Through our membership Liberal International has raised the voice of women in politics. Our global fight for equality and the stamping out of harassment and abuse of women in politics is the subject of the 10th installment of the human rights bulletin, which draws on the personal experiences of parliamentarians from LI member parties.
Chair of LI Human Rights Committee Markus Loening said:
Many of us have been shocked, angered and saddened at the widespread revelations manifest in the now global #metoo campaign… We highlight the barriers faced by women holding political ambitions and offer practical advice for empowering women in politics who experience discrimination.
This edition flags the challenges and sets out the responses that women in politics around the world have adopted in battling harassment, with opinion articles below by Astrid Thors, former OSCE high commissioner for national minorities, and Jayanthi Devi Balaguru, chairperson of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats women’s caucus.
President of the Liberal Democrats (UK), Baroness Sal Brinton and Liberal Democrat parliamentarian Christine Jardine MP draw on their experiences of harassment in politics and the methods they employed to overcome the threatening behaviours they encountered.
This October, at Liberal International’s 199th Executive Committee meeting in Johannesburg, the LI executive committee elected 22 liberals from 17 countries to serve on the 2017-2019 Human Rights Committee.
The new Liberal International Human Rights Committee is made up of parliamentarians, human rights experts and activists from around the world, all committed to promoting fundamental freedoms and human rights.
Interested in learning more about our new members… find them by clicking here.
In November, Liberal International’s oldest and top human rights commendation was awarded to directors of the Ilham Tohti Initiative on behalf of the imprisoned Uyghur activist, Ilham Tohti.
During the 70th anniversary congress in Andorrander the theme Global Justice and the Rule of Law: The Future of the International Liberal Order, over 30 international human rights defenders met in The Hague to discuss international justice, rule of law and human rights on the 29-30 November.
Delegates engaged with the CEO of the Hague Institute for Global Justice, Steven van Hoogstraten and the President of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi, in discussions centred on making international justice work.
The newly elected LI Human Rights Committee also met for the first time to plan political responses to international human rights threats and set priorities for their 18 month mandate in May, Liberal International endorsed Tohti “for promoting conciliation between Uyghurs and Han Chinese.”
The Prize for Freedom is presented annually to a well-known personality of liberal conviction who has made outstanding efforts for the defence of freedom and human rights here.
Under the theme Global Justice and the Rule of Law: The Future of the International Liberal Order, over 30 international human rights defenders met in The Hague to discuss international justice, rule of law and human rights on the 29-30 November.
Delegates engaged with the CEO of the Hague Institute for Global Justice, Steven van Hoogstraten and the President of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi, in discussions centred on making international justice work.
The newly elected LI Human Rights Committee also met for the first time to plan political responses to international human rights threats and set priorities for their 18 month mandate.
Find out more about LI’s meetings at the ICC here.
On the fringe of LI’s 199th Executive Committee meeting in Johannesburg, 25 delegates from 10 countries took part in an LI Human Rights Committee study visit organized to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) in October.
Centred on the Commission’s role in strengthening the human rights component of South Africa’s constitutional democracy, the liberals exchanged ideas with Chairperson Professor Bognani Christopher Majola and Commissioners Mohamed Ameermia and Bokankatla Malatji.
Read more about what LI and the SAHRC learnt from each other here.
