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Tag Archives: sexual and reproductive health

News Israel kills a Palestinian woman every hour in the Gaza Strip, including 7,920 mothers so far – Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor UN Women estimates

Introduction Once again, our newsletter brings you news and analysis about the current times, which are more somber than bright: authoritarian trends, the continued expansion

>> Read in PDF << Part 2 – Continuing anti-gender offensives Gender politics: good news Inevitably, the political situation described in part 1 of this

By Françoise Girard On November 13, 2023, in New York City, I had the privilege of interviewing the brilliant Rosalind P. Petchesky, professor emerita of

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the face of the world as we knew it. The lives of whole societies were put on hold, almost all

The Tate Britain Museum of Art is featuring a retrospective of the Portuguese artist Paula Rego, whose paintings and ideas SPW periodically revisit to illustrate

Read the new issue of GLQ on “Cuir/Queer Américas: Translation, Decoloniality, and the Incommensurable”

ANTI-GENDER POLITICS IN LATIN AMERICA Country Case Studies Summaries ABSTRACTS (Download here: https://sxpolitics.org/GPAL/ )   “Gender Ideology”, Catholic Neointegrismo, and Evangelical Fundamentalism: The Anti-Democratic Vocation

Journal Social Science & Medicine Volume 270, February 2021 by Clare Wenhama, Camila Abagarob, Amaral Arévaloc, Ernestina Coasta, Sonia Corrêad, Katherine Cuéllare, Tiziana Leonea, Sandra

Go to the conference website

Argentinian MP Ofelia Fernandez: ‘Being a feminist means being on the side of history’ – France 24 Argentina moves closer to historic abortion legalization –

In the Battle Over Abortion, Polish Feminists with Disabilities Are Claiming Their Rights – Ms. Magazine “They’re uncompromising”: How the young transformed Poland’s abortion protests

EFZ CALLS FOR THE IMMEDIATE WITHDRAWAL OF THE COMPREHENSIVE SEXUALITY EDUCATION FROM THE ZAMBIAN EDUCATION CURRICULUM – Phoeniz FM News American Christian right group hosts anti-LGBT

Paul B. Preciado: The Hot War – e-flux Pompeo’s Legacy Of Partisanship And Wading Into Political Waters – NPR Brazil Joins Egypt, Indonesia, Uganda, Hungary

Proposition Number Year Author Party Federative Unit PL 478/2020 478 2007 Luis Bassuma PT BA PL 3406/2019 3406 2019 Eduardo Girão PODE CE

CONGRESS Proposition Number Year Author Party Federative Unit PEC 164/2012 164 2012 Eduardo Cunha and others PMDB RJ PEC 181/2015 181 2015 Aécio Neves PSDB

Proposition Number Year Author Party Federative Unit Object INC 443/2020 443 2020 Chris Tonietto PSL RJ Recommends the Supreme Court to dismiss the bill that

  Global Public Health Special Issue: (Re)imagining Research, Activism, and Rights at the Intersections of Sexuality, Health, and Social Justice Guest Editors: Debolina Dutta, Laura Murray,

As part of DAWN’s webinar series DAWN Talks on COVID-19, Sonia Corrêa shares a piece she wrote especially for DAWN on COVID-19 biopolitics from a

On 5 June 2020, the Interim Minister of Health, General Eduardo Pazuello, dismissed Flávia Andrade Nunes Fialho, Coordinator of Women’s Health, and Danilo Campos da

 GENDER UNDER ATTACK Europe Romania International Call Against the Teaching of Gender Ban in Romania – The Gender International Controversies Over Law Banning Any Reference

By Richard Parker* In the COVID-19 pandemic, the history of the HIV/AIDS epidemic emergence and responses offers lessons for reflecting on the current challenges and

The Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association (ABIA) expresses deep concern regarding President Jair Bolsonaro’s latest changes in the Ministry of Health and regarding his active support

MAY / JUNE Hospital’s COVID-19 Policy Separated Native American Mothers From Their Newborns – Truthout Denied beds, pain relief and contact with their babies: the

English Trump, Bannon y Cañizares: los lobbies ultrarreligiosos alimentan la teoría de la conspiración abortista del coronavirus – el diario The Coronavirus Is Cutting Off

HIV/Aids What Lessons Does the AIDS Crisis Offer for the Coronavirus Pandemic? – Masha Gessen – The New Yorker Larry Kramer had the courage to

International Women’s Day – a spotlight on gender and development – IDS Why I’ll be striking for International Women’s Day – OpenDemocracy In Kazakhstan, women

Brazilian outlet AzMina faces criminal complaints, online harassment over abortion article – CPJ Jornalistas são alvos de ataques em redes sociais após publicação de reportagem

Editorial Moving the ICPD agenda forward: challenging the backlash Gita Sen, Eszter Kismödi, Anneka Knutsson Commentaries  The battle for sexual and reproductive health and rights

“I am delighted to let you know that as part of our Human Rights Day celebrations, we have just published the December 2019 issue of

All states must ensure access to safe and legal abortion as a matter of human rights, say UN experts – OHCHR Demanding Reproductive Rights on

May 2018 Monthly briefing Sexual politics in May 2018 – SPW Original articles Political mythology on abortion and trans men | Blas Radi – SPW

