence Survivors’ Rights Resolution

According to the World Health Organization, 35% of women on earth – 1.3 billion people – are sexual violence survivors, equivalent to the entire populations of North America and Europe, combined.

In some countries, rape has become an epidemic, CNN reports.

There are victims of sexual assault around the world.

The United Nations (UN) was founded to protect the equality of all people, regardless of who they are or where they live. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights ensures that protection, but the UN General Assembly has never passed a resolution focused solely on sexual violence outside of that related to armed conflicts.

No human should be denied basic protections against sexual violence and access to justice based on gender, age, nationality or citizenship. Yet, in so many countries we see women, and especially minority women, treated like second-class citizens, or worse, OXFAM reports.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (“the Mandela Rules”) affirms that all prisoners have the right to be treated with “the respect due to their inherent dignity and value as human beings” and that, as such, they should not be subjected to torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

This right must be guaranteed to all prisoners, without discrimination, including on the grounds of sex. So, why is the same not applied to women who are not imprisoned?

5% of women on earth – 1.3 billion people – are sexual violence survivors.

A growing number of countries are passing sexual violence legislation to improve survivors’ access to justice.

In 2016, the United States Congress passed the Sexual Assault Survivor Bill of Rights, codifying civil rights for 25 million rape survivors in America.

The president of Sierra Leone called on the UN to ensure access to justice globally for sexual assault survivors.

In 2019, through the adoption of resolution 2467 (2019), the UN Security Council recognized the need for a survivor-centered approach to inform all measures to prevent and address sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict situations.

In 2021, the United Nations unanimously adopted a new agenda item introduced by the president of Sierra Leone, Julius Maada Wonie Bio, to ensure access to justice globally for sexual assault survivors, which permanently places the topic of sexual violence on the UNGA agenda to be discussed each year by UN Member States.

Help us ask the UN to protect the rights of sexual assault survivors.

The introduction by President Bio marked the first time that the more than 1.3 billion survivors of sexual violence were verbally recognized in the UN General Assembly agenda and the first time that the rights of all survivors will be discussed as a standalone issue outside of conflict.

It’s time to make survivors’ rights official. Click below and help us call for the adoption of the UN General Assembly Sexual Violence Survivors’ Rights Resolution.