Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Refugee women in Cairo participate in a sewing and knitting class in early November, 2013. The class was sponsored by St. Andrew's Refugee Services, which is supported by Catholic Relief Services. (CNS photo/Paul Jeffrey) (Jan. 2, 2014)Refugee women in Cairo participate in a sewing and knitting class in early November, 2013. The class was sponsored by St. Andrew's Refugee Services, which is supported by Catholic Relief Services. (CNS photo/Paul Jeffrey) (Jan. 2, 2014)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The need to recognize women as having equal worth as men and allow them to fully exercise their human rights is increasingly urgent due to the "resurgence of divisions in today's world," a top Vatican official told the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.

"An increased fragmentation of social relations in our multicultural societies, with spontaneous acts and words of racism and xenophobia, social and racial discrimination, and political exploitation of differences, is evident in everyday experiences," said Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic, Vatican observer to U.N. agencies in Geneva.

During a Sept. 25 speech regarding the impact of racial discrimination and intolerance on the human rights of women, the archbishop explained that women are "too often undervalued" and vulnerable to discrimination, not only when they are part of an ethnic, religious or linguistic minority, but for simply being women.

He said that women provide "an irreplaceable value in political, economic and social life," and he emphasized the need to eliminate any form of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance toward women.

He told the council that recognizing the equal dignity and fundamental rights of all people is not enough. Legislation should be coupled with education -- at school and in homes -- for shaping minds and forming consciences that recognize differences as a richness and reject all forms of racism, he said.

He also called on government agencies, the media and others to avoid stereotyping minorities, saying they "must join the rest of society in upholding human dignity."

"To overcome the moral bankruptcy of prejudice, it is essential to put in place a real solidarity at the social, national and international level, founded on the recognition of everyone as having equal human worth," the archbishop said.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
Lisa Weber
6 years 6 months ago

Good to hear about this speech. I wish he would address the question of equality in the Church for women.

The latest from america

The 12 women whose feet were washed by Pope Francis included women from Italy, Bulgaria, Nigeria, Ukraine, Russia, Peru, Venezuela and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
"We, the members of the Society of Jesus, continue to be lifted up in prayer, in lament, in protest at the death and destruction that continue to reign in Gaza and other territories in Israel/Palestine, spilling over into the surrounding countries of the Middle East."
The Society of JesusMarch 28, 2024
A child wounded in an I.D.F. bombardment is brought to Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on March 25. (AP Photo/Ismael abu dayyah)
While some children have been evacuated from conflict, more than 1.1 million children in Gaza and 3.7 million in Haiti have been left behind to face the rampaging adult world around them.
Kevin ClarkeMarch 28, 2024
Easter will not be postponed this year. It will not wait until the war is over. It is precisely now, in our darkest hour, that resurrection finds us.
Stephanie SaldañaMarch 28, 2024