Women as Changemakers

• October 18, 2022

Documenting the “dozens of thousands” of Russia’s war crimes that have been committed so far in Ukraine isn’t a problem for Oleksandra Matviichuk, a human-rights lawyer and civil society leader based in Kyiv. But having a fully developed international criminal system tasked with pursuing justice for all victims of war, is. “All people deserve …

Human Rights, International Justice, Ukraine-Russia War, Women as Changemakers

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WOMEN AS CHANGEMAKERS

Born Under Apartheid, Navi Pillay Has Climbed to Global Heights in Promoting Human-Rights Law

Barbara Crossette

• September 12, 2022

Nations of the world have taken giant steps in recent decades to build international structures and strengthen institutions to deal with mass human-rights abusers. At almost every stage, Navi Pillay, a South African lawyer, was there, advancing the rights of political detainees and the protection and status of women. Pillay, 80, is a descendant …

Africa, Gender Violence, Human Rights, Women as Changemakers

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WOMEN AS CHANGEMAKERS

Gertrude Oforiwa Fefoame’s Blindness Does Not Stop Her From Helping Others

Laura E. Kirkpatrick

• August 15, 2022

When she was only 10 years old, Gertrude Oforiwa Fefoame realized that she could no longer read her classroom’s blackboard at her school in eastern Ghana. She eventually learned that she had retinal dystrophy, an irreversible degenerative condition that would take most of her sight, excluding some sensitivity to sunlight. Being blind has not …

Disabilities, Women as Changemakers

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WOMEN AS CHANGEMAKERS

Reporting in Afghanistan: Listen, Ask Questions. You Are Not the Story, an Award-Winning Journalist Says

Barbara Crossette

• May 30, 2022

Kathy Gannon never wanted to be a journalist. That changed when she was urged by a journalist brother to give the profession a try. She became a successful reporter and editor of local newspapers in Ontario and British Columbia. With that experience, she ventured into the Middle East, Central Asia and finally into colorful, …

Asia, Gender Violence, Journalists, Women as Changemakers

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WOMEN AS CHANGEMAKERS

Meet Comfort Ero, the First Black Woman to Lead the International Crisis Group

Damilola Banjo

• April 3, 2022

Comfort Ero knew that her appointment as the president and chief executive of the International Crisis Group, a New York City-based think tank working to prevent wars, would be arduous. But taking up the role in December, two months before Russia invaded Ukraine, is not exactly what she envisaged. “It is a reminder of …

Africa, General Assembly, Peace and Security, Security Council, Women as Changemakers

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WOMEN AS CHANGEMAKERS

Rebeca Grynspan: No Woman Will Be Marginalized at Unctad

Barbara Crossette

• March 8, 2022

Rebeca Grynspan, the first woman and first Latin American to lead the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, has a lot of work to do. The organization, founded in 1964 as a standing committee, now has 195 member nations. It meets quadrennially to tackle major economic concerns of developing countries while offering daily …

Women as Changemakers

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WOMEN AS CHANGEMAKERS

Nigeria’s Champion of Maternal and Child Health

Damilola Banjo

• January 19, 2022

It was the death in childbirth of a dear friend that spurred Adepeju Jaiyeoba, then a young lawyer in Lagos, Nigeria, to take action. It was 2011, and 978 out of every 100,000 Nigerian women — 40,000 a year — were dying from complications during childbirth. Recalling her friend recently, Jaiyeoba said: “She was …

Africa, Women as Changemakers

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WOMEN AS CHANGEMAKERS

Celia Umenza Risks Her Life to Defend the Rights of Indigenous People in Colombia

Maurizio Guerrero

• November 16, 2021

Celia Umenza, an Indigenous leader who has survived three attacks on her life while advocating for the self-determination of Indigenous, Afro-descendant and peasant communities in the northern Cauca region of Colombia, recently told the United Nations Security Council that its bears some responsibility for the rising violence against human-rights defenders in her country. Umenza, …

Latin America, Women as Changemakers

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WOMEN AS CHANGEMAKERS

An American Feminist, Honored by France, Carries On a Tireless Global Fight for Women’s Rights

Barbara Crossette

• October 6, 2021

Jessica Neuwirth, a pivotal force in promoting and supporting the rights of women and girls worldwide, was appointed to the rank of chevalier in the French Legion of Honor by the French government in a ceremony in New York City on Oct. 5. The citation said: “This high distinction expresses the gratitude of the …

Gender Violence, Human Rights, Women as Changemakers

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WOMEN AS CHANGEMAKERS

Women Will Achieve Equality, No Matter What: Natalia Kanem of UNFPA Explains

Barbara Crossette

• August 24, 2021

For Natalia Kanem, the executive director of the United Nations Population Fund since 2017, the last couple of years have been a wild ride. In 2020, women the world over were getting ready to celebrate important anniversaries: 25 years since an international conference in Beijing pledged global action on women’s rights, including their reproductive …

Health and Population, Secretary-General, UN Agencies, Women as Changemakers

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WOMEN AS CHANGEMAKERS

This Japanese Astronaut Says ‘Space Diplomacy’ Can Save the Earth

Elizabeth Colton

• July 22, 2021

Naoko Yamazaki made space history not only as the second woman astronaut from Japan, but also by participating in the record-setting 2010 NASA space shuttle mission STS-131 to the International Space Station, or ISS. Launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., the mission marked the first time that four women were …

Women as Changemakers

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WOMEN AS CHANGEMAKERS

‘Peace Inc.’ Has Failed. This Expert Proposes a New Way to Peacemaking

Clair MacDougall

• May 24, 2021

Séverine Autesserre, a former humanitarian-aid worker, award-winning researcher and professor of political science at Columbia University, has become one of the foremost thinkers on international peace-building in the last decade. Following “Peaceland,” a book critically exploring the parallel worlds of United Nations peacekeeping missions, and “The Trouble With the Congo,” which examines the failed peace efforts …

Peace and Security, Security Council, Women as Changemakers

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The UN’s Top Labor Expert Resumes Work on ‘Our Common Agenda’ as Controversy Clouds World Cup

Damilola Banjo

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Women as Changemakers

A Ukrainian’s Crusade to Fix the International Justice System for Everyone

Born Under Apartheid, Navi Pillay Has Climbed to Global Heights in Promoting Human-Rights Law

Gertrude Oforiwa Fefoame’s Blindness Does Not Stop Her From Helping Others

Reporting in Afghanistan: Listen, Ask Questions. You Are Not the Story, an Award-Winning Journalist Says

Meet Comfort Ero, the First Black Woman to Lead the International Crisis Group

Rebeca Grynspan: No Woman Will Be Marginalized at Unctad

Nigeria’s Champion of Maternal and Child Health

Celia Umenza Risks Her Life to Defend the Rights of Indigenous People in Colombia

An American Feminist, Honored by France, Carries On a Tireless Global Fight for Women’s Rights

Women Will Achieve Equality, No Matter What: Natalia Kanem of UNFPA Explains

This Japanese Astronaut Says ‘Space Diplomacy’ Can Save the Earth

‘Peace Inc.’ Has Failed. This Expert Proposes a New Way to Peacemaking

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Navi Pillay, Who Leads a UN Rights Probe on Palestine and Israel, Hits Back on Slurs Against Her

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