Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has pledged concerted and continuous action to protect the rights and needs of people with disabilities.
If you are a woman and want to work or operate on an equal footing with men, it is almost certain the laws in your country will hinder your right to do so.
Despite the regulation of international laws and national efforts to prevent and deal with family violence, women in New Zealand remain at risk in their homes. This changed in April 2019 when the New Zealand parliament became the first in the Commonwealth to pass national legislation granting victims of domestic violence 10 days of paid leave.
Today, people across the globe will pause to focus on one of the most persistent and vicious epidemics in our history: AIDS. Three letters that have caused unprecedented suffering and loss across generations and around our world.
The Commonwealth is deploying a team to observe the general election in Ghana scheduled for 7 December.
Beyond the immediate human impact, violence against women and girls also costs billions of dollars a year, be it in lost work, damaged children, hospital fees or police time. The global cost of violence against women and girls was estimated at $1.5 trillion in 2016 – making everyone across the world at least $200 poorer that year.
Since the COVID-19 outbreak began, it was clear that the pandemic was not only a health crisis but also an economic threat. Little did we know that the impact of COVID-19 containment measures and economic pressures would be felt across communities with violence in the homes, particularly against women, rising at an alarming rate.
Today, many women and girls are trapped in cycles of abuse, struggling to find an escape route. This is a tragedy, not just for them personally, but for the whole of society.
Commonwealth countries are using innovation and ingenuity to counter threats of injustice and inequality from Covid-19.
Violence against women and girls is a global epidemic, yet one of the least talked-about barriers to climate action.
