Joint declaration on women’s rights

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

An international group of 12 women's networks and platforms, representing nearly a thousand women's organizations, has issued a joint declaration to raise concerns and public awareness about the discrimination, violence, hardship, and human rights violations faced by women worldwide.

The 2020 Declaration on Women's Rights was conceived at a transnational meeting hosted by the Women's Platform for Equality (EŞİK) on October 15.

At the meeting, participants discussed right-wing groups' and governments' attacks on the İstanbul Convention. Bringing together 170 women from 15 countries from Europe and North America, the October meeting confirmed that the arguments used against the convention in each country stem from similar misogynist, homophobic, and transphobic patriarchal ideologies.

Violations have aggravated

Within this context, the 2020 Declaration on Women's Rights has drawn attention to the interrelated causes of violations of women's human rights.

The declaration has also highlighted the aggravation of these violations by a series of factotrs such as neoliberal policies, rising authoritarianism, climate change, militarism, and the current COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to demanding that national political institutions and international organizations take action to realize women's human rights and ensure gender equality, the Declaration has reaffirmed women's commitment and determination to work in transnational solidarity, despite the shrinking democratic space, to confront patriarchal violence, misinformation, masculinist discourses, and attacks on their hard-won rights, and to build a world of equality, justice, and peace.

'We are more determined than ever'

The joint declaration of the organizations entitled "2020 Declaration on Women's Rights" reads as follows:

"We, the undersigned women's groups and feminist organizations, collectively representing nearly a thousand women's organizations, held a meeting on October 15, 2020, to discuss the attacks on the Istanbul Convention and our other common problems. We issue this joint declaration to draw attention to the ongoing discrimination and violence, as well as increasing hardship and human rights violations, faced by women worldwide, and to reaffirm that our rights are non-negotiable.

"We observe with deep concern that

patriarchal structures, neoliberal policies, authoritarian governance, militarism, and warfare have long been violating women's and girls' rights and endangering their lives;
the deepening of poverty, economic inequality, climate change, and the current COVID-19 pandemic have further aggravated the situation, overwhelming women of all classes, races, ethnicities, and nationalities in various ways and degrees;
gender-based discrimination and violence, through word and deed, are committed by numerous governments and groups of different political orientations, religions, and cultures;
despite their differences, these state and non-state actors subscribe to the same misogynist, homophobic, and transphobic patriarchal ideology.

"We demand that

all state agencies, private institutions and civil society organizations uphold the principle of equality in human dignity, which is the foundation of international human rights;
all governments seek gender equality by collaborating with women's organizations and through adequately funded and effectively implemented policies that ensure the realization of women's and girls' economic, political, social, cultural, sexual, and reproductive rights;
all governments pursue international cooperation and multilateral policies to address global crises, realize and protect human rights in all territories, and ensure gender equality;
all parliaments fulfill their legislative function and replace discriminatory laws with those based on the principle of gender equality, as well as their regulatory function and hold governments accountable;
all local, national and global media stop negative stereotypes, expose public and private perpetrators of gender-based violence and women's rights violations, and hold negligent agencies accountable;
all international organizations and agencies help realize women's and girls' rights, end all sexual orientation and gender-related discrimination, and ensure gender equality without compromise, through effective steering, monitoring, and follow up mechanisms;
all international human rights instruments – especially the Istanbul Convention, the Beijing Platform for Action, CEDAW, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child – be defended against misrepresentations, ratified by all states, and fully implemented by states parties.

"We declare that

we are more determined than ever;
despite the shrinking democratic space, we will continue to confront patriarchal violence, misinformation, masculinist discourses, and attacks on our hard-won rights;
we will work toward building a world of equality, justice, and peace – together, in sisterhood and transnational solidarity!"

Signatories to the declaration

Advocates for Human Rights, United States

Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation, Bulgaria

Great Coalition for Equality and Choice, Poland

Hungarian Women's Lobby, Hungary

Organization for Promotion of Women's Rights (DOMINE), Croatia

Ukrainian Women Lawyers Association (JURFEM), Ukraine

Women Against Violence Europe (WAVE)

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)
Women's Network Croatia, Croatia

Women's Platform for Equality (EŞİK), Turkey

Women's Rights Center, Poland

Women's Support and Information Center (NPO), Estonia

European Women's Lobby (Supporting organization)

(EMK/SD)