
Giant leap backwards regarding the reproductive rights at Rio+20
Global: Gender equality and women’s human rights have continuously been a challenge and sexual and reproductive rights were not included in the Rio+20 document, which was a giant leap backwards. Read a series of contents on this issue.

Rio+20 and the agenda regarding the sexual and reproductive health and women rights
The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) will take place in, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 20-22 June 2012. Check more information on the agenda regarding the women’s rights and sexual and reproductive health at the Rio+20 Summit.

Fiocruz calls the Brazilian National STD/AIDS Program to correct its course*
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.

Panel discussion will highlight the politics of human rights interventionism
UK: The Equal Rights Trust and the Human Rights Lawyers Association invite to the panel discussion “Advancing Sexual Rights in the ‘Developing World’: The Politics of Human Rights Interventionism”, which will take place in London, on 10 May 2012. Read more.

ABIA and SPW support the Brazilian UPR Pre-session
Brazil: ABIA and SPW supported the Brazilian UPR Pre-session, which took place on April 2nd, in Geneva, presenting a short video and recommendations aiming to contextualize some recent aspects of human rights in the country.

Interview: Malu S. Marin
Read the interview with Malu S. Marin, Executive Director of ACHIEVE – Action for Health Initiatives, in the Philippines. Ms. Marin talked on the work that she has been doing on HIV, health and migration issues for more than 11 years. She is also involved in the LGBT movement in the Philippines, mainly promoting representation of LGBTs in the political arena through her involvement in Ladlad Partylist, a political party for LGBTs founded in 2003.

NGO roundtable on LGBT issues at the 19th Session of the UN Human Rights Council
ARC International is co-hosting with the ICJ an NGO roundtable to raise awareness of sexual orientation and gender identity issues on next Monday, 5 March, at the 19th Session of the UN Human Rights Council. Titled “LGBT Issues for the Curious: (Almost) Everything you Wanted to Know about Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity but were too Diplomatic to Ask”, the roundtable affords an opportunity for LGBT human rights defenders from all regions to share their perspectives with diplomats. Read more.

SEXUAL MINORITIES UGANDA [SMUG] OUTRAGED BY THE CLOSURE OF LGBTI CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP BY THE STATE MINISTER OF ETHICS AND INTEGRITY REV. FR. SIMON LOKODO
Uganda: Exactly one week after the re-tabling of the Anti Homosexuality Bill (2009) by MP David Bahati, a workshop organized by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) human rights defenders was invaded and shut down in Entebbe. The State Minister for Ethics and Integrity in the Office of the President, Rev. Fr. Simon Lokodo, in the company of an aide and the police, announced that the workshop was illegal and ordered the meeting to close immediately or else force would be used to end the meeting.

RESIST, REJECT, OPPOSE THE ANTI-HOMOSEXUALITY BILL 2009 CURRENTLY TABLED IN THE UGANDA PARLIAMENT
Uganda: The COALITION OF AFRICAN LESBIANS (CAL), a pan African network of lesbian, bisexual and gender non-conforming people, organizations and individuals, calls upon every person who believes in the dignity, equality and freedom of every human being, to take note of and act urgently to halt the Anti-Homosexuality Bill which has just been re – tabled in Uganda.

Letter of protest against the murder of Professor Cleides Antônio Amorim (UFT)
Brazil: Cleides Amorim, a professor at the Federal University of Tocantins, was one of over a dozen LGBT Brazilians murdered in just the first two weeks of 2012. AllOut started a national campaign aimed at Federal Government, inspired in a protest letter from a group of professors of Brazilian universities. Read more.