By Fábio Grotz With regards to the trajectory of the policy response to HIV and reproductive health in Brazil — which, between 1980 and the

Rio de Janeiro, May 27th, 2019 Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association (ABIA) After the justifications given by the Ministry of Health for the establishment of the

Brazil’s national AIDS movement – comprised of networks, collectives, CSOs and activists signed below – repudiates Decree N. 9795 (read in Portuguese), released on May

Dear Expert Committee on the Selection and Use of Essential Medicines, We were very glad to learn that the WHO Maternal and Perinatal Health &

Supreme Court Halts Closure of Abortion Clinics in Louisiana – Center for Reproductive Rights We Can Thank Kavanaugh for Roberts’ Decision to Temporarily Block Louisiana’s

On January 10, Ministry of Health’s AIDS and STIs Federal Agency Director Adele Benzaken was exonerated from office, under Bolsonaro’s administration since the 1st. Dr.

3rd Abortion & Reproductive Justice Conference: The Unfinished Revolution | Decriminalisation of Abortion, Medical Abortion and Advocacy for Change At Rhodes University, Makhanda, South Africa, 9-12

Articles Escalating global effort for safe legal abortion – HRW Joint Letter read at the 39th Session of the Human Rights Council – AWID How To

On August 14, after much debate, controversy and anti-Islamic accusations by the conservative sectors of Algerian society, the 2018 Health Act finally came into force

MANUAL ON PROVISION OF MEDICAL AND SOCIAL CARE FOR TRANSGENDER, TRANSSEXUAL AND GENDER NONCONFORMING PEOPLE FOR MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS OF ALL LEVELS OF THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC

Zika has disappeared from the headlines. Soon after the World Health Organization’s decision to declare the end of the global public health emergency in November 2016,

According to ABIA, the withdrawal of Law Provision 198 that would legally define the transmission of HIV as a heinous crime, is a victory for

Reproductive Health Matters is pleased to publish its 50th journal issue! Over the past 25 years, RHM has supported new thinking about sexual and reproductive

LAGOS – The biennial survey poll commissioned by The initiative for Equal Rights and conducted by NOI Polls, to map the perception and awareness of LGBT

The past ten years have witnessed tremendous advances for HIV and lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and intersex (LGBTI) rights globally, including the creation of an Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) mandate at the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights.

The number of countries criminalising consensual, private same-sex sexual activity between adults has decreased to 72, while the variety of law relevant to sexual orientation continues to expand steadily

In 2016, membership of the Campaign increased by 25% to 1,132 members in 113 countries. We coordinated and promoted the biggest and most influential International

As the theme of this month’s In Plainspeak issues, we locate self-care (and self and care) in relation to its connections with issues of sexuality. In the Issue in Focus, Mamatha Karollil lays out ideas of care and sexuality for examination under a psychoanalytic lens.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child issued its new General Comment on Adolescents. Among other advancements, the new general comment: Recognizes that states

We still have a period taboo. We acknowledge that they happen       but it’s vulgar to talk about them in public. A natural process

As part of its celebrations of the Human Rights Day, Mesahat Foundation for Sexual and Gender Diversity is pleased to launch its publication “LGBT Voices from Sudan,” which documents violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity against sexual and gender minorities in Sudan.

To develop a comprehensive sex education strategy for young people that aims to reduce maternal and child mortality, unwanted pregnancy, sexual violence and includes the realities of sex and pleasure, policymakers and sex educators need to engage with new and traditional gatekeepers, porn distributors and young people themselves.

On the 21 March 2016, Reproductive Rights Advocacy Alliance Malaysia (RRAAM) in collaboration with the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) held a policy discussion on “The Legal and Policy Environment of Safe Abortion in Malaysia”.

September 2016 began under the government of Michel Temer, whose intermediary presidency governed Brazil from May to August while awaiting the results of the impeachment

Originally posted at the Sexual Rights Initiative’s website in 2016. Human Rights Council adopts resolution on preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and human rights in the

Originally posted by Clare Coultas at the LSE blog on 14/09/2016. Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2016/09/14/subverting-love-stories/  LSE’s Clare Coultas questions the portrayal of love in global sexual

It also seemed to me that the general mood of pessimism came from the fact that most of the meeting’s participants were not digital natives, not exactly the ”globalized children”. This meant – again, with notable exceptions – that we still saw activism and policy advocacy

The six case studies presented in this publication—in Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, South Africa, and Zimbabwe—offer a look at real-life sex worker–led programming that has reduced police abuse, health risks, and other adverse impacts of bad laws and law enforcement on sex workers

Guest-edited by Tactical Tech, the 2016 AFC bulletin includes contributions from 16 sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and tech activists, researchers, and writers, who explore the relationships and interdependencies influencing the promises of being online: voice, visibility, and power; and look at the possibilities offered by technologies to SRHR work, amidst challenges related to access, the corporatisation of the internet, collusion between governments and technology companies, censorship, violations of privacy, sexism, and violence, amongst others.

