Around the world
Since its launching, in 2006, the Sexuality Policy Watch website has circulated relevant information on sexual politics trends, events and actors around the world. This investment has resulted in a rich archive of global and national sexual politics.
One main feature of this database is that it is not confined to specific areas or issues. It encompasses information on abortion, sexual and reproductive rights, sex work, sexual violence, gender and women’s rights, HIV and AIDs; and emphasizes materials and analysis that contribute to locate these issues in relation to the political economy of sexuality. Since 2013, key facts, events and trends are selected and highlighted in monthly announcements.
Abortion politics in Poland: “Save the Women” legal initiative tabled in Polish Parliament
The “Save the Women” Civic Committee has tabled a draft law in the Sejm, lower house of the Polish parliament, liberalizing the anti-abortion legislation in force in Poland since 1993. The draft law allows abortion on request until the 12th week of pregnancy, and improves access to contraception and sexuality education, After that abortion would be permissible along the same rules as those in effect today.
Read moreLetter: trans candidates for UN Independent Expert on SOGI rights
Trans organisations signing this letter, and the activist networks they represent, celebrate the Resolution [on Protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity] passed on 30 June 2016 at the UN Human Rights Council.[1] We consider the appointment of an Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on Sexual […]
Read moreIntersex Genital Mutilations: UN Women’s Rights Committee Reprimands France
France is the 1st ever country to be reprimanded for IGM by 3 different UN treaty bodies, having previously been reprimanded by the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in February 2016, and by the Committee against Torture (CAT) in May.
Read moreWhy Transgender People In Japan Prefer To Be Told They Have A “Disorder”
There’s a global push to remove “gender identity disorder” from the list of mental illnesses. But many transgender people in Japan aren’t on board with the idea. J. Lester Feder reports from Osaka.
Read moreNews and statement on Ugandan crackdown on LGBT people
Pride Uganda raided by police as LGBT activists arrested – Pink News Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK) Statement on State-Sanctioned Disruptions of Pride Celebrations in Uganda Uganda: Police Attack LGBTI Pride Event – Human Rights Watch TGEU condemns violent crackdown on Ugandan LGBTI pride – TGEU
Read moreGALCK Statement on State-Sanctioned Disruptions of Pride Celebrations in Uganda
The Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK) is the national umbrella body for SOGIE organizations representing various lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex voices from across Kenya. Together we envision a safe and enabling environment for SOGIE organizations and individuals in Kenya. The Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya condemns in the strongest terms […]
Read morePride Uganda raided by police as LGBT activists arrested
A Pride event in Uganda has been broken up by police as at least two LGBT+ activists are arrested. Pride Uganda tweeted that the small gathering in Kampala had been raided by police, as prominent LGBT+ activist Frank Mugisha also tweeted that he had been arrested.
Read moreWomen are being silenced in Turkey’s crackdown
From the start of the coup attempt by military officials on Friday through to the government’s crackdown in response, women’s voices have been almost entirely absent. Images of protesters on the streets are mostly men. The military leadership is entirely male. The government is 85 percent men, with only one female minister. Currently, 43 cities don’t have […]
Read moreReport: The Growing Movement Advancing the Human Rights of Intersex People
The Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice has launched the report We Are Real: The Growing Movement Advancing the Human Rights of Intersex People. Available in English, Spanish, Russian, and forthcoming in Chinese, We Are Real seeks to share and promote relevant knowledge and understanding of intersex issues and activism to people across the world––particularly funders and other actors […]
Read moreInternational coalition launched for LGBTI equal rights
In Uruguay on Wednesday an international coalition was launched for equal rights worldwide for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people. Foreign minister Bert Koenders and his Uruguayan opposite number Rodolfo Novoa jointly opened the conference, which the Netherlands and Uruguay co-organised. Government representatives attended from every continent. Several countries, including South Africa, the […]
Read moreCriminal laws and sexuality
The problem is ‘criminal law’ by Sonia Corrêa Using media and legal services for the defense of LGBT rights in Mexico by Alejandro Brito Crosstalk: HIV and linking across areas of criminalisation by Susana Fried Shortcomings of Penal Policies in Addressing Sexual Rights Violations A RESURJ policy brief Image: Colateral effect, painting by Rosana Paulino
Read moreCrosstalk: HIV and linking across areas of criminalisation
In a moment of global attacks on civil society, an intersectional approach linking issues across HIV, sexuality, adult consensual sex and bodily integrity is critical. Now, more than ever. Speaking Wall, World AIDS Conference, Durban 2016. Photo: Alice Welbourn. Every international AIDS conference seems to have a theme or two that picks up energy as […]
Read moreAttack on Trans and Prostitutes
The on-going political conservative trends that has brought us the Brazilian “soft coup”, BREXIT and the candidacy of Donald Trump has also resulted in an increase in reactionary politics across the political spectrum, even among “radicals” and “progressives”. In Brazil, this has been recently manifest in attacks against
Read moreSexual rights, gender, health and rights of defenders at the United Nations HRC 2016
Gabriel Hoosain Khan, an LGBT activist from South Africa muses about the distance of UN bodies in Geneva from the realities of the world that we (or at least some of us) live in or know about. He says – “In Geneva it might be possible
Read moreBody Against Concept
by Maria Eugenia Matricardi A white butterfly flies over the humid foam that floats next to the waterfall. A mere drop could exterminate it or destroy its fragile silk wings. It risks itself as if enchanted, as carbonized insects risk themselves flying around the incantation of light emanating from a bulb. This was the image […]
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