We signed onto this open letter prepared by the Feminist Alliance for Rights (FAR) Steering Committee calling on all Member States to adopt a feminist policy to address the COVID-19 outbreak. You can also view it at FeministStatement and share it within your networks.
The four key messages developed in the letter include:
Governments must implement a feminist and a human rights approach in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic and for the development of peaceful, inclusive and prosperous communities.
There are a number of key areas that are going to be heavily impacted by this pandemic. Governments need to recognize and prioritize, during the current crisis, the needs of people in vulnerable positions including women, children, elderly, people with disabilities, people with compromised health, people living in rural communities, homeless people, institutionalized people, refugees, migrants, indigenous peoples, stateless people as well as people in war zones.
Women's and girls' access to human rights will be compromised as they will endure a disproportionate impact of this crisis due to their sex, gender, and sexual orientation. Women are on the front lines of the health sector, where they form 70% of the workforce, and at home, where the disproportionate burden of care work they shoulder will increase.
States, in cooperation with civil society organizations, must immediately adopt measures to ensure people's human rights during and beyond this pandemic, including the right to have access to support and protection systems, information and resources.
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