Originally published at the International Campaign for Women’s Right to Safe Abortion’s website on 30/08/2016 Available at: https://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/news/supported-by-anis-anadep-files-petition-to-the-brazilian-supreme-court-for-protection-of-rights-violated-during-the-zika-virus-public-health-emergency/ A judicial constitutional review was filed before the

As soon as the Olympics were over, Rio — the city that projected the global image of a new Mount Olympus of fit and sensual

Originally posted at the RHM (Reproductive Health Matters)Journal in 2016:  The forthcoming issue of RHM, which is produced in partnership with CREA, and co-edited with

Ending AIDS by 2030 is redundant rhetoric. It is meaningless without investment in community participation. Code red for action.

Originally posted by Caroline Reilly at Bitch Media on 21/07/2016.  by Caroline Reilly Published on July 21, 2016 at 11:21am We explored this topic—in part—because

Originally posted at the International Campaign for Women’s Right to Safe Abortion‘s website on 08/08/2016. Available at: https://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/news/cedaw-calls-on-philippines-to-provide-contraception-and-allow-safe-abortion-in-some-circumstances-then-president-duterte-announces-full-implementation-of-2012-rh-law/ Philippines President Duterte has announced the full implementation

Originally posted by at the Youth Coalition’s website. Available at: https://www.youthcoalition.org/abortion-rights/call-for-submissions-global-day-of-action-for-access-to-safe-and-legal-abortion-watchdog/  Recognizing 28 September as the Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and

CHANGE has released its brand new report “All Women, All Rights, Sex Workers Included: U.S. Foreign Assistance and the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

Source: http://www.genderjustice.org.za/news-item/applications-mati-2016-now-open/

With Assisted Reproductive Technologies, science has managed to use technology to prise apart previous associations between reproduction and sex. With gender, class and queer theory, the social sciences have prised apart previous associations between gender and sex. We have found that knowledge through science, like knowledge of sexuality, can’t be pinned down to absolutes. “The more you know, the more you know you don’t know,” said Aristotle. While science may value the systematic and objective, it cannot escape the baffling convolutions of lived experience. How does life influence knowledge, and knowledge influence life?

“Do you live with your husband, too?” the second-year medical student asked, innocently enough. It was our first visit with this patient, a healthy middle-aged African American woman. We were just chatting, trying to get to know her, and I had picked up on little clues in our conversation that had already led me to conclude that there was no husband in the picture. The medical student, though, didn’t seem to have picked up on this and, I thought, was trying to get at her sexual history by asking, instead, about her husband.

As we all know, the news is filled with discussions regarding the Zika virus, microcephaly, access to abortion, and women’s sexual and reproductive rights—sometimes from

Community sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services are well placed to deliver abortion assessment services and early medical abortion (EMA), but comparative data on safety and acceptability from both settings are important for future service planning.

Brazil has one of the most restrictive legislations in the world on abortion. Since 1940, abortion is only allowed in Brazil in cases involving either risk to the woman’s life or rape, and in cases of fetal anencephaly. Yet abortion is common despite these legal restrictions.

This guide is a resource for advocates, trainers, project managers and technical advisors who design programs and workshops to engage police on abortion issues. Drawing

The Sexual Rights Initiative is delighted to announce that the National Sexual Rights Law and Policy Database is now live. The database is designed as a dynamic tool regularly updated by our team of researchers and validated by experts in-country. Help us keep the information up-to-date by contacting us when a law or policy has changed, volunteer to be a validator of baseline data or refer our team to an expert in your country that can help.

The longstanding provider-patient confidentiality relationship is quietly eroding as an alarming number of medical staff across Latin America are reporting women and girls to the

Originally posted at the Guttmacher’s Institute on 31/03/2016. Available at: https://www.guttmacher.org/news-release/2016/unsafe-abortion-common-tanzania-and-major-cause-maternal-death In the first nationally representative study of the incidence of abortion and the provision

To fight Zika we must fight poverty and powerlessness and ensure that women enjoy their rights.

In the most comprehensive study to date of contraceptive failure rates in the developing world, researchers found that overall, failure rates are lowest for users of longer-acting contraceptive methods (IUDs, implants or injectables), intermediate for users of shorter-acting methods (oral contraceptive pills or male condoms) and highest for users of traditional methods (withdrawal or calendar rhythm).

Originally posted on Open Democracy by Susana T Fried and Alice Welbourn on 29/02/2016. Available at: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/confinement-of-eve-resolving-ebola-zika-and-hiv-with-women-s-bodi/ There are parallels between three major newsworthy viruses,

The government of Uganda should stop impeding access to medical abortion and reproductive health services, according to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights—a regional body charged with ensuring African states comply with their human rights obligations under regional and international human rights treaties.

Originally published on ReproHealthLaw Blog on 10/03/2016. Available at: https://reprohealthlaw.wordpress.com/2016/03/10/guyana-midwives-nurses-pharmacists-can-provide-abortion-pill/ In Guyana, Madam Justice Roxane George has interpreted its Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of

The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has published this week two General Comments: General Comment 22 on sexual and reproductive health and

Originally published on HRW on 08/03/2016. Available at: https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/03/08/dispatches-life-and-death-papua-new-guinea Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a dangerous place to be pregnant. It has one of the

GENEVA (8 March 2016) – The right to sexual and reproductive health is not only an integral part of the general right to health but fundamentally linked to the enjoyment of many other human rights, including the rights to education, work and equality, as well as the rights to life, privacy and freedom from torture, and individual autonomy, UN experts have said in an authoritative new legal commentary.

