UN rights chief slams violence against women, calls it ‘a global emergency’

South China Morning Post · Feb 28, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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The UN rights chief on Friday decried mounting threats to women’s rights worldwide, highlighting rampant femicide and horrific abuse exposed in cases like that of US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.Addressing the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Volker Turk denounced “social systems that silence women and girls” allowing powerful men to abuse them with impunity.“Violence against women, including femicide, is a global emergency,” the High Commissioner for Human Rights told the UN’s top rights body.He highlighted the extreme situation in Afghanistan, warning that the “system of segregation imposed on women is reminiscent of apartheid, based on gender rather than race”.He also pointed to two cases that have recently caused shock waves around the world: those of convicted Epstein and of French rape survivor Gisele Pelicot.Both cases “show the extent of the exploitation and abuse of women and girls”, Turk said. “Does anyone think there are not many more men like Dominique Pelicot or Jeffrey Epstein?”