Climate change escalating violence against women across the globe: UN

New Delhi: Climate change and environmental degradation are escalating the risk and prevalence of violence against women and girls across the world, a UN-appointed independent human rights expert warned.

Presenting a report to the General Assembly on its causes and consequences, Reem Alsalem, UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls described climate change as “the most consequential threat multiplier for women and girls, with far-reaching impacts on new and existing forms of gendered inequities”.

She maintained that the “cumulative and gendered consequences” of climate change and environmental degradation “breach all aspects” of their rights.

Alsalem emphasised the damaging ways in which violence directed towards women and girls intersects with socio-political and economic phenomena, including armed conflict, displacement and resource scarcity.

And when coupled with climate change, they result in the feminisation and intensification of vulnerability, she said.

“Climate change is not only an ecological crisis, but fundamentally a question of justice, prosperity and gender equality, and intrinsically linked to and influenced by structural inequality and discrimination”.

Special Rapporteurs are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. The positions are honorary and the experts are not paid for their work.

Emerging evidence shows that the negative impacts of climate change globally, aggravate all types of gender-based violence ranging from physical to psychological and economic, “all the while curbing the availability and effectiveness of protection mechanisms and further weakening the potential to prevent violence,” the UN expert said.

“Despite the irreparable and significant harm to the wellbeing of women and girls, more efforts and resources are necessary to understand the nexus between climate change and violence against women and girls” he said.

She urged the international community to double down on the commitment to gender equality and anchor the response to climate change and disaster risk mitigation in human rights.