Originally posted by the International Campaign for Women’s Right to Safe Abortion on 15/02/2016. Available at: https://us12.campaign-archive.com/?u=c02a095d6213ac4bd2aed2e81&id=29c2a05981&e=869b0d4585 WHO predicts up to four million cases of

The Lancet Zika virus resource centre brings together the best evidence from across The Lancet family of journals—offered with free access—to assist researchers, policy makers,

With a growing number of older people in the world, it is time for Reproductive Health Matters to look more closely at the sexual and reproductive health of people in this different stage of life.

New medication to prevent HIV, known as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), could provide protection where condoms are not used. Integrating it into HIV and sexual health programming for various communities has become a focus of researchers and health and development agencies. However, PrEP raises important challenges in the context of female sex work.

The country’s Ministry of Health recommended last week that women should avoid becoming pregnant until 2018. But local feminist groups say this guidance doesn’t reflect the needs of Salvadoran women, especially where reproductive health is concerned.

If things had gone well, 2014 would have been the perfect year to commemorate the positive developments of sexual and reproductive health and rights in Brazil.

Today, Brazil’s attention is focused on a different type of birth defect: microcephaly, in which a child is born with an abnormally small skull. Microcephaly, which can severely impact a child’s development, is being linked to a massive outbreak of the Zika virus, a mosquito-borne illness first discovered in Africa in the 1940s.

On Jan. 18, the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) launched a continental campaign for the decriminalization of abortion in Africa to bring attention to unsafe abortion which significantly threatens women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights.

The Zika Virus Could Force Women To Have Unsafe Abortions – Huffington Post El Salvador’s Advice on Zika Virus: Don’t Have Babies – New York

The issue 46 of Reproductive Health Matters focuses on the theme “Sexuality, sexual rights and sexual politics” and brings articles offering “a wide range of

The Chilean Ministry of Health has issued instructions to its national health sector to stop “normalising” medical interventions on intersex infants and children. This guidance is a global first: the first time that a health ministry has shown leadership in taking this step without legislation or legal action.

Originally published by the UN on 18/01/2016. Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2016/01/peru-compensates-woman-historic-un-human-rights-abortion-case In 2001, a 17-year-old Peruvian girl, named K.L., was 14 weeks pregnant when doctors at

Around 40 percent of women in the West Bank have had abortions, though the procedure remains illegal in Palestine. So guess where they go.

One of the main NGOs in the country and engaged in fighting HIV / AIDS for 28 years, the Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association – (ABIA)/

AWID spoke with Sergia Galván, Executive Director of Colectiva Mujer y Salud [Women and Health’s Collective] from the Dominican Republic, on the realities faced by women with regard to their sexual rights and reproductive health.

Originally published on Today I Found Out in November, 2013. Available at http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/11/first-british-surgeon-perform-successful-c-section-woman-disguised-man/ Today I found out that James Barry, the first British surgeon to

Originally published on The Guardian on 02/11/2015. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/nov/02/myanmar-womens-fight-against-verbal-taboo-symbolises-wider-rights-battle Lack of sex education for women perpetuates gender inequality in Myanmar but activists addressing such

Originally published on: http://www.rhmjournal.org.uk/journal/call-papers/ Reproductive Rights Matters – volume 24   number 47   may/june 2016  In this issue of the journal, we are hoping to

Originally published on Reproductive Rights on 19/10/15. Available at: http://www.reproductiverights.org/press-room/iachr-holds-hearing-on-wrongful-imprisonment-of-salvadoran-women-who-miscarry 10.19.15 – (PRESS RELEASE) Reproductive rights advocates testified today in Washington, D.C. about the human rights violations

Join the Youth Health and Rights Coalition and Evidence to Action on Monday, September 28th from 9 am – 10:30 am EDT for a webinar, “Putting

Originally published on The BMJ. Available at: http://www.bmj.com/content/women%E2%80%99s-children%E2%80%99s-and-adolescents%E2%80%99-health-0 The year 2015 marks a defining moment for the health of women, children, and adolescents. It is

Distinguished Committee Members: I wish to thank the Committee for the opportunity to deliver this brief statement on behalf of over fifty human rights organizations

The article Sexual health, human rights, and law, authored by Rajat Khosla, Lale Say, Marleen Temmerman was published at The Lancet, Volume 386, No. 9995.

The Clinical practice handbook for safe abortion care is intended to facilitate the practical application of the clinical recommendations from the second edition of Safe

  The WHO Human Reproduction Program has made public this week (June 15-19th, 2015) a new groundbreaking report  titled Sexual Health, Human Rights and Law. 

by Dr Nozer Shariar Past Secretary General & Chairperson, MTP Committee, Federation of Obstetric & Gynecological Societies of India (FOGSI); Past President,Mumbai Obstetric & Gynecological

Reproductive Health Matters has extended the deadline of the  Call  it has launched for Papers on Sexuality/Sexual Rights/ Sexual Politics.

