Prime Minister Erdogan’s statements against abortion
Turkey: Prime Minister Erdogan’s statements in the last week of May 2012 have revealed that plans to ban abortion have been underway for some time now. Experience from the global arena illustrates that this lethal attempt, which has no scientific backing, will not reduce abortion rates; instead it will only lead to unsafe abortions and increase maternal mortality. Read more.
Controversial installation marking World Art Day in Sweden
Sweden: On 15 April 2012, images above showing Sweden’s Minister of Culture, Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth, cutting into a cake in the shape of a naked black woman have led to an outcry across the country and online. Read more.
March 8th – The International Women’s Day: some highlights
Global: To mark the International Women’s Day and to highlight backs and forwards in terms of women’s current condition, SPW has gathered a series of articles, studies, news and arts in a special bulletin.
MP 557 is an absurd measure; instead of protecting pregnant women, it violates their human rights
Brazil: President Dilma Roussef signed an act that regulates the obligatory registration of pregnant women. The text includes language that treats the fetus as a person. Read more.
Reports to the UN Universal Periodic Review Brazil – 2012
Sexuality Policy Watch (SPW) and the Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association (ABIA) were involved in the production of reports on the status of human rights in Brazil for the second Universal Periodic Review of the Human Rights Council, which will be held in June 2012. Read the reports.
Nigeria’s Senate passed the “Same-Gender Marriage” Bill on November 29th
Nigeria: The Senate passed the Same-Gender Marriage Prohibition Bill. Nigerian Human Rights Defenders have condemned the Bill and the Coalition for the Defense of Sexual Rights in Nigeria circulated a call for action. Read more.
The World AIDS Day 2011
December 1st is the World AIDS Day. Despite recent advances on treatment and prevention projects, women are still missing in policies to fight and prevent
Bans of “gay propaganda” in Russia
Russia: On November 11, 2011, St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly approved a bill to ban the so-called propaganda of “sodomy, lesbianism, bisexualism and transgenderism, and pedophilia to minors”. The second reading of the bill has been temporarily postponed until 30 November, 2011. Read more.
Anand Grover calls on all countries to abolish criminal laws that control women’s reproductive freedom
Global: On October 24th, 2011, Anand Grover, UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, presented a report before the UN General Assembly, calling on all countries to abolish or suspend any criminal laws that seek to control women’s sexual and reproductive rights. Read the NGO statement supporting the report and more.
Reinstating the global gag rule?
USA: A remorseless House of Representatives returns to Capitol Hill, armed with a grim anti-woman agenda, in the form, once again, of the Global Gag Rule, a presidential order that declares that U.S. international family planning funds cannot go to organizations that use non-U.S. funds for abortion services, counseling, or referrals. Read more.