Human Rights Bodies Archives - OURs - The Observatory of the Universality of Rights

Scenes from the Opening of the Sixty Third Session of the Commission on the Status of Women held in the General Assembly Hall at United Nations Headquarters on 10 March 2019. Pictured: Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women addresses the Commission. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown

With friends like these – Reflections on CSW68

The annual United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is the main global policy space for gender equality and the advancement of women’s rights.

Feminists (who can get visas and afford to travel to New York City) from all regions descend on this space to share ideas and research, to influence governments, and to make their voices and perspectives heard at the highest levels. However, more often than not, participation in the CSW leaves many of us with conflicting feelings.

New and old tensions

On the one hand, the reconnection with comrades, colleagues, and friends from around the world is immensely restorative and the ensuing conversations over coffee and terrible sandwiches are filled with commiserations, laughter, and exciting ideas for how we will take down the patriarchy. These are the moments that strengthen the bonds of transnational social movements, expand our understanding of different issues, and spark new initiatives that keep us growing together. On the other hand, the performative speeches by governments of all stripes, the same diplomatic fights over which words will make it into the Agreed Conclusions, and the dog and pony show we put on for donors and potential donors is enough to make even the most optimistic among us overcome with cynicism.

CSW68 was no different on these fronts but what was different this year was that it was happening amidst a live-streamed genocide against Palestinian People perpetrated by the State of Israel and supported by the same Western states that hold themselves up as the guardians of international law, human rights, and gender equality. This made the official speeches in the General Assembly extolling the importance of ‘leaving no one behind’ even more frustrating to listen to and left many with a sense of cognitive dissonance that only adds to the broader crisis of legitimacy within global governance systems.

Not unrelated, what was also different this year was the recurrent theme, in many events, speeches, and hallway conversations among diplomats, donors, and civil society alike, of the “rising anti-rights and anti-gender movements”. For those of us who have been subjected to the vitriol, misogyny, and blatant lies from these movements for a very long time, the harm caused by these actors is not exactly breaking news. However, donors, Western governments’, UN agencies’ and mainstream civil society organizations’ recent enthusiastic, yet superficial, embrace of this phenomenon as the greatest existential threat to gender equality, human rights, and democracy should give feminists pause.

The co-optation of “anti-rights”?

On the surface, we certainly agree that the effective coordination among conservative religious organizations, far-right political actors, anti-queer, anti-abortion and anti-trans groups, and those economically benefiting from the dismantling of human rights infrastructures is a monumental threat. However, a key question must be, why now? Feminists have been researching, documenting, and sounding the alarm about these actors for decades. What is it about this current moment we are living that makes this diagnosis so attractive to self-proclaimed defenders of the international rules-based order? As a microcosm of global policy-making, CSW68 provided a window into three possible interrelated explanations for why the anti-rights and anti-gender discourse is such a hot topic right at the global level right now.

First, deflection. While we are focused on debating language on comprehensive sexuality education and sexual and reproductive health services in UN documents, we are not scrutinizing the ways in which the states that champion these issues in multilateral spaces are failing to deliver basic public health and education services in their own countries and voting against more equitable international financial institutions that would enable low and middle income countries to invest in their own public services. Our dogged focus on advancing normative sexual and reproductive rights language that is disconnected from the reality of peoples’ lives bolsters the argument that human rights are only a Western imperialist tool.

Second, in the polycrisis world in which we are living, many states are looking for ways to justify the forceful defense of their national interests while maintaining the illusion of working for the shared global good. These states are increasingly turning to tactics that encourage classifying different actors as either “good guys” or “bad guys”. These same states are then using their political support for gender equality and sexual and reproductive rights in multilateral spaces as evidence that they are “the good guys”. The recent trend of states adopting feminist foreign policies is illustrative of this approach and also its limitations. When confronted with tensions between feminist principles and military and/or economic interests, as is the case with Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, access to COVID vaccines, or providing flexible funding to autonomous feminist movements, the curtain slips and we see the hollowness of these policies.