SPW recommend the study Transgender Men Who Experienced Pregnancy After Female-to-Male Gender Transitioning, aimed at conducting a cross-sectional study of trans- gender men who had

This global research effort was undertaken between 2004 and 2006 by DAWN, Development Alternative with Women for a New Era. Coordinated by Sonia Corrêa, it

In Biopolitics at the Crossroads of Sexuality and Disaster: The Case of Haiti, Rosalind Petchesky begins her reflections by sharing a definition of intersectionality: “An

In Cape Town, South Africa, where abortion is legal, many women opt for underground procedures to end a pregnancy because of social stigma or lack

A new campaign created by Ogilvy Brazil for the NGO Life Support Group (GIV) spread posters throughout São Paulo carrying an actual HIV positive drop

Fábio Grotz & Sonia Corrêa Abortion is criminalized in Brazil, except in the cases of woman’s life risk, rape and anencephalic mal formation of the

Realizing Demographic Dividend in Africa: the Critical Importance of Adolescents and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights February 8 – 12, 2016 | Accra,

The era of market reform has created a burgeoning Chinese middle class that craves not only increased consumption of goods and the freedom of self-expression,

Dear Colleague, Join more than 1,000 policymakers, activists and practitioners, including young persons, people living with HIV & AIDS, with disabilities, and LGBQTI persons from

Originally published on Standard Media. Available at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000155804/court-nullifies-section-outlawing-reckless-spread-of-hiv By Kamau Muthoni Kenya: The High Court has declared unconstitutional a section of the HIV and Aids

Originally published on Rewire on 10/03/2015. Available at: http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2015/03/10/women-deserve-know-hiv-prevention-medication/ by Anna Forbes and Manju Chatani and Dázon Dixon Diallo March 10, 2015 – 1:05 pm In

Originally published on Rewire on 21/01/2015. Available at: http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2015/01/21/pope-francis-remarks-birth-control-methods-offend-pro-choice-catholics/ by Martha Kempner January 21, 2015 – 1:15 pm Pope Francis, on his way home from his

Originally published on Rewire on 12/01/2015. Available at: http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2015/01/12/latest-study-depo-provera-hiv-far-complex-headlines-suggest/ by Emily Bass January 12, 2015 – 5:47 pm A newly published study by Lauren Ralph et

Brazilian Interdisciplinary Aids Association has launched Global AIDS Policy Watch (GAPW), a watchdog to monitor and develop a critical analysis of AIDS-related policies globally and

Originally from:  http://kelinkenya.org/2014/12/announcement/ Women Living with HIV & their Lawyers Issuing a Press Statement after Filing their Case       Picture By: KELIN/Regina Mwanza 1.0

The World Association for Sexual Health has published the Declaration of Sexual Rights, in which it reaffirms that sexual rights must be respected, protected and fulfilled.

Originally published on NYT on 05/10/2014. Available at: Taken from: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/06/opinion/pedophilia-a-disorder-not-a-crime.html By MARGO KAPLAN OCT. 5, 2014 CAMDEN, N.J. — THINK back to your first childhood crush.

By Erin Matson, Editor at Large, RH Reality Check September 24, 2014 – 2:41 pm All over the country, from Denver to Minneapolis and beyond,

The Sexual Rights Initiative (SRI) has published a report called: Lessons From the First Cycle of the Universal Periodic Review: From Commitment to Action on Sexual

By Suzanne Trimel* The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) today applauded the United Nations’ top human rights body for approving a resolution

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 19 2014 (IPS) – On the eve of a major U.N. special session on population and development, a delegation of religious leaders

By Marianne Thamm Three years ago South Africa and Brazil co-sponsored a historic resolution encouraging the UN to discuss discrimination and violence based on sexual

The Center for Reproductive Rights has launched The World Abortion Laws Map 2014,  in celebration of the 20-year anniversary of the International Conference on Population and

The Brazilian Interdisciplinary Association for Aids (ABIA) expresses its concern about the results of the survey – released in partnership with the Observatory of prostitution

SPW co-chair Sonia Corrêa spoke at the panel on sexual and reproductive rights of the Women and Girls Rising Conference, held in New York on

The Center for Reproductive Rights has published its September 2014 edition of the Reproductive Rights Rundown, highlighting reproductive rights developments in UN Treaty Monitoring Bodies

The Observatory of Prostitution has published a report revealing the impacts on prostitution and sex trade arising from Brazilian World Cup during June and July.

BRIDGE – development and gender has launched the guide Supporting social movements to advance women’s rights and gender justice – an approach for donors. Read

By Anna Forbes and Sarah Elspeth Patterson August 13, 2014 – 3:54 pm During the 2014 International AIDS conference, The Lancet medical journal released a

The English version of the Federation for Women and Family Planning (Poland) report summarizing 20 years of Poland’s strict anti-abortion law is now available. It

Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) released its latest publication, Dossier 32-33: Sexualities, Culture and Society in Muslim Contexts, available in paperback hard copy and

Read the joint statement delivered at the 13th session of the Open Working Group on the Sustainable Development Goals on behalf of 58 countries, focusing

The Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association cautiously receives the new World Health Organization (WHO) guideline recommending that men who have sex with men (MSM) consider using

At the International Conference on Human Rights (7 to 10 July 2013), the main outcome was the final report, which represents a unique platform to

The four figures of the law:  Brief theoretical inquiries into the Queer movement’s relationship with law Vqueeram Aditya Sahay* This piece is about what the

The 2013 Indian Supreme Court decision on section 377: beyond the law Jordan Osserman * While many LGBTQ activists across the globe expressed mourning, rage

“When the light of our century may blind us” Nitya Vasudevan* When does the idea of a global solidarity threaten to compromise contextualised political struggles?

