August 2026, World: new resolution on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and Girls in Care and Support Systems
Introduced by Mexico, Spain and Iceland, this new resolution was adopted at the 62nd session of the Human Rights Council and focuses on care and support systems and highlights care and support work as a key driver of gender inequality. Of particular relevance to children’s identity rights, it is worth mentioning that the resolution urges States to ‘review, modify or repeal all laws and policies that exclusively or disproportionately target or criminalize the actions or behaviour of women and girls and laws and policies that discriminate against them on the basis of any grounds’. For example, in a number of countries, women may still not register their children in the absence of the father or if the child was born out of wedlock, which leaves many children without a legal identity and may ultimately entail statelessness. Likewise, access to justice remains complex for many women and girls worldwide. More widely, the resolution recognises the distinct care and support needs of women and girls and that the latter are subject to ‘multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination as well as systematic forms of discrimination, throughout their life based on, inter alia, gender, age, race, ethnicity, Indigenous origin or identity, religion or belief, physical and mental health, disability and civil, socioeconomic, migration or other status’. It therefore further encourages increased investment in care and support systems.
CHIP welcomes this new resolution, which contributes to offering further visibility to potentially discriminatory laws, policies and practices affecting women and girls, including violations of their rights to civil registration and in wider care systems.
See: Human Rights Council, Elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and girls in care and support systems, A/HRC/62/L.16/Rev.1, July 2026, https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/regular-sessions/session62/res-dec-stat.