Third, the multilateral institutions set up to defend and advance gender equality lack meaningful accountability to feminist movements and are easy targets for those seeking to undermine women’s rights because they do not have adequate funding or political support. The message that feminists receive from these institutions is that we must not make public our very valid concerns about anti-rights and anti-gender actors operating within these very systems because it will jeopardize what little support they do have. These open secrets, far from protecting them, continue to undermine the kind of legitimacy that could gain them political and popular support.

For example, one of the key opening speakers at CSW68 was the current UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, a person who has used her role to promote harmful anti-trans and anti-sex work views that are in contravention to existing human rights standards and has publicly targeted feminist organizations that have opposed her positions. When seeking remedies to address these dangerous actions, we are met with shoulder shrugs and told that we must respect the independence of the system of UN Special Procedures. Another example of this from CSW68 was when a high level UN Women official shared a stage with a very well known actor among the anti-rights and anti-gender movement at an official side event at UN headquarters. A simple Google search could have prevented this from happening and should have been cause for outrage, yet unless you attended the event, you probably didn’t hear about it.

Reclaiming our struggles

All of this presents an interesting opportunity for those of us who have been analyzing and pushing back against anti-rights and anti-gender movements for a very long time. Do we double down on this moment of heightened interest to make more visible the ways in which these actors subvert the universality of human rights? On its own, this strategy is incomplete and risks playing right into the hands of those who oppose gender justice and also those who seek to instrumentalize women’s rights to advance imperialist goals. As feminists with expertise in this area, we must think bigger and more holistically. We must also deepen our analysis of who constitutes the anti-rights movement especially when we witness Western governments blatantly undermining human rights when it suits them.

We cannot allow gender equality, bodily autonomy, and sexual and reproductive rights to be separated from peoples’ lived realities. We must seize the current attention of policy makers and mainstream civil society organizations to meaningfully address the root causes that enable anti-rights actors, whomever they are, to thrive and grow support for a more robust, accountable, and equitable global governance system. Feminism teaches us that we must reject binary approaches to complex social issues, there are no good guys or bad guys, and that we must stay focused on creating, building, and expanding our shared vision for the world where everyone, everywhere is free from oppression.

Meghan Doherty is the Director of Global Policy and Advocacy at Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights and has been fighting for sexual and reproductive rights at local, national and global levels for more than two decades.

Time for Action: Stop the anti-rights infiltration of the UN!

25 February 2022

Read in: English French Spanish

We call on official mandate holders in the United Nations to take urgent action to counter ultraconservative mobilisation against human rights. We can no longer afford to wait!

Historically, the United Nations has been an important site for feminist and social movement gains. It helps us call out violations and put pressure on states to uphold their human rights commitments. However, as we demand justice and accountability, anti-rights groups operate with greater coordination and resources to push back on our rights. The backlash is real.

Outright attacks on the system continue, such as defunding and rejecting the legitimacy of UN agencies. However, anti-rights actors are now also heavily invested in undermining human rights from inside the system. They employ a range of persuasive discourses to gain legitimacy. As well as misusing religion, culture, and tradition, they also co-opt the language of rights, including women’s rights, to hide their reactionary agendas. In reality, their aim is to water down human rights standards and, ultimately, build a system of impunity for human rights violations.

We call for red lines and concrete action to stem the tide of anti-rights infiltration.

Many of our human rights spaces and processes have already been undermined, but we still have a chance to stop this. With your help, we can make the UN work better for our rights!

We call on the UN mandate holders to address anti-rights attacks as a matter of priority and urgency by:

Taking a coordinated approach to address anti-rights mobilization as dangerous attacks on rights related to gender and sexuality with devastating impacts on all human rights and systems of accountability.
Upholding rights related to gender and sexuality as universal and inalienable, indivisible, and interrelated to all other rights, and rejecting all attempts to pit the rights of any one group against another.
Prioritizing meaningful collaboration with feminist and social justice movements to develop robust, comprehensive, and effective responses to the threats of fascisms and fundamentalisms.
Advocating for processes and procedures that enhance the accountability of human rights systems. This includes identifying and addressing systemic breakdowns and infiltration of anti-rights actors, and creating a conducive environment for feminist and social justice movements and marginalized communities to drive human rights agendas.
Resisting the legitimization of anti-rights actors under the guise of human rights organizations and taking all possible measures to stop their access to decision-making positions.