Moving forward, perhaps: The 2013  India Supreme Court Decision on Section 377 Gautam Bhan* In the immediate moment, it simply felt difficult to breathe. It

The Paradoxical Geopolitics of Recriminalizing Homosexuality in Uganda: One of Three Ugly Sisters Stella Nyanzi* Uganda’s re-criminalization of homosexuality is not an isolated case, but

SPW is on Twitter and Facebook! Follow @sxpolitics and like our Facebook fan page to read more on our activities and sex politics around the

The Queer body between the Judicial and the Political – reflections on the anti-homosexuality laws in India and Uganda akshay khanna* Nostalgia for a recent

Brazil In May and early June the Brazilian sexual politics scenario has winessed setbacks and authoritarian measures, particularly with regard to women’s rights. At the

In an article published by New York Times, Laurie Shrage writes about discrimination against people living with HIV. Read it.

As the pace of Brazilian presidential election campaign accelerates once again abortion rights are caught into the eye of the storm. Last week, the Ministry

In Brazil, not surprisingly, abortion has once again flared up in the path towards the next Brazilian presidential election campaign. The presidential candidate of the

The SPW report, “Global Implications of U.S. Domestic and International Policies on Sexuality”, written by Françoise Girard, was launched at the San Juan high level

Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) and the National LGBTI Security Committee have been documenting the different cases of violences following the Anti-Homossexuality Bill Approval in 2013.

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, meeting at its 55 Ordinary Session held in Luanda, Angola, from 28 April to 12 May 2014,

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have reported a surge in human rights violations at Uganda since the passage of the Anti-Homosexuality Act in 2013.

Read Helen Clark (UNDP) statement highlighting LGBT rights as matter of concern to all working on human development. Click here.

According to World Health Organization, every day, approximately 800 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. From this total, 99% of the

Nigerian Senate has passed the HIV Bill 2013, which stipulates that every person living HIV and AIDS shall be assured of freedom from unlawful termination

These short vídeos document Sexuality Policy Watch activities at the 2006 International AIDS Conference in Toronto: a workshop to discuss the preliminary findings of the

 

Sexual and reproductive rights global landscape in March and early April 2014 During March and early April, Brazil was under the spotlight in terms of

Click here to read it.

SPW gathered news, results and assessments from the 47th session of the Commission on Population and Development (CPD). Below, some of them released by now. RESURJ

The Philippines Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a family planning law but ruled out provisions to punish health workers who do not inform people about

A manual prepared by FIFA and distributed to public school teachers working in schools of the cities hosting the World Cup games this year was

Read Reality Check‘s article about the movement by the Koch Brother to support anti-choice organizations in the context of the mid-term congressional elections this year.

United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) Approves Monetary Reparations Agreement with Brazilian Government for the Mother of Alyne da Silva

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, at its recently concluded session, issued a statement on sexual and reproductive health and rights, which

Read Reality Check article that discusses a report from United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) about abortion. For the author of the article, “the debate over

In a ruling that marks a significant step forward for women’s rights in the region, Bolivia’s highest court, the Plurinational Constitutional Court, issued a decision

The ICPD Beyond 2014 Global Report is the culmination of a landmark UN review of progress, gaps, challenges and emerging issues in relation to the

UNDP’s HIV, Health & Development Group has launched a Discussion Paper on Transgender Health & Human Rights, prepared by Jack Byrne, an expert on trans

Read J. Vreer Verkerke’s critical article about the new dutch law on transgender people. Here.

The Program on Global Health & Human Rights, from Institute for Global Health at the University of Southern California, has launched the Health and Human

CHANGE Presidente Serra Sippel, in article, says that “the long, hard struggle to alter US policy on HIV/AIDS assistance shows that advocacy can deliver a

New York Times brings an article about the increasing of American gay men who reported having unprotected sex to federal  health investigators . The article remarks that

Article published on “The Indenpend”, signed by Jeremy Laurance,  presents  the elaborate strategies adopted to persuade sex workers to practise safe sex through African countries. Click

Uganda Police arrested last week, without a warrant, Mr. Samuel K Ganafa, The Executive Director of Spectrum Uganda Initiatives and Board Chairperson of Sexual Minorities Uganda

In an article published at Journal of the International AIDS Society, Chris Beyrer and Monica Malta highlight setbacks on the Brazilian political and financial commitment

In article, New York Times discusses aspects of Rio de Janeiro policy on the organization of Olympic Games: brothles are being captured by an atmosphere

The death of Gabriela Leite, on October 10, meant a great loss for the struggle for the rights of prostitutes, and sexual rights brodaly speaking,

Anti-sex work group, Equality Now, recently launched an attack on the UN over recommendations to decriminalise sex work in two reports on HIV and Sex

The United Nations Secretary-General’s envoy for HIV and AIDS in the Caribbean, Dr Edward Greene, has pleaded for the removal of discriminatory immigration laws in

