When women’s rights collided with Islamic blasphemy laws at the UN, women lost.
March 8, 2026, marked International Women’s Day – which grew out of efforts in the early 20th century to promote women’s rights. The UN claims to be a champion of women’s rights asserting ‘gender equality is at the very heart of human rights and United Nations values. We promote women and girls’ equal enjoyment of all human rights, including freedom from violence, sexual and reproductive rights, access to justice, socio-economic equality, and participation in decision-making.’
How seriously should one take this UN commitment? Not very, as it was put to the test and found wanting.
Two years ago on March 8, 2024, 81 individuals from 17 countries (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, India, Iran, Israel, Netherlands, Philippines, Russia, South Africa, Uganda, United Kingdom and the US) submitted a joint and thoroughly documented 73-page complaint to the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council on the gross, reliably attested, and continuing pattern of the violation of women’s human rights caused by Sharia.
The complaint based itself on accepted norms of international law contained in the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women; the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights that recognized violence against women as a human rights violation; the 1993 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women; the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action which identified ending violence as one of 12 areas for priority [1] action; the UN Secretary-General In-Depth Study on All Forms of Violence against Women; the UN General Assembly biannual resolutions on the issue of violence against women and UN Human Rights Council first resolution on accelerating efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women in 2012.