HRC 48: Joint Statement for Annual discussion on the integration of a gender perspective throughout the work of the HRC and its mechanisms

Digital inequalities were already high among girls, women and other marginalised groups before COVID-19 but as the pandemic led to an increased digitalisation of life, these disparities have increased dramatically. COVID-19 lockdowns have meant that girls are unable to go online at internet cafes, public Wi-Fi spots, schools or friends’ houses. In homes, access to technology is often shared with and monitored by family members, further limiting girls access to and use of technology.  

With restricted or no access to the internet, girls are at risk of missing out on online education following school closures, suffer increased social exclusion, and they may not have access to reliable and relevant information about the pandemic and about sexual and reproductive health. The lack of digital access also had serious economic and health implications with the impossibility of working remotely and the maintained exposure to COVID-19.

HRC 48: Statement for the Half-day panel discussion on deepening inequalities exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and their implications for the realization of human rights

It is true that in all countries there is economic and social inequality, which has a greater impact on the rights of women and girls, black and indigenous people, people with disabilities, migrants, among others.

There is no doubt that this scenario is also a consequence of inequality between countries, mainly between the Global North and South. This inequality should not be reduced only to the distribution of vaccines or foreign debt. These are manifestations of a long history of colonialism and oppression in different forms that is more evident today than ever.

HRC 48: Statement for the Annual discussion on the integration of a gender perspective throughout the work of the HRC and its mechanisms

This is the moment to radically reimagine our systems and institutions so that they serve the people. The pandemic has shown that when states choose to, they can act swiftly to implement policies and spend resources that would have been unthinkable two years ago.  At the Human Rights Council, we must recognize this moment for what it is -a chance to breathe new and transformative life into the human rights system and everything that it is supposed to stand for.

HRC 48: Joint Statement for the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on truth, justice and reparation

Transitional justice mechanisms must respond to historic causes of violence and conflict by addressing structural oppressions that affect people based on their race, class, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, amongst others. Redress comes only when acknowledging how intersectional oppression continues to operate through associated stereotypes, stigma and discrimination, including those related to race, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression.  Intersectionality is crucial to ensure a truth and reconciliation process.

HRC 48: Statement for the Interactive dialogue with the Independent Expert on international order

At some point there was hope that the Council would be a place where states would answer for their actions and where people could seek remedy for human rights violations - but that hope has faded over time. During this pandemic, the UN’s international cooperation mandate has given way to States’ and corporate interests. Barriers to entering multilateral spaces including denial of visas, ECOSOC status requirements, unsustainable cost of travel, lack of translation, lack of access for people with disabilities, technology access and safety issues, and so-called efficiency measures that restrict civil society participation, all take away the nuance and expertise that civil society brings in pursuit of social justice and equality. All of this is symbolized by the empty chairs throughout the UN.

HRC 48: Item 8 General Debate statement on #EmptyChairs campaign

During this pandemic, we have seen that the UN can change and create processes for better participation of all, including civil society. We have seen modalities evolve to allow for video statements and other remote modalities that had long been demanded by activists but were treated as impossible -- that is until States needed them too. But we have also seen the instrumentalization of the pandemic to restrict civil society space nationally and internationally, the UN’s budget crisis impact on its ability to fulfill its mandate, including with regards to civil society participation, delayed reports and other outcomes, and the drive for expediency leading to the renewal of ‘efficiency’ measures that obstruct rather than advance broad participation.

UPR adoption of Seychelles

young people continue to face challenges and need to get more involved in order for these commitments to materialize. The adolescent fertility rate remains high, at 65 births per 1,000 girls aged 15-19 years, contraceptive prevalence rate is currently 46.2%, and high levels of teenage pregnancy is reported as 100 per 1,000 with associated high levels of unsafe abortion. These figures indicate a need for a review of and improvements to sexual and reproductive health and family planning services in Seychelles. Young people are also among the most vulnerable regarding Gender-Based Violence as substantial proportions are victim of sexual abuse. Moreover, these gaps are exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and prevent us from reaching our full potential.

UPR adoption of Somalia

Although laws around gender equality and women’s rights in Somalia have advanced in the past years, there are important gaps that need addressing to effectively guarantee and protect women’s rights. If the recommendations are to have a positive impact on the lives of women and girls in Somalia, the government will need to take urgent and decisive action.

UPR adoption of Denmark

Sex work is deeply intertwined with the public and policy debate on immigration in Denmark. Many street-based sex workers in Copenhagen and other big cities are migrants and are subjected to intersectional discrimination, including xenophobic and racist violence. The anti-migrant, xenophobic and racist sentiment is also frequently expressed by political leaders and senior ranking government officials. Government funding continues to be drastically cut from many sex workers’ organizations and organizations supporting migrants. Absurd and inaccurate reasoning is often provided for these funding cuts, such as conflating sex work with “human trafficking and illegal migrant work.”  

UPR adoption of Mozambique

Patriarchy is pervasive and entrenched in Mozambican society. Women face restrictions and discrimination throughout their lifetime and in every sphere of life. The feminization of poverty and the greater incidence of HIV/AIDS without proper health care, prevent women from enjoying their rights. While important strides have been made by Mozambique as reported on during the UPR, much more still needs to be done.

