Rights, Religion and Resistance

In the context of COVID-19, rising fundamentalisms and growing inequalities, human rights are under attack. Anti-rights actors are instrumentalizing religion, and mobilising terms like traditional values, family, ‘natural order’, and gender ideology, to oppose critical legislation, policy and practice for gender equality. In this Side Event, feminists, experts, faith actors and policy makers will shift the narrative, to discuss and explore how Freedom of Religion or Belief can be used as a tool to advance SRHR and SOGI rights.

Co-organizers: Government Offices of Sweden, Mexico, UNFPA, ACT Alliance, Act Church of Sweden, GIN-SSOGIE

Speakers:

Ib Petersen, Deputy Executive Director, Management, UNFPA

Luna Borges, Senior Program Officer, Fòs Feminista

Dr. Marie Juul Petersen, Senior Researcher, Danish Institute of Human Rights

Dr. Nontando Hadebe, Theologian, Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians

Umyra Ahmad, Advancing Universal Rights and Justice Coordinator, AWID

Rose Parris Richter, Executive Director & Chief Of Staff To The Special Rapporteur, FoRB

Victor Madrigal-Borloz, UN Independent Expert on violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Opening and Closing Remarks by the Government Offices of Sweden and Mexico.