Join the call — sign and share today.

Category Calls for Participation

Region Global

Topics Civil & political rights Human rights systems, bodies and instruments Religious Fundamentalisms

Source AWID

“UN experts call for resistance as battle over women’s rights intensifies

Women’s rights are facing an alarming backlash in many parts of the world, and it is critically important to press on with further setting of standards on gender equality, a group of UN independent experts has warned.

“The world is at a crossroads, with the very concept of gender equality being increasingly contested in some quarters,” said the experts.

“We feel it is time to reiterate the backlash against the progress which has been made in promoting and protecting women’s human rights. The polarization in the battle for rights is being demonstrated increasingly, and regressive positions have become a serious threat to the human rights legal framework.

“The international community needs to keep moving forward on setting standards on gender equality to counter the alarming trends which are undermining human rights principles and jeopardizing the gains made in women’s rights.”

The experts restate their support for the repeal of all laws that discriminate against women on traditional, cultural or religious grounds and laws that exclusively or disproportionately criminalize action or behaviour by women and girls.

They also stress women’s rights to make decisions about their own bodies, and to receive comprehensive sexuality education so they can enjoy their right to sexual and reproductive health.

“We need more than ever to protect the fundamental principle that all rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated,” the experts said.

“Despite this unbreakable principle, upheld in the 1993 Vienna Declaration on human rights, we are witnessing efforts by fundamentalist groups to undermine the foundation on which the whole human rights system is based. Some of these efforts are based on a misuse of culture, including religion and tradition, or on claims related to State sovereignty.

“Under the disguise of protecting the family, some States are taking initiatives aimed at diluting human rights. We obviously recognise that the family is the fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection, but we insist on the need to re-assert women’s right to equality in all aspects of family life and recognise that diverse forms of families exist.”

The experts stress that discriminatory practices frequently take place within families, where, for example, women and girls may be limited to certain roles, experience harmful practices and patriarchal oppression, and suffer other human rights abuses including domestic violence and sexual abuse.

The experts insist that international human rights bodies need to guard against the backlash being witnessed, to ensure that the human rights legal framework is not undermined.

“In the current context, where women’s rights are being pushed back in all regions of the world, we need to continue denouncing any anti-rights rhetoric and actions which hinder the implementation of human rights standards, in particular regarding gender equality. Without equal rights in the family, gender equality will never be achieved,” the experts conclude.

Read the full statement from OHCHR.

States urged to respect, protect, and fulfill the SRHR of adolescents and youth

Through the Vienna Declaration and numerous regional and international commitments, member states agreed to respect, protect, and fulfill the human rights of adolescents and young people, including their rights to life, bodily autonomy, education including comprehensive sexuality education, survival, and development.

However, many member states are hesitant to recognise the role of adolescents and young people’s sexuality beyond links to reproduction. Human rights violations affecting adolescents and youth must be located within the context of multiple and intersecting oppressions. Millions of them, especially girls, are coerced into unwanted sex or marriage,[1], putting them at risk of unwanted or early pregnancies, unsafe abortions, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV, and life-threatening childbirth.[2]

Indeed, pregnancy and childbirth-related complications are the leading cause of death among adolescent girls aged 15-19 years worldwide.[3] Across the globe, restrictive laws and third party authorization and parental consent requirements continue to hinder adolescents and young people’s full realisation of their sexual and reproductive rights. With the largest global youth population ever, millions of today’s young people will be failed if the human rights violations affecting us are not effectively addressed and redressed.

We urge the Human Rights Council to recognise and reaffirm the sexual and reproductive health and rights of all adolescents and young people through its resolutions, dialogues, debates, and UPRs. Further, we urge member states to respect, protect, and fulfill the sexual and reproductive health and rights of all adolescents and young people, with particular attention to those facing multiple and intersecting forms of oppression, including through full recognition of their legal capacity to access comprehensive sexuality education and sexual and reproductive health services autonomously. Furthermore, states should put in place effective measures to prevent and eliminate violations of adolescent girls’ sexual and reproductive rights, including actions aiming to control girls’ sexuality, harmful practices, and coerced or denied medical interventions, as well as to effectively combat widespread impunity and provide adolescents and youth, in particular girls, with effective reparations, access to justice and redress, and guarantees of non-repetition in cases of violation and denial of their bodily rights.