Joint Statement on the cultural dimensions of the right to education or the right to education as a cultural right.

A joint statement by CHOICE for Youth and Sexuality, the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education, the Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, Plan International, AWID, and SRI during the dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education on the 47th session of the Human Rights Council.

Item 3 Statement on Access to COVID Vaccines

Joint statement (available in English, Spanish, French and Arabic) by IWRAW Asia Pacific, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, the Sexual Rights Initiative and endorsed by a total of 71 organizations delivered during the General Debate on Item 3 on the human rights obligation to ensure equitable access to the COVID-19 vaccine, particularly to highlight civil society perspectives from the Global South on this topic.

46th session of the Human Rights Council  Item 8 General Debate  Federation for Women and Family Planning 

Civil society participation is core to the Council’s mandate4 and an essential principle of any human rights-based approach. It cannot continue to be treated as an afterthought in the context of the COVID-19 crisis, the HRC efficiency process, and the UN budget crisis.  

Oral Statement for the General Discussion on the Right of Persons with Disabilities to Work and Employment, Held by the CRPD Committee

We suggest the Committee develops an intersectional analysis that recognizes the ableist, racist, classist, sexist and patriarchal systems, structures and institutions that define “productivity” and “dependency," gateways to the world of work. The Committee must not fall into the trap of reinforcing patriarchal, racist, ableist and classist social and moral values into the concept of work by relying on the traditional views of labour, productivity and dependency.

Instead, the Committee should directly debunk them by recognizing that work is not necessary or equivalent to dignity and worth. These “values” are tied to the idea of normalcy and must be challenged, including by opening paths for dignity outside of the right to work; this is the right not to work and still have material conditions to live and enjoy life.

HRC 43: Urgent Debate on "the current racially inspired human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality and the violence against peaceful protest" Joint Statement submitted by ACLU

Ms. President:
American policing has never been a neutral institution. The first U.S. city police department was a slave patrol, and modern police forces have directed oppression and violence at Black people to enforce Jim Crow, wage the War on Drugs, and crack down on protests.

HRC 43: Item 8 General Debate – Joint Statement

Thank you President,
Action Canada makes this statement on behalf of the Sexual Rights Initiative, the Center for Reproductive Rights, RFSU (Swedish Association for Sexuality Education), Rutgers, CHOICE for Youth and Sexuality, the Association for Progressive Communications, Plan International, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, the Association for Women’s Rights in Development, MenEngage Alliance, the International Service for Human Rights and the Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW).

HRC 43 Statement on Item 3: Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food

3 March 2020

Thank you, Madam President. I make this statement also on behalf of the Coalition of African Lesbians and the Sexual Rights Initiative.

We welcome the Special Rapporteur's report’s emphasis on the interconnectedness and indivisibility not only of human rights but of the structures and institutions that threaten, ignore and infringe on these rights and ultimately the right to food.  

HRC 43 Statement on Item 3: Interactive Dialogue with the Independent Expert on Foreign Debt

March 2, 2020 

Statement by the Coalition of African Lesbians

Thank you, Madam. President. I make this statement on behalf of the Coalition of African Lesbians and the Sexual Rights Initiative.

We welcome the Independent Expert’s report and its links between public and private foreign debt, corporate debt and the effects of the commodification and financialization of essential services on the realization of economic, social and cultural rights and on increasing inequality worldwide.

JOINT CIVIL SOCIETY STATEMENT 42ND SESSION OF THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL INTERNATIONAL SAFE ABORTION DAY - 28 SEPTEMBER 2019

Please note that a shorter version of this statement was delivered orally on 23 September 2019 to fit the time requirements of the Human Rights Council.

Thank you, President. I deliver this statement on behalf of 353 organizations[i] and 534 individuals.[ii]

HRC 42: UPR Statement on Albania

 

Thank you, Mr. President. Action Canada makes this statement on behalf of Albania Centre for Population and Development and the Sexual Rights Initiative.

Despite the commitments made by Albania during its second review, and the positive developments since, specific obstacles to the realization of the right to health and to sexual and reproductive health services by vulnerable groups persist throughout Albania.

HRC 42: Statement on the integration of a gender perspective throughout the work of the Human Rights Council and that of its mechanisms

Annual discussion on the integration of a gender perspective throughout the work of the Human Rights Council and that of its mechanisms

Thank you Mr. President

The Federation makes this statement on behalf of the Sexual Rights Initiative. 

HRC 42: Statement on the Interactive Dialogue on People of African Descent

42nd Session of Human Rights Council

Interactive Dialogue with the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent

Statement by Action Canada for Population and Development

19 September, 2019

Thank you Mr President, Action Canada makes this statement on behalf of the Sexual Rights Initiative and the Coalition of African Lesbians.

HRC 42: Statement on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order

ITEM 3: Clustered ID with Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order

Statement by Action Canada for Population and Development

12 September 2019

Thank you President. Action Canada makes this statement on behalf of the Sexual Rights Initiative and the Coalition of African Lesbians.

HRC 42: Clustered Interactive Dialogue with Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation.

Statement by the Federation of Women and Family Planning

9 September 2019

Thank you, Mr. President. The Federation