Sure.
One reason that this study.... I'm so happy that this committee has taken this up. We have to recognize that these attacks on gender equality and on women's rights are not haphazard. To the previous member's question about data and trends, there are absolute trends and there is an absolutely concerted and organized opposition to women's rights. We have to be as organized, concerted and strategic as those who are opposing us. I think we have to do that in a number of different ways.
To dial back to the start of your question related to democracy and authoritarianism, and maybe to the previous member's question, one of the key indices that we have to look at is the repression and the silencing of voices. The voices of women in civil society tend to be the first to be silenced.
We're seeing what some have called an epidemic of coups around the world. Often, they are military takeovers of government and again...deep forms of suppression. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but whereas we'd seen a handful in the previous 20 or 30 years, we're now seeing three or four times the number of coups in countries. We're seeing really dramatic declines on those fronts.
We're also seeing very intentional attacks on gender equality by countries that are working together—Russia and China in particular. They're doing this at institutional levels. At the United Nations, the Organization of Security and Co-operation in Europe and the African Union, for example, we're seeing countries deliberately and often subtly try to roll back gains that we've achieved. A colleague of mine said that we used to be pushing a boulder up the hill, but now we're just trying to keep the boulder in place.
For things like the rights of civil society and for women activists to address the forums directly—to hear from them, as opposed to just through government representatives—or recognizing the role of civil society in partnering with government, we're getting subtle rollback on these at an institutional level. The networks that you mentioned are exceptionally important so that we can identify these tactics, anticipate them and work against them.
That happens also at an individual level. You referenced that the pandemic has really been exacerbating these problems. First of all, as you all know very well, people couldn't meet in person. They had to take a lot of their work online. That created massive opportunities for state surveillance of human rights activists and organizers. Again, we need to think about networks and being able to provide security for people differently.
I really commend the committee and the work of committees in doing things like recommending a dedicated stream for human rights defenders, which, as you know, translated into very specific action. We're really proud that we have that and we want to keep growing that.
As we mentioned, there are very specific needs that we understand by listening to activists. Many human rights defenders and women peacebuilders say they're not seeking permanent status. They need to be able to escape while they manage the risks and then their ultimate goal, of course, is to go back. That's not their barrier to begin with.
As I mentioned, some people say that they don't want to go to a place where there's a concentration of people from their own country because they have to lay low, so it exposes them to different risks. They might have different needs for supports.
We have to be collecting gender disaggregated data on all of these applications and resettlements to make sure that women and men equally understand the opportunities that face them. The 250 number, of course, includes family members, so that adds up very quickly.
Thank you.