Reflections on Vienna

Twenty-five years on from the landmark UN World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993, it is possible to see how historic that conference was in the evolution of the international women’s movement. Vienna was part of a larger

It is quite a challenge to capture why the World Conference on Human Rights (Vienna 1993) was important in a few words. For me the answer is deeply personal and profoundly political. It comes from my history as a woman

Revisiting Vienna where the Human Rights Conference was held in 1993 has allowed me to reflect, with the benefit of hindsight, why Vienna was an historic milestone in the international women’s movement. The movement was at a crossroads in 1993.

The Vienna Conference on Human Rights is of great significance for women.  It was here that the acceptance of the human rights of women really reached a breakthrough. At this conference, the community of nations acknowledged in unequivocal terms, that


Why Vienna was a milestone in the history of the international women’s movement The ten year gap between the UN World Conference on Women, Nairobi 1985, and the planned Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing 1995, proved to be very