The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, has sounded the alarm over mounting threats to women’s rights worldwide, highlighting rampant femicide and systemic abuse.
Addressing the United Nations Human Rights Council, Turk condemned “social systems that silence women and girls” and shield powerful men from accountability.
“Violence against women, including femicide, is a global emergency,” he stated.
Turk pointed to the extreme situation in Afghanistan, where he said gender-based segregation resembles apartheid.
He also referenced high-profile cases like US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and French rape survivor Gisele Pelicot, saying they illustrate the widespread exploitation of women and girls.
Epstein, who died in 2019 while facing sex trafficking charges, operated with impunity among the world’s elite. Pelicot’s 2024 trial in France exposed horrifying abuse by her ex-husband and his accomplices while she was unconscious.
“Such horrific abuse is enabled by social systems that silence women and girls, and insulate powerful men from accountability,” Turk charged.
He urged states to investigate all alleged crimes, protect survivors, and deliver justice impartially.