We're calling for an Equal UN

For the past four years, the Equal World campaign has joined other organisations in calling for gender equality on the committees of the ten United Nations human rights treaty bodies. We’ve given particular focus to the committee that monitors the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).  

It’s vital that women with disabilities are fairly represented on the CRPD committee, to make sure that issues that affect them can be adequately addressed. Our call for an #EqualUN aims to make sure UN member states (who vote for the committee members) recognise the importance of fair and diverse representation, and cast their votes with this in mind. After all, how can the UN tackle global inequality and achieve a more inclusive society if it isn’t inclusive itself?

With sustained and collaborative effort, as well as support from campaigners like you, the CRPD committee has gone from having only one woman out of 18 members (in 2016), to six women (in 2018), to reaching gender equality for the first time (in 2020)! This parity was maintained in the recent June 2022 elections, which is hugely positive, but there’s still work to do to improve diversity and promote equality on all UN human rights committees.