The realization of human rights, particularly sexual and reproductive health and rights, remains seriously uneven in many countries, risking the reversal of hard-won advances in preventable maternal and child mortality and undermining the health of adolescents in particular. Discrimination, abuse and violence against women, children and adolescents – among the most widespread of human rights violations – continue to erode physical and mental health. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated persistent inequities while also creating new ones. The actions taken to control the virus have disproportionately affected women and children and have had devastating impacts, including lower rates of immunization; reversals in learning outcomes due to school closures; surging reports of violence and abuse directed at girls and women; and increased poverty, hunger and food insecurity. Meanwhile, conflicts, migration, climate instability and ecological degradation are introducing new dangers and intensifying known impediments to the health of women, children and adolescents, placing each of these hard-won gains at great risk. The most vulnerable and marginalized include, among others, individuals and families of disadvantaged ethnic groups, those living in remote areas, those affected by conflict or other humanitarian disasters and those impacted by economic disadvantage. Many are forced to leave their homes and sometimes become refugees, migrants or internally displaced people; they often have limited access or rights to health and other services.

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