women's rights

A historic first at the UN General Assembly high-level debate: an all-female bench from Norway. From left front row: Prime Minister Erna Solberg; Foreign Minister Ine Marie Eriksen Soreide; Ambassador Mona Juul; and parliamentarians in the back row. NORWAY MISSION TO THE UN
How women’s issues could be more prominent at the United Nations General Assembly’s annual opening session remains an enigma. The topics of women’s rights and gender equality pop up in speeches by world leaders, including those by women, but their remarks just don’t stand out — especially this year.

Secretary-General António Guterres giving a toast at the annual heads of state luncheon during the opening session of the UN General Assembly, Sept. 25, 2018. This year, the session will include conferences on climate change, universal health care and the Sustainable Development Goals. And, of course, there will be the parade of speeches by global leaders. LI MUZI/UNCA POOL PHOTO

Kersti Kaljulaid, the president of Estonia, after her country’s election to the UN Security Council, June 7, 2019. She is scheduled to speak at the UN General Assembly on Sept. 25. Eastern Europe appears to dominate now with the most female government leaders globally. LOEY FELIPE/UN PHOTO

Lieut. Comdr. Marcia Braga, left, a 45-year-old Brazilian naval officer, spent a year as a UN military gender adviser in the war-wracked Central African Republic, above. She called it “the most rewarding experience she has ever had.” BRAGA ARCHIVES

At an entrance to the UN headquarters in New York, Indonesian diplomats passing one of the many signs, including some sterner than others, announcing the ban on single-use plastic in the UN dining areas. DULCIE LEIMBACH
People who regularly work or visit the United Nations headquarters in New York have surely noticed something new in the cafeteria this summer: no more single-use plastic, not even for takeout.

Andrew Bremberg, Trump’s nominee as ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva. The vote by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on his candidacy has been delayed as a leading Democrat has demanded more details on a separate matter: the White House’s new migration agreements. GAGE SKIDMORE/CREATIVE COMMONS

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with the newly named chair of the Commission on Unalienable Rights, Mary Ann Glendon, right, July 8, 2019. The commission will be operating on the principles of “natural” law and rights, and Glendon has close links to the Vatican. MICHAEL GROSS/STATE DEPARTMENT

A demonstration outside the Organization of American States in Washington, April 5, 2016, protesting the murder of the Honduran rights defender Berta Cáceres, who was killed a month earlier. Her daughter, Berta Zúñiga Cáceres, is part of the protests. The author of the essay suggests that instead of women’s rights activists being called on to “push back” against oppression, it’s time for others to “join us”? 

Nils Melzer, the UN special rapporteur on torture, was criticized by hundreds of international human-rights lawyers recently for his “problematic definition of rape,” as expressed in an essay he wrote online about Julian Assange of Wikileaks. JEAN-MARC FERRE/UN PHOTO

Andrew Bremberg, Trump’s nominee for US ambassador to the UN in Geneva, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on June 20, 2019. Aspects of his anti-abortion views, whether rape victims should be entitled to abortions, infuriated Senator Bob Menendez, the highest-ranking Democrat on the committee. Bremberg, above, in 2018. GAGE SKIDMORE/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS