HRC 60
Item 3 - Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Right to Development
Joint statement by International Planned Parenthood Federation
Thank you Mr. President.
We welcome the report’s assertion that there can be no gender equality, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, without the right to development - and vice-versa. Likewise, we support the findings of the report that intersectional discrimination, including based on gender, race, class, sexual orientation and gender identity remain obstacles to achieving equality, and therefore, development.
However, the report falls short in recognizing that sex workers are disproportionately affected by discrimination. Although the report points out discrimination based on socioeconomic status, it is necessary to directly address the discrimination against people engaged in sex work to help increase its visibility and acceptance of the existence of the problem. We stress that consensual adult sex work is work. To realise the right to development, States should fully decriminalise sex work, recognise labour rights and ensure active, free and meaningful participation in decision making as a key element to the right to development and to achieving the SDG 5.
Mr. Special Rapporteur,
States should not be forced to choose between repaying unsustainable debt burdens and fulfilling human rights, including SRHR. As pointed out in the report, global financial institutions must consider the gendered impacts of debt and austerity. Therefore, debt relief and cancellation are urgently needed.
We also coincide with the findings of the urgent need for States to recognize care work as a public good and to take measures to redistribute its burden.
We echo the SR’s call for “a shift towards a feminist economy that prioritizes public, rights-based investments in care infrastructure”. Care is a universal need, a right and a job, performed mainly by women and racialised people, which should be recognized and retributed. Sustainable development cannot be achieved without a framework that includes care of the environment.
At its core, the right to development must challenge the dominant economic paradigm by reconceptualising growth, while focusing redistribution of all resources. We call on states to address the precarious nature of gendered labour by including the redefinition, redistribution and revalidation of labour– including unpaid care work and sex work.
CO-SPONSORS:
- Women Deliver
- ILGA World
- Feminist Diplomacy Lab.
- AWID
- Sexual Rights Initiative