“It has been ten years since New Zealand parliamentarians, after considerable debate and encouragement from sex workers, mainstream women’s organizations, and public health advocates, voted

UN Women has supported sex workers in response to Equality Now’s anti-sex worker campaign. The statement recognize the rights of sex workers by striving to

African Regional Conference on Population and Development, based at Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia (3 and 4 October 2013), has resulted on a final document called “Africa Regional

Latin American Center on Sexuality and Human Rights brough interviews with scholars (Sealing Cheng and Thaddeus Blanchette) working on the connections between love, prostitution and

Read the article, by SPW partner Raphael de la Dehesa, in which he discusses Brazilian sexual and reprodutive rights landscape. Although being hailed as a

At the award ceremony in Nuremberg Opera House on 29 September, 2013 Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera, LGBTI activist from Uganda, received the award from Lord Mayor

The political history of prostitution in Brazil has been winding. In recent years, the hegemony of discourses on sexual exploitation and trafficking for sexual purposes

On this 28 September, the SPW publishes report developed by the International Campaign for Women’s Rights to Safe Abortion in which it shows the effects

Read about a New Delhi community organization that offers care and counseling, but also empowers gay, lesbian and transgender people. Here.

In this event to be held at the UN Human Rights Council, the Center for Reproductive Rights will speak about the  Alyne Case in relation

The Universal Access to Female Condom Joint Programs has just published an up-date report on Female Condoms now available in the global market or yet

El Salvador: Following an Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ determination, Salvadoran woman who sought abortion delivers baby after a C-section. Read more.

El Salvador: Supreme Court has denied a sick woman an immediate abortion, despite warnings from doctors that her life is at risk and the foetus is likely to survive only a few hours after birth. Read more.

The Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association (ABIA) is completing 25 years in 2012. To mark this anniversary, a seminar will be held in August 2012 that will analyze the trajectory of the thirty years of AIDS in Brazil and the current challenges currently facing the Brazilian national response to the epidemic. Read more.

India: Though sex workers weren’t even permitted to participate, they managed to take a stand at the International AIDS Conference, which took place in USA, in july 2012. Besides, more than 1,000 sex workers from India and other nations convened in Kolkata for the “Sex Worker Freedom Festival”. Read more.

Brazil: After awake praises in the international arena and be highlighted as a model, Brazilian National STD/AIDS Program is called to correct its course years. Read more.

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

New public health recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners aim to help policymakers and doctors scale up access to treatment and prevention services for HIV and sexually transmitted infections among men who have sex with men and transgender people. The guidelines Prevention and treatment of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among men who have sex with men and transgender people: Recommendations for a public health approach are the first global public health guidelines to focus on these specific population groups and provides 21 recommendations for actions to be taken by multiple stakeholders, in close cooperation with men who have sex with men and transgender people.

Richard Parker, SPW’s Co-chair, will participate in the Seminar Responding to HIV and AIDS in Brazil: Structural Violence, Social Movements, and the Local Politics of Global Health, which will be held on May 2nd 2011 at the Wenner-Gren Foundation, in New York. Read more at the New York Academy of Sciences Anthropology website.

Read Developing sexual health programmes – A framework for action, organized by the World Health Organization, pointing to the importance of programming for sexual health across the five domains of laws, policies and human rights; education; society and culture; economics; and health.

Read the issue number 6 of the Sexuality, Health and Society – Latin American publication (contents in Spanish, Portuguese and English), published by the Latin American Center on Sexuality and Human Rights (CLAM). Despite an instigating article on the relations between clients and female prostitutes in Rio de Janeiro, and a reference to other countries (Mexico and Chile) in two of the book reviews, all the other articles and reviews in this issueconcentrate on Argentina. Even if such concentration is due to the random influx of submissions, it is rather timely. With the approval of the so-called Equal Marriage Bill, Argentina has gone, over the past few months, over important transformations in the expansion of civil rights.

Read a series of articles on various aspects of unsafe abortion in Africa published at RH Reality Check website in partnership with Ipas.

Click on the icons to see the pictures in a bigger version. Photos by Malu S. Marin

ARC International (www.arc-international.net) is releasing an “Activist’s Guide to The Yogyakarta Principles”, a tool for those who are working to create change and build on the momentum that has already begun around the Yogyakarta Principles.

Between July 18 and 23, 2010, the International Aids Conference was held in Vienna, Austria, the premier gathering for those working in the field of

By Aziza Ahmed* The International AIDS Conference in 2010 held one of the first plenary sessions dedicated to abortion and HIV. The plenary focused on

The report “Sexuality and Development: Brazilian National Response to HIV/AIDS amongst Sex Workers” presents the main findings of a case study conducted during 2008-2009 by The Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association (ABIA), which is one component of a global research initiative sponsored by the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) “Sexuality and Development” Program.

USA: Rhonda Copelon, a US human rights lawyer and an intellectual leader and pioneer in the field of sexual and reproductive rights, died on 2010 May 6th. Read a note by SPW and more.

IDAHO May 17th is the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO). Various activities are being planned around the world. On www.dayagainsthomophobia.org > This year, IDAHO will

IDAHO: The International Day Against Homophobia, held on May 17 every year, is a rallying event offering an opportunity for people to get together and reach out to one another. Fondation Émergence promotes the International Day Against Homophobia and encourages organisations and individuals to highlight this event in their environment. Get involved.

