Five Critical Significant Developments in the Attack on the Rights of Women and Girls in This Past Year.

This time last year, organisations advocating for women's rights were preparing for a return of Donald Trump to office. The ensuing chaos was largely unforeseen. The volume and speed of administrative decrees coming out of the White House were regarded as a deliberate tactic to induce a state of shock. In many ways it worked – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as organisations scrambled to address the shortfall left by a sudden aid suspension. But this was only the precursor.

The US administration has been the primary force, complemented by vigorous campaigning by religious fundamentalist networks using the moment to solidify transnational relationships with like-minded governments.

The anti-rights movement describes a worldwide alliance of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that aim to roll back gains in a variety of areas. Areas targeted involve reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.

They achieve this through advocating to officials, financing legal challenges, sabotaging multilateral work to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.

We review five junctures that impacted the safety, dignity and lives of girls and women.

The Demise of a Major Aid Agency

In early spring, shortly after a key American development organization is halted, causing turmoil around the world, a top American diplomat announces that nearly all of the body's projects will be terminated. American foreign service officers, former presidents and aid and medical specialists condemn the news, cautioning that fatalities will ensue. Activists say that the demise of the agency is not just a financial shortfall, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and access to contraception and reproductive health services. Numerous groups say the impact on girls and women will be severe by shrinking assistance, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, evidence indicates how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Two other major donor nations follow with their own cuts. A director of a global justice organization says a choice to reduce international development funding is an attempt to placate a powerful partner.

Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit

In March, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a strategic summit held in parallel with the international conference on women's rights. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in buoyant mood as they celebrate new Washington directives on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the gender equality forum with a stark warning that “the poison of patriarchy” is back, after a analysis demonstrates that groups opposing progressive rights are deliberately weakening historic agreements on core aspects of gender equality around the world.

African ‘Family Values’ Conferences

Over the summer, a series of conferences in Africa focused on the conservative family structures and national independence triggers anxiety among human rights defenders. In May, a national leader and spouse open a large assembly to push back on what they label external influences undermining local norms. A shortly thereafter, another regional summit on family values is held. Both events are participated in by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker urges African NGOs to resist “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of multilateral bodies. In June, a global faith group hosts a family strengthening conference in West Africa, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Advocates remark that the extent of foreign involvement has grown significantly.

Contraceptive Destruction Order

As medical centers in numerous African countries report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in July plans to incinerate a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a European depot. A major reproductive health federation states that their destruction will deny millions of women and girls from contraceptive supplies, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “heartless and dangerous”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains unresolved as the regional government will not allow usable products to be destroyed.

Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy

Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which halts US aid to groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is standard practice for certain US administrations. It came as no surprise when the policy was restored in the first month of the year. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. But in October, the US announces it intends to extend the restrictions to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. Additional information regarding the expansion of the rule are likely forthcoming. A leader in global maternal health says widening the scope will have “devastating consequences”. Pro-choice activists fear that fresh American assistance deals being arranged with states on the continent will become contingent upon adopting the expanded global gag.