A/HRC/23/54
capitalized on the strength and resilience of its members by collectively organizing them to
secure their land rights, pool resources for rebuilding and advocate post-war development
policies that addressed discrimination and inequality in society and reconstruction.
33.
Manal Alsharif, a women’s rights activist and blogger in Saudi Arabia, discussed the
use of social media and information and communication technologies to promote women’s
rights. She observed that social media was a powerful tool for change in Saudi Arabia,
particularly with regards to women’s empowerment, and also continued to play a critical
role in the Arab Spring. In her campaign to overturn the prohibition against women drivers
in Saudi Arabia, she had used Youtube and Twitter to post pictures of herself driving,
garner international media attention and galvanize support. The women’s rights movement
in Saudi Arabia continued to use social media to fight for women’s dignity and full
citizenship.
34.
Priti Darooka, Executive Director of the Programme on Women’s Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights in India, argued that society had to surpass the false narrative of women
as victims and recognize women as economic actors, workers and producers that support
their families and communities, often by providing basic necessities such as food, water,
fuel, health care and social security. She asserted that the unpaid work typically undertaken
by women was undervalued by society in spite of its critical importance. Priti Darooka
advocated the recognition of a right to livelihood that encompassed more than the right to
work, the right to property or the right to income-earning assets, and was founded on
fundamental human dignity. She argued that dignity should be further explored as an
operational concept, as it would lead to greater recognition of the social and economic
value of women’s work.
35.
In the interactive dialogue that followed, Myrna Cunningham from the Permanent
Forum on Indigenous Issues, the Independent Expert on human rights and international
solidarity, and representatives of Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, the Association of World
Citizens, the People’s Health Movement, Webster University and the Ligue marocaine pour
la citoyenneté et les droits de l’homme intervened. Speakers addressed the unequal access
of women to social media, the exploitation of women in rural areas, the role of livelihoods
in eradicating poverty amongst rural indigenous women, the need to comprehensively
address violence against women and its structural and institutional causes, the importance
of participation in guaranteeing women’s collective and individual rights, the role of civil
society in promoting women’s rights, Sri Lanka’s efforts to safeguard the rights of women
and children and to integrate gender perspectives in assistance programmes, and
government measures taken to improve the enjoyment of rights by women in Saudi Arabia,
including access to social media.
36.
In concluding remarks, Manal Alsharif emphasized the importance of rights
awareness, education and economic empowerment for realizing women’s rights in Saudi
Arabia and the world. Shreen Abdul Saroor noted that Sri Lanka’s assistance to women
often took the form of monetary reparations that were inadequate and did not restore human
dignity or account for pre-existing inequalities. Priti Darooka highlighted the importance of
learning from different cultures and called for the balancing of collective and individual
rights through participatory processes.
F.
Coherent mobilization of all sources of financing for development
37.
Gemma Adaba, Advisory Board Member of Social Justice in Global Development
and Representative of the People’s Movement for Human Rights Learning, discussed
official development assistance, aid effectiveness and South–South cooperation. She
described the evolution in development assistance from the aid effectiveness agenda of the
Paris Declaration (2005) to the Accra Agenda for Action (2008) and finally, the Busan
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