The Women and Gender Institute (WAGI) held the week-long hybrid training on International Women’s Human Rights and Governance (IWHRG) last July 3-7, 2023. It was participated by 34 government employees, academic professionals, and representatives from NGO/CSOs. 

The IWHRG critically examines the centrality of gender equality in international human rights instruments. It takes gender as a broad category denoting the diversity of human bodies and experiences related to identity, sexual orientation, age, class, race, and ethnicity. These comprise intersectional and structural grounds of inequality and discrimination that result in human rights violations. The course utilizes an interdisciplinary and practical approach to recognize the complex dynamics of gender equality and international human rights, and how to promote and enhance both at everyday life. 

Amongst the topics discussed were the gender norms, comparison between UDHR and CEDAW, Cases on (1) Human Rights in the ASEAN and the Philippines, (2) Sexual identity and Human Rights, (3) Migrants and Refugees and (4) Violence against Women. The film, The Whistleblower, was also shown and analyzed through the concepts learned in the training. On the last day, a roundtable discussion was held on Right Talk: Handling Legal Cases on Violence against women.  

The participants rated the overall training with a resounding 4.62. They also saw the significance of equipping themselves with knowledge as presented in the training to further put into legislation, organization causes, among others. As reiterated by one of the participants, “International Women’s Human Rights and Governance training is a very good initiative to understand more on promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment. That women’s human rights must be protected. This enables us to understand that discrimination, violence, and equalities must be addressed to achieve gender equality.”