Despite promising progress in some areas, underlying discrimination against women persists: the 2012 Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) shows that countries have made promising progress in tackling discriminatory social institutions in some areas. Despite positive steps, pervasive and persistent social institutions continue to limit women and girls’ horizons in all regions ranked in the 2012 SIGI. Latin America and the Caribbean shows the lowest level of overall discrimination against women in the 2012 SIGI rankings. South Asia has improved its position from the lowest ranked region in 2009 to the fourth ranked region in 2012. This is largely due to the introduction of laws to combat violence against women, decline in early marriage, introduction of quotas to promote women’s political participation and improvement in son bias for some countries in the region.

In Indonesia, the issue of mistreatment at the hands of government officials is one of the most common and serious human rights violations. Physical assault and torture, sexual assault and harassment, verbal abuse, and other forms of mistreatment occur in a variety of settings. Abuse happens during searches, demonstrations, meetings, and arrests. 

A new report produced in Indonesia by the Monitoring Network of Human Rights Violations against People who Use Drugs looks specifically at police mistreatment of drug users. The stigmatization of drug users often means that government officials can act with impunity when it comes to violence, coercion, and use of abusive force. The “war on drugs” has made drug users an easy target for extortion by law enforcement authorities.

This toolkit is for people working to establish, strengthen or expand HIV-related legal services. All governments have recognized that stigma, discrimination and violations of other human rights are major barriers to effective national responses to HIV. Consequently, they have committed to protect the human rights of people living with HIV, as well as the rights of women, children, and members of vulnerable and key populations in the context of HIV.

In 1911, women were allowed to vote in just two countries of the world. Today, a century later, that right is virtually universal. During this time, women have continuously expanded their political rights so that, at the time of writing, 28 countries have reached or exceeded the 30 percent critical mass mark for women in parliament and 19 women are currently serving as elected Heads of State or Government. Alongside women’s greater political influence, there has been a growing recognition of women’s rights, not only political and civil, but also economic, social and cultural. To date, 186 Member States worldwide have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which entered into force in 1981, signalling their commitment to fulfilling the human rights of women and girls and breaking down the barriers to achieving gender equality and justice.