FOREWORD

As we enter 2023, major wars, high inflation and climate events are creating hardship all around a world in which the death toll from the global pandemic is approaching seven million people, and women’s health and reproductive rights are once again under siege.

Amidst the current crises, Redressing the Balance: Using human rights law to improve health for women everywhere usefully takes a longer term view, by investigating how the key international convention on women’s rights, adopted by 189 national governments, has been translated into national laws.

There is welcome news in the report, most notably in the significant reforms addressing violence against women that have been enacted in countries across all income groups. However much remains to be done – including implementing recommendations related to sexual harassment, expanding the legal grounds for abortion and prohibiting female genital mutilation, as well as improving access to health for women experiencing poverty, and those identifying as LGBTQIA+, and for people who have been forcibly displaced. The report presents key lessons about what has worked to bring about reforms, and provides a critical resource for those demanding gender equality.

I hope that the report’s findings and concrete recommendations targeted at governments, the UN and civil society are seriously considered by stakeholders and used to inform the agenda for action in the period ahead.

Dr Jeni Klugman Senior Fellow (non-resident)

The Brookings Institute Former Managing Director, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security