Good morning/afternoon. Judicators, ladies and gentlemen – I would like to extend a warm welcome to you all. Madeline Albright once said, "It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent."
Article Two of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent,
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In Ireland, a woman with at least one child earns almost 14% less than their male counterpart. Income inequality is a rampant discrimination against women. The White House reported, an African-American women earns 64 cents and Latina women earn 56 cents for every dollar earned by a Caucasian man. Income inequality does not affect just one community nor one race but it affects every woman. How can we end income inequality? For one, we need to start valuing the work of women by closing the gap in income inequality. We need to stop blaming children, women with children are no more and no less committed to their careers than anyone …show more content…
As I mentioned at the beginning of my speech, everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, this is including sex. Every year, an estimated 15 million girls under 18 are married worldwide. For 15 million girls worldwide, this is a human right that is violated.
Jasvinder Sanghera (an advocate for the rights of those experiencing forced marriages and honor based abuse) is a survivor of child marriage. When aged fourteen, her mother had shown her a picture of a man she was promised to since she was eight years old. Sanghera refused to marry this man, and for that, she was abused both physically and mentally. Aged fifteen, her parents locked her in her room until she agreed to the marriage. Sanghera attempted suicide in protest. Jasvinder is now in her forties – happily and consensually married with three kids.
Once a child is married, she is more likely to be a victim of domestic violence. The World Health Organization reported, 35% of women worldwide have experienced either intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime. The effects of violence on a victim's health are