Women’s Human Rights

What is it about?

The W’sHR App is a pioneering endeavour by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and the Swiss Centre of Expertise in Human Rights/ Interdisciplinary Centre for Gender Studies database and was developed to facilitate the often challenging and time consuming UN-negotiations. The App is based on a digital database and provides guidance on key issues related to the human rights of women, including international legal instruments and agreed language contained in over 550 documents on women’s human rights adopted by UN bodies such as the General Assembly, Human Rights Council or ECOSOC. The App also provides key paragraphs based on the annual sessions of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The user’s search is facilitated by keywords which cover crucial topics ranging from «Abortion» to «Sexual abuse» and «Widows». The App will regularly be updated with new documents and emerging issues. The latest add-ons are keywords featuring legal instruments on «Women journalists», «Sport and gender» as well as «Digital/cyber violence and harassment». This provides a basis for convincing arguments and enables more coherent and efficient negotiation processes to make further progress in the field of human rights and gender equality. The W’sHR App is user-friendly and intuitive. New features allow users to bookmark relevant language and take notes within the app.