Similarly the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (APF)4 reports: … while, across the Asia Pacific region, many countries have laws and policies that protect women and girls from discrimination and promote gender equality, the situation on the ground is often vastly different. The APF also reports the ‘shocking’ levels of violence, harassment and discrimination experienced by LGBTI people in the region.5 Human Rights Watch6 reports: … that small improvements have been made in the region. However, they also report, women and girls are still married as children, or trafficked into forced labour and sex slavery. They are refused access to education and political participation, and some are trapped in conflicts where rape is perpetrated as a weapon of war. Deaths related to pregnancy and childbirth are high and women are prevented from making personal choices in their lives. HRW also reports abuses based on sexual orientation and gender identity, including torture, killing and executions, arrests under unjust laws, unequal treatment, censorship, medical abuses, discrimination in health, jobs and housing, domestic violence, abuses against children and denial of family rights and recognition. UN Women Asia and the Pacific7 reports … that the nature of conflict and its drivers have shifted. They say that the gender dimensions of non-traditional security risks, including climate change, cybersecurity, and violent extremism, pose new challenges that require innovative responses and solutions. They add that women have struggled to participate and lead in governance at all levels of decision-making processes, with the Asia-Pacific region having some of the lowest rates of women's representation in parliaments in the world - 21.0 per cent in Asia and 6.5 per cent in the Pacific Islands. It is to be noted that UN Women is committed, in the pursuit of gender equality, to promoting the full realization of the human rights and equality of all people, including women in all their diversity, and all people with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions and sex characteristics (SOGIESC). A 2023 country-by-country breakdown reported by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (each in 2024) is summarised in Appendix 2. Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (APF), at: https://www.asiapacificforum.net/support/human-rights/women-and-girls/ 5 APF, at: https://www.asiapacificforum.net/support/human-rights/sogisc/ 4 Human Rights Watch (2024), Women’s Rights at: https://www.hrw.org/topic/womens-rights and LGBT Rights, at: https://www.hrw.org/topic/lgbt-rights 6 UN Women Asia and the Pacific (2023), A Regional Framework Towards Peaceful, Inclusive Societies: Advancing the Women, Peace and Security Agenda and Inclusive Governance in the Asia-Pacific Region (20232027) at: https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2023-05/ap-GPS-Regional-Framework-brief.pdf 7 Gender Baseline Assessment of NHRIs in the Asia Pacific region – July 2024 14