This statement was presented at the 41st session of the Human Rights Council by the Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women (ARROW) on behalf a number of organizations, July 8th 2019.

[1] UNICEF. (2018). Child Marriage: Latest Trends and Future Prospects.

[2]Abdul Cader, A. (2017). Ending Child, Early, and Forced Marriage: SRHR as Central to the Solution.

Kuala Lumpur: Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women (ARROW).

[3] WHO. (2018). Adolescents: health risks and solutions.

Working Group on DAW commended for resolute voice in times of backlash

The Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) welcomes the report of the Working Group on Discrimination Against Women on the causes of deprivation of liberty.

We commend the Working Group on its bold and sustained attention to structural forms of discrimination and the impact of interlocking systems of oppression, and for their unflinching focus on patriarchy as underlying cause.

Whether it be:

Women and girls confined to the home or deprived of their rights to free movement and self-determination, justified in the name of ‘complementarity’ or ‘guardianship’;
Women Human Rights Defenders monitored and criminalized for their work challenging fundamentalisms, authoritarianism, and extractivism;
Women who are migrants, indigenous, or racial or religious minorities – and those who are sexual and gender non-conforming – disproportionately targeted for policing and control; or
Deprivation of women and girls’ liberty arising from systems of economic inequality –

Today our fundamental right of bodily autonomy is profoundly threatened, and a fixation on controlling women and girls’ bodies and lives is a common thread amongst the rising far right – a central preoccupation for diverse fundamentalisms, fascisms, white supremacy, corporate power, and neo-colonialism.

We must reject these anti-rights ideologies that promote hate, control and inequality – that instrumentalize culture and religion, appropriate human rights language, and threaten multilateral systems in order to foster impunity and violate rights – and unite to defend gender justice and the core principle of the universality of rights.

Over the past 9 years the pioneering work of the Working Group has been critical to further issues of women’s human rights at the Council and beyond; a resolute and essential voice in this time of backlash. We stress our strong support for the mandate, and call upon States to ensure its renewal and to reaffirm their commitment to cooperate with the Working Group in a united effort to protect, promote and fulfil women’s equality and gender justice.

It is the time for action, to prove our commitment to women and girls’ human rights. There is no excuse for discrimination.

This statement was delivered by the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) at the 41st session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, June 26th 2019.

The Human Rights Council must condemn attacks on abortion rights defenders

In support of the September 28 “Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion”, 223 civil society organizations from around the world, in members of the Observatory on the Universality of Rights (OURs), have endorsed this joint statement on abortion rights.

Through the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, States explicitly agreed to prioritize the realization of all women’s human rights. From Ireland, to Argentina, to South Korea, to Poland and to the Democratic Republic of Congo, women human rights defenders around the world are taking to the streets, to the courtrooms and to the ballot boxes to reclaim control over their own bodies and lives by demanding access to comprehensive abortion care. We unite in solidarity to recognize the shared roots of multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination in our struggles.

Although sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) have been broadly recognized under international law, women human rights defenders (WHRDs) working on these rights often face harassment, discrimination, stigma, criminalization and physical violence.[1] As highlighted by UNGA resolution 68/181, the first ever resolution focusing on WHRDs, such abuses are violations of a person’s fundamental rights to life, liberty, psychological and physical integrity, privacy, freedom of opinion and expression, association and peaceful assembly.

Human rights violations perpetrated against abortion rights defenders and providers are part of a broader framework of backlash against sexual and reproductive rights aimed at instrumentalizing women’s bodies and lives [2]. Through restrictive and/or discriminatory laws and policies, some states fail to prevent or actively perpetuate these violations. In doing so, they institutionalize abortion stigma and create a hostile environment for abortion providers to carry out their work. Many persist, but others are harassed, or threatened until they cease providing such care.

