This post falls into the “good news/bad news” category. The new United Nations Office, UN-Women, has published its 2011 report on the status of women, Progress of the World’s Women: In Pursuit of Justice. The full report was originally available here, but the link currently does not work.
The report focuses on four key areas: legal and constitutional frameworks, the justice chain, plural legal systems and conflict and post-conflict. Drawing on tangible examples of steps that have been taken to help women access justice, the report sets out ten key recommendations for policy and decision makers to act on in order to ensure every woman is able to obtain justice.
According to the Parlimentary Network for Critical Issues (“PNCI”), the report is “being criticized for not promoting abortion in its strategic plan.” According to Marie Smith, Director of PNCI, “In the endless quest to establish legal abortion as a human right and funded as a so-called “solution” to reduce maternal mortality, pro-abortion organizations have attacked the new UN office on women, UN-Women, for its strategic plan which does not include the violence of abortion in its policy recommendations.” The PNCI news report can be found here.
That the report does not promote abortion is both remarkable and encouraging. That said, the fact that so many large NGOs (non-government organizations), especially those who hold themselves out as representing the interests of women, are adament that the report must due so is discouraging.