A/HRC/34/3
contributed to strengthening capacities to implement legal and policy frameworks on
women’s rights in Afghanistan.
37.
Support was given to develop training materials on judicial gender stereotyping (for
the Council of Europe), femicide (an online course), and sexual and reproductive health and
rights (Reflection Guides). The Office also commissioned a study on the role of the
judiciary in addressing gender stereotypes in cases related to sexual and reproductive health
and rights.
38.
OHCHR emphasized the use of a human rights-based approach towards
implementing the Sustainable Development Goals related to women’s rights and gender
equality. For example, it supported efforts by the Ministry of Health of Uganda to integrate
human rights principles into a draft multisectoral strategy to reduce preventable maternal
mortality and morbidity.
39.
An improved understanding of sexual and reproductive health and rights was
achieved by convening multi-stakeholder meetings in Costa Rica; holding workshops to
build knowledge and skills in Mexico, the Middle East and West Africa; connecting
activists with human rights mechanisms through webinars in Argentina; conveying the
importance of a human rights-based approach in addressing Zika and sexual and
reproductive health in Honduras; and the wide dissemination of the OHCHR information
series on sexual and reproductive health and rights in Arabic, English, French and Spanish. 4
40.
Building on the work of the Human Rights Council on child, early and forced
marriage, OHCHR convened an expert group meeting in October to discuss the obstacles to
ending these harmful practices. Through the United Nations Assistance Mission in
Afghanistan (UNAMA), OHCHR collaborated with policewomen, departments of women’s
affairs, religious leaders and provincial governors to promote respect for women’s rights
and a common understanding that certain traditional practices are not only harmful but also
contrary to sharia. In West and Central Africa, Egypt, Lebanon and Tunisia, OHCHR
worked with national partners to promote increased participation of women in elections and
public affairs.
5.
Discrimination on the basis of disability
41.
During the thirty-first session of the Human Rights Council, OHCHR supported the
annual debate on the rights of persons with disabilities, which focused on persons with
disabilities in situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies.
42.
OHCHR continued to assist Governments to implement the Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In Chile, OHCHR supported a regional seminar on
sexual and reproductive rights for persons with disabilities, drawing upon the concluding
observations of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on the topic. This
event led to the establishment of a governmental working group to develop policy
guidelines to advance the issue. In the Gambia and South Africa, OHCHR assisted the
Government to harmonize national laws with the Convention. In Tunisia, following
continuous advocacy by OHCHR, a law was passed in May improving the framework law
on the promotion and protection of persons with disabilities. In Senegal, OHCHR
strengthened the capacity of a coalition of persons with disabilities to engage with
international human rights mechanisms. In Timor-Leste, OHCHR worked within a joint
United Nations agency programme to empower persons with disabilities to counter
discriminatory attitudes towards them.
4
8
See www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/WRGS/Pages/HealthRights.aspx.
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