This forces persons – including girls – with unwanted pregnancies to risk their lives, health and well-being by turning to unsafe abortion. It is the State’s obligation to repeal or eliminate laws, policies and practices that criminalize, obstruct or undermine individual’s or group’s access to sexual and reproductive health facilities, services, goods and information, including restrictive abortion laws.

States can no longer ignore the scientific evidence, the jurisprudence and the growing consensus among human rights bodies that abortion rights are human rights. The criminalization of abortion and the failure to ensure access to comprehensive abortion care has been found to be a violation of, inter alia, the rights to health, to bodily autonomy, freedom from discrimination, to the benefits of scientific progress, to privacy and to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment amongst other human rights.

In addition, impunity for attacks on abortion rights defenders, including abortion providers, is a clear violation of the principles set forth in the Declaration of Human Rights Defenders.

Therefore, today, on September 28, Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion, we stand together as abortion rights defenders, allies and supporters from around the world and call on the Council to condemn attacks on abortion rights defenders and to urgently address the human rights violations arising from the denial of comprehensive abortion care through its resolutions, decisions, dialogues, reviews and debates.

Further, we demand that governments across the world respect, protect and fulfill the right of WHRDs working to ensure comprehensive abortion care and post-abortion care to do their work free from all forms of intimidation, harassment and violence from both State and non-State actors.

This statement was developed by the Sexual Rights Initiative, the Center for Reproductive Rights, Ipas, the Asia-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women, the Youth Coalition for Sexual Health and Rights, AWID and the Swedish Association for Sexuality and Education.

It was read aloud at the 39th Session of the Human Rights Council, on 24 September 2018, by Danielle Rosset on behalf of the signatory organizations, during the general debate under Agenda Item 8: Follow-up to and implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action.

Despite Progress, Gay & Abortion Rights Face Threats in Latin America

Gillian Kane is a senior policy advisor for Ipas, an international women’s reproductive health and rights organisation.

SUVA, Fiji, Dec 7 2017 (IPS) – Cancun, Mexico, of white sand beaches and spring break-style nightlife, was, this past June, the unusual backdrop for a regional gathering on human rights and democracy.

Tour buses accustomed to ferrying sandal-shod tourists to Mayan ruins, instead, transported well-heeled activists and government representatives from their hotels to the Centro de Convenciones.

Parked a few kilometers away, one bus, neon orange and passenger-less, stood out. The so-called “Freedom Bus” was emblazoned with massive letters; “Leave our children alone!” #dontmesswithourchildren.

It was, according to its organizers, designed to get the attention of delegates attending the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS). They wanted attendees to know they were putting themselves on the line to resist all attempts by permissive governments to indoctrinate their children in the immoral principles of “gender ideology.” They were, they insisted, defending their religious and freedom of speech rights.

Never mind that there is no “gender ideology,” much less governments that are forcing children to learn inappropriate material. This bus is just one of many recent direct-action attempts by right-wing organizations to pedal a falsehood that governments, aided by well-endowed liberal foundations, are out to get your children.

The bus provides the arresting visual, but it’s what takes place inside the conference center that should raise our hackles. The concern for the wellbeing of children is a cover; what these organizations want to do is disable efforts to advance protections and rights for girls, women and LGBTI people.

The movement, which defines itself as in opposition to “gender ideology,” is a response to progress made in the last decade advancing human rights for vulnerable populations.

Meanwhile, the decade has also seen an increase in the organizing power and political influence of conservative evangelical churches, especially in Central America, Mexico, and Brazil.

Latin America is the locus for much of the progress on LGBTI and abortion rights, both at the country and regional level. Same-sex marriages are legal in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay.

And significant advances have been made to increase access to legal abortion in Argentina, Chile, Mexico City, Colombia, Bolivia and Uruguay. At the regional level, the OAS has been a champion for LGBTI rights as early as 2008, when it adopted its first resolution condemning violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

By 2011, the OAS had created a dedicated LGBTI Unit at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The progress did not go unchallenged.

Opponents of sexual and reproductive rights and LGBTI rights in Latin America responded to victories directly, through both legislation and litigation. They also responded in more insidious ways.

