This article investigates the strategies that women human rights defenders use to engage in legal mobilization and overcome gendered barriers to justice. It does so through analysis of a specific... Show moreThis article investigates the strategies that women human rights defenders use to engage in legal mobilization and overcome gendered barriers to justice. It does so through analysis of a specific health and safety dispute involving women workers and the Republic of Korea’s biggest semiconductor corporation. Show less
Mebius, L.; Prinsen, M.; Kempes, M.; Wolf, M.J.F. van der 2024
In its 2019 report to the Human Rights Council, the United Nations (UN) Working Group on business and human rights emphasized that ‘gender-transformative’ remedies can bring ‘change to patriarchal... Show moreIn its 2019 report to the Human Rights Council, the United Nations (UN) Working Group on business and human rights emphasized that ‘gender-transformative’ remedies can bring ‘change to patriarchal norms and unequal power relations that underpin discrimination, gender-based violence and gender stereotyping’. This article aims to deepen our knowledge of such remediation for women human rights defenders who fight against corporate human rights abuses. Human rights remediation is highly fragmented. This has the advantage that remedies at one level can offer sources of learning for remedies at other levels. This article uses relevant communications that the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders sent to states and corporations jointly with other Special Procedures (including the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences and the UN Working Group on discrimination against women and girls in law and practice) between 2011 and 2020 as a source of learning. Show less
Schlette, A.; Prooijen, J.W. van; Blokland, A.A.J.; Thijs, F. 2023
This article discusses the European Commission’s proposal for a regulation to ban products from forced labour inthe European Union (EU) of September 2022. It argues that the Commission failed to... Show moreThis article discusses the European Commission’s proposal for a regulation to ban products from forced labour inthe European Union (EU) of September 2022. It argues that the Commission failed to conduct an impact assessmentwhich could have addressed gender dimensions. This was omitted because the proposal would be ‘urgent’. While not atypical — the EU has often turned a blind eye to women’s issues — the gender-blind nature of the proposal is unfortunate. At least three indicators of forced labour that are used by the International Labour Organization — including the two most common indicators vulnerability and wage non-payment — have a differentiated impact on women. Drawing from the three-step framework in the Gender Guidance of the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights, this article suggests a way to start discussions to include a gender perspective in the regulation. Show less
