Thank you very much.
I would like to thank all of the witnesses for being here this evening. I understand that it is a very broad topic. I also know that we can't begin a meeting today of the human rights subcommittee without acknowledging the tremendous human rights abuses that are happening in Ukraine right now. I know there's a debate going on in the Chamber at the moment, but I think all of us here are very united in standing with Ukraine.
I do want to ask some specific questions. I noted that all three of you have talked about particular geographic areas. Over the last decade or two there have been significant advances in gender equality in SRHR and in alleviating sexual violence against women and girls around the world. There are still obviously horrible conditions in certain places.
My question to you is about the current backsliding of democracy and human rights with the rise in authoritarianism that we're seeing around the world.
I would like Ms. Nivyabandi to start, mostly because she's a constituent of mine. I would like each of the witnesses to then step in.
Ms. Nivyabandi, you mentioned Tigray and the sexual violence that's happening against women and girls there. Could you perhaps comment on whether this is something that is increasing globally? Are there areas in particular where this is a particular problem? What is the state currently of sexual and reproductive rights of women and girls?