Although the world is witnessing unprecedented pushback on gender equality, positive structural shifts are taking place because of evidence-driven and coordinated action, with the UN working in alliance with civil society and movements.
For example, through close partnership with the CEDAW Committee, UN Women feeds country-level realities directly into global norms and bring these norms back to push legal reforms on the ground. Between 2022–2024, UN Women supported 325 laws across 83 countries to be adopted, reformed, or repealed, improving the lives of 2.9 billion women and girls.
Experience over decades shows that building resilient societies means building a culture of rights, and this starts with public consciousness and mobilisation. Shifting harmful social norms counters disinformation and puts the voices of those most affected by human rights abuses and violations at the centre including women with disabilities, Indigenous and Afro‑descendant women, LGBTIQ+ people, young women, and rural women.
Humans live intersectional lives and applying an intersectional lens to understanding how different people relate to human rights is critically important. There is not a single human rights violation that does not display intersectionality. It is strategically important to build intersectionality into all strategies and approaches from the start and find effective ways and language to reach different audiences.
Independent journalism is on life support because of competing platforms, unmanageable news cycles, social media influence, and AI making jobs redundant. Over the past 20 years the media’s business model has completely shifted. The media industry is losing its capacity to produce content, and any content is increasingly difficult for consumers to find. Far right and anti-rights media is far more dominant, with most of the media’s content on rights focused on framing rights as restrictive or oppositional rather than as protections intended to support individuals or communities.
In combination, the law is being increasingly weaponised to silence media freedom. In 2025, more than 60% of the journalists imprisoned were jailed through legal tactics. Freedom of expression declined in 44 countries. As journalists are being targeted, and legal representation is obstructed, the effects on journalism are chilling. Support and funding to the information ecosystem which plays a role in protecting human rights is critical.
Participants discussed underutilised entry points for building stronger societal support for human rights which included engaging private donors, better coordination between pro-human rights governments and embassies, and elevating the voices and testimonies of victims and survivors.
Strategic communication to a range of audiences to both counter disinformation and misinformation, and to support the positive value of human rights requires initial research on people’s views and amplifying positive attitudes towards human rights.
The technical communication of human rights can often land badly with audiences. It is more effective to evoke concepts of human dignity, justice, fairness, equality, and agency to resonate with audiences who seek stability, order, and security.
As well as engaging with different sectors who do not identify as relating to human rights, such as the arts, faith, sports, and business sectors, it is also critically important to reach out in homes, families, and workplaces to oppose domination in all these everyday settings.
Awareness of gender is critical in engagement processes as the military and security landscape, the technology sector, and the investment sector are all male dominated.
Opportunities exist to strategically engage with companies, especially those with existing or emerging commitments to human rights and to get involved in conversations around regulatory frameworks, particularly for AI and digital services. Companies are concerned about their reputations, and their investors’ opinions, and it is possible to apply pressure to sensitive points especially when companies appear to be competing over good practices.
In considering how the anti-torture movement has worked, a major lesson is to understand that survivors are active defenders of human rights and their power to influence decisions, policy, and actions should never be underestimated or underutilised.
Another significantly underutilised entry point is that of local authorities, who are rarely at the table discussing human rights. The local level is a practical expression of human rights, for examplein the form of health, education, water and sanitation, and democracy.
Some key areas and suggestions for action included:
- Raise public consciousness of human rights and supporting social mobilisation.
- Stop working in silos and embrace intersectionality.
- Support and adequately resource the information ecosystem and protect independent journalism as essential conditions for transparency, accountability and respect for human rights.
- Always be led by victims and survivors of human rights abuses.
- Invest in time and engagement with communities and sectors who do not identify as working on human rights.
- Be aware of gender considerations in dealing with predominantly male sectors.
- Build inclusive narratives and language to communicate about human rights focused on dignity, fairness, equality and agency