Europe: The Secretary General of the Council of Europe welcomes the decision of the Committee of Ministers on Wednesday 31 March, 2010 to adopt a recommendation to member states on measures to combat discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Guatemala: United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, Anand Grover, visited Guatemala City on March 22 and 23 to participate in the civil society consultation for Central America, Mexico and the Spanish-Speaking Caribbean.

During the 54th UN Commission on the Status of Women, held in New York, in March, 2010, Ipas, IPPF and the Government of The Netherlands

USA: On March 21, 2010 the President Barack Obama announced that he will be issuing an executive order after the passage of the health insurance reform law that will reaffirm its consistency with longstanding restrictions on the use of federal funds for abortion. See a series of opinions regarding this issue.

CONTENTS I. SPW ACTIVITIES / EDITORIAL Since late September 2009, the SPW executive team has been engaged in a wide variety of activities. First and

2.8 The abortion front lines In the struggle for legal abortion, as well, good news is often accompanied by bad news. As we were finalizing

Read the article “Back to the Future? Beijing +15 and the UN Commission on the Status of Women Only Partly Delivers on SRRH”, by Cynthia Rothschild, a sexual rights and human rights activist based in New York, on the 54th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) from March 1-12, 2010.

From 1-12 March 2010, the Commission on the Status of Women undertook a fifteen-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly. Member States, representatives of non-governmental organizations and of UN entities participated in the session. A series of parallel events provided additional opportunities for information exchange and networking. See below a complete converge.

Read the article “Abortion and Human Rights: the current Brazilian controversy”, by Sonia Corrêa, on the important setbacks in regard to abortion that Brazil has been experiencing in recent years.

Nicaragua: On 2 February, 2010 a 27-year-old woman was admitted to a hospital in Leon, the second largest city in Nicaragua. She was diagnosed with an advanced case of cancer, which had metastasised and may have spread to her breasts, brain and lungs. She was told she couldn’t be prescribed an aggressive chemotherapy or radiotherapy treatment because she was pregnant and, under Nicaraguan law, any medical procedure to save the life of a mother is banned if it jeopardises the life of the foetus.

Nearly a year ago, Obama lifted the “global gag rule,” which prohibited the US from funding any organizations that provide or “promote” abortions.  This move,

USA: On December 18th 2009, the SPW website posted an article written by Natalie Wittlin about the retention of the ‘prostitution pledge’ in the new proposed US HIV/AIDS policy guidelines announced by the Obama Administration on November 23rd. On December 29th, the Brazilian newspaper O Estado de São Paulo published an article entitled The United States will provide funds to prostitutes, which the content contradicted SPW’s analysis of PEPFAR.

USA: Even with Obama, the prostitution pledge remains on place in the case of PEPFAR, the US Funding for HIV/AIDS.

USA: President Obama announced in October 30, 2009 the end of a 22-year ban on travel to the United States by people who had tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS. At a White House ceremony, he announced that a rule canceling the ban would be published in November 2, 2009 and would take effect after a routine 60-day waiting period.

In this issue, you find information on the main activities which SPW has been involved since June. The first one is the Latin American Regional Dialogue on Sexuality and Geoplitics that took place in Rio de Janeiro, in August, and gathered close to 50 researchers and activists to reflect on the sexual political landscape in the region. The other important activity is that SPW’s is involved in the global research EroTICs: Sexuality and the internet – an exploratory research project, organized by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC WNSP). Read also about global and local events involving sexuality, politics, as well as recent sexuality/sexual rights advocacy. See what projects and events connect art and sexuality and browse listings of upcoming events, scholarships, job opportunities and publications.

Fourth panel – Religion and Sexual Politics Afternoon – August 25, 2009 After the presentation and debate of the conference overview paper on religion and

Germany: From 2 to 4 September 2009, it is happening in Berlin, Germany, the NGO Forum on Sexual and Reproductive Rights and Development – Investi in Health, Rights and the Future, organized by the Global Partners in Action.

UN Human Rights Council – Urging Governments to Support Resolution on Maternal Mortality and Human Rights at the Upcoming session (June 2 – 18).

The abortion front lines: Recently in Brazil a scandal came out when a 9 years-old girl was impregnated by his stepfather and then excommunicated by the Olinda’s bishop. Meanwhile, in Nepal the Court orders the State to improve women’s access to abortion. Read more in the SPW’s newsletter n.6.

In this issue we highlight the UN declaration on sexual orientation, gender identity and human rights and the long anticipated end of the Bush Era: Welcome Obama! Other updates, materials and texts are provided in the sections Advocacy: keep an eye and Sexuality in Art. In Check it out, you can find links to job opportunities, scholarships, upcoming events and publications.

Letter from the US: Nature and Bono conspire against sound HIV/AIDS policy By Melissa Ditmore* Brazil has been an inspiration for me, as an activist

by Susana Fried On July 24-25, 2008, in Kathmandu, Nepal, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the Open Society Institute (OSI)

Read Reality Check‘s article about study that points how stigma makes people reluctant to share with loved ones their abortions. Click here.

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