Restrictions on adolescent girls’ reproductive choices are an especially hurtful form of gender-based discrimination and violence, women’s rights experts told Member States at a high-level panel discussion of the Human Rights Council.

“Human rights mechanisms are a way to hold governments accountable, especially at a time when there is shrinking space,” said Catherine Nyambura, of the pan-African women’s rights organization FemNet. She made her comment after a recent training session on sexual and reproductive health and rights, organized by the UN Human Rights Regional Office in East Africa.

The Human Rights Council examines the negative impacts of intersecting discrimination against women and girls in the context of racism and racial discrimination.

As more women and girls are freed from the violence of terror group Boko Haram, those returning to their communities do not always receive a survivor’s welcome. How can local authorities improve their reintegration into their communities and ensure their rehabilitation?

When women’s right to health is upheld, their access to all other human rights are enhanced, triggering a process of transformative change and greater development for all, said Tarja Halonen, co-chair of the High-Level Working Group on Health and Human Rights.

Human rights cannot be fully enjoyed without health, nor can health be fully realized without the dignity upheld by human rights. A new report launched by a group of UN experts calls on Governments to stand up for the human rights to health through health by taking concrete actions to deliver on existing promises to fund, protect and expand health care provision.

Thanks to her human rights training, a pupil prevents an early marriage and stands up for girls’ education.