Across the world, more than one billion people – or 15% of the world’spopulation – live with disabilities. They face significant barriers torealizing their human rights, including discrimination in education,employment, housing and transport; denial of the right to vote; and beingstripped of the right to make decisions about their own...
Equal rights and opportunities for girls and boys help all children fulfil their potential. Girls and boys see gender inequality in their homes and communities every day – in textbooks, in the media and among the adults who care for them. Parents may assume unequal responsibility for household work, with...
Human rights belong to each and every one of us equally. Human rights are standards that recognize and protect the dignity of all human beings. Human rights govern how individual human beings live in society and with each other, as well as their relationship with the State and the obligations...
Democracy depends on the guarantee of equal rights under law and freedom from discrimination for all individuals in a society. If the rights and freedoms of one segment of the population are violated with impunity, the same sorts of abuses are likely to be visited on others. Those forced to...
The ability of journalists to report freely on matters of public interest is a crucial indicator of democracy. A free press can inform citizens of their leaders’ successes or failures, convey the people’s needs and desires to government bodies, and provide a platform for the open exchange of information and...
A well-functioning democracy requires strong safeguards against official corruption, which erodes public services as well as public faith in the democratic system. Corruption can also give unfair advantages to incumbent politicians and create pathways for malign interference by foreign powers. Government accountability and transparency ensure that malfeasance is exposed—and that...
Freedom of worship—of belief and nonbelief—is an important element of democracy, contributing to social peace, encouraging full political participation, and strengthening pluralism more broadly. Freedom of worship—of belief and nonbelief—is an important element of democracy, contributing to social peace, encouraging full political participation, and strengthening pluralism more broadly. Free religious...
Free speech and expression is the lifeblood of democracy, facilitating open debate, the proper consideration of diverse interests and perspectives, and the negotiation and compromise necessary for consensual policy decisions. Efforts to suppress nonviolent expression, far from ensuring peace and stability, can allow unseen problems to fester and erupt in...
The right to assemble peacefully is a fundamental prerequisite for any open and self-governing society. While most countries’ constitutions promise freedom of assembly, far fewer governments uphold this basic right without undue restrictions. Governments often violate the right to freedom of assembly as a method of suppressing dissent and...