Last year, in Brazil, ministries promoting equal rights for women and black communities were downgraded when they were folded into the Ministry of Justice, effectively neutralizing the ability of its leadership to negotiate or move forward any progressive policies.

The deliberate dismantling of government infrastructures that protect human rights is not endemic to Brazil. Indeed, it is a dedicated strategy of anti-rights organizations who are working to both coopt and fragment these spaces.

Read the full article from IPS News

Time to fight global avalanche of misogyny caused by fundamentalism and extremism, UN rights expert says

The world must fight back against a growing threat to women’s rights fuelled by rising fundamentalism and extremism, a UN human rights expert has told the General Assembly in New York.

“Fundamentalism and extremism are giving rise to widespread abuses of women’s cultural rights,” said Karima Bennoune, Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, presenting a report on the global challenges being faced.

“Some of the most urgent threats that women’s human rights will face in coming years will include the diverse forms of fundamentalism and extremism that are on the rise across all regions of the world.”

The Special Rapporteur asked the audience: “What world will your daughters inherit? This is a wake-up call for our times. We face a multidirectional global avalanche of misogyny, motivated by diverse fundamentalist and extremist ideologies. For the sake of all the daughters around the world, let us come together and take an unequivocal stand for women’s equal cultural rights, to reverse this worrying trend.

Ms. Bennoune said protecting women’s rights was not optional in tackling fundamentalism and extremism, which have inequality and rejection of human rights at their core and have to be met with a vigorous international human rights-based challenge.

“These ideologies seek to roll back advances achieved in securing women’s equality, aim to block further advances, and try to penalize and stigmatize women human rights defenders promoting such critical efforts. They give rise to a backlash against women’s rights and those who defend them,” she said.

“Diverse religious fundamentalists have sought to punish cultural expression incompatible with their interpretations of religion through blasphemy laws, gender discriminatory family laws, campaigns of harassment, human rights abuses and outright violence.”

“Extremists often harass and target women who are members of minority groups, or who are immigrants or are lesbian, bisexual or transgender, as they seek to enjoy their equal cultural rights. They are often motivated by myths of a homogenous nation, claims of cultural or ethnic or racial superiority or purity, and populist ultra-nationalism.”

The Special Rapporteur called for an immediate end to discriminatory practices such as banning women’s artistic expression, extremist targeting of cultural events associated with women and girls, the imposition of “modest” dress codes, and curbs on women’s equal participation in social, economic, political and cultural affairs.

“Boosting the protection and promotion of women’s human rights is not only essential to tackling extremism, but there is no way to achieve gender equality by 2030 as committed to in the UN Sustainable Development Goals without addressing the human rights impacts of fundamentalism and extremism,” she added.

The Special Rapporteur said she had particular concerns that fundamentalists and extremists were targeting education in an effort to impose their worldviews.

“The promotion and defence of non-sexist education in accordance with international standards, and of non-discrimination and full equality for women and girls in education, are among the most important measures governments can take to defeat fundamentalism and extremism and defend women’s cultural rights,” Ms. Bennoune said.

“Arts, education, science and culture are among the best ways to fight fundamentalism and extremism and support women’s rights. These are not luxuries, but are critical to creating alternatives and protecting youth from any form of radicalization.”

She also paid tribute to female human rights defenders around the world who “recognized and responded to” extremism, sometimes at the cost of their own lives, and stressed they should be central to developing strategies to combat fundamentalism and extremism. “Empowering them disempowers extremists,” she added.

The Special Rapporteur said the answer lay partially in secular politics and governance.

“The separation of religion and state is a critical piece of the struggle against fundamentalist and extremist ideologies that target women, as it creates or preserves space for women and minorities to challenge those ideologies, and to enjoy their cultural rights without discrimination,” Ms. Bennoune said.

She also stressed that women’s rights should never be used as a bargaining chip in pursuit of peace with extremist and fundamentalist groups. “Giving in to the social demands of fundamentalists and extremists, especially about women, only exacerbates the human rights situation and leads to escalating claims,” she said.

