#SmashPatriarchyNotPlanet | Open Letter To the Heads of UN Member States
As you gather in Dubai for the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP28), we urge you to stand with women, girls, and non-binary people in all their diversity. No single country in the world has eradicated Gender Based Violence (GBV) despite decades of efforts. Instead, we are witnessing women being pushed into the most precarious and violent conditions. Pair that with the climate crisis humanity is facing and we have the perfect storm to increase the systematic erosion of women's rights. The estimated period to achieve gender equality has reached 131 years. The impacts of climate change, such as higher temperatures, unpredictable rainfall, sea-level rises,
droughts, floods, and storms are also reinforcing gendered inequalities, further exacerbating the levels of violence that women, trans, and non-binary people face.
GBV and climate crisis share common origins, making gender and climate injustice two facets of the same oppressive reality. Capitalism, patriarchy, and colonialism essentially drive these facets. Through GBV and climate crisis, these systems are exploiting both women and the planet, solely for the benefit of the rich and powerful. This must stop! And it can be done in our lifetime. Feminist and climate justice movements have economic alternatives and solutions, to end and prevent all sorts of discriminatory norms, practices, and laws, it is time to listen to listen to them.