The Special Rapporteur is convening a side event, The Impact of Fundamentalism and Extremism on the Cultural Rights of Women: Time to Take a Stand, at 1700 local time on 26 October 2017, in Conference Room 11, UN Headquarters, New York. The event will also be live-streamed here.

Safe abortions for all women who need them – not just the rich, say UN experts

GENEVA (27 September 2017) – Speaking ahead of International Safe Abortion Day, a group of United Nations human rights experts* has called on States across the world to repeal laws that criminalize and unduly restrict abortion and policies based on outdated stereotypes, to release all women in prison on abortion charges and to counter all stigma against abortion.

The experts also called for 28 September to become an official UN day for safe abortion worldwide, to help encourage Governments to decriminalize abortion and provide reproductive health services in a legal, safe and affordable manner. Their full statement is as follows:

“Women’s ability to make free choices for themselves and their families should not be privileges reserved for the rich, but should be the right of every woman and girl around the world. The same is true of the right to health and to freedom from discrimination.

Too many women around the world still continue to suffer from discriminatory laws that restrict their access to adequate health care and limit their abilities to make the best choices for themselves and their families.

To mark this year’s International Safe Abortion Day, we urge all States to end the criminalization of abortion and to ensure that all women are able to access all necessary health services, including sexual and reproductive health care, in a manner that is safe, affordable and consistent with their human rights.

We urge States to ensure that their laws, policies and practices are built on their human rights obligations and on the recognition of women’s dignity and autonomy.

At the moment, many factors contribute to women being denied essential health services for the termination of pregnancies and post-abortion care. These include criminalization, reduced availability of services, stigmatization, deterrence and derogatory attitudes of health-care professionals. These factors push millions of women into unsafe abortions and leave them without essential treatment for their recovery.

Denying women access to necessary health care is inherently discriminatory and a violation of their human rights. This discrimination is compounded for many women in vulnerable situations, including girls and adolescents who may face additional restrictions on their access to care, and women living in poverty who may lack the resources to access safe abortions.

Restrictions on access to safe abortion are the result of societal attitudes that stigmatize women and subject their bodies to other people’s political, cultural, religious and economic purposes. Criminalization of abortion further perpetuates stigma and discrimination, and infringes women’s dignity and bodily integrity.

The mental and physical suffering that women endure when they are denied the procedure, or the stigma they face for seeking it, are further violations of their human rights.

Over the course of the past 30 years, the Safe Abortion Day movement has spread from Latin America and the Caribbean and is now marked around the world, helping to persuade Governments to decriminalize the termination of pregnancy, end the stigma and discrimination around the practice, and provide services in a legal, safe and affordable manner.

We join our voices to the strong and brave ones of many non-governmental organizations calling for safe abortion worldwide. And we request that 28 September be made a UN official international day on safe abortion.”

Many international and regional human rights instruments have affirmed that ensuring women’s human rights requires access to safe abortion and post-abortion services and care, including the CEDAW Convention, the Convención de Belém do Pará and the Maputo Protocol of 2005. The 2016 CESCR General Comment No. 22 also calls for guaranteeing women and girls access to safe abortion services and quality post-abortion care to prevent maternal mortality and morbidity.

(*) The UN experts: Kamala Chandrakirana, Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice; Dubravka Simonovic, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences; Dainius Pûras, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. Ms. Agnes Callamard, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

For further information, please refer to the following documents:
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

Report on health and safety by the UN Working Group on discrimination against women

Report on the right to health of adolescents by the UN Special Rapporteur on health

Report on gender perspectives by the UN Special Rapporteur on torture

UN experts call for resistance as battle over women’s rights intensifies

“The world is at a crossroads, with the very concept of gender equality being increasingly contested in some quarters,” said the experts.

They also stress women’s rights to make decisions about their own bodies, and to receive comprehensive sexuality education so they can enjoy their right to sexual and reproductive health.

“We need more than ever to protect the fundamental principle that all rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated,” the experts said.

The experts insist that international human rights bodies need to guard against the backlash being witnessed, to ensure that the human rights legal framework is not undermined.

Read the full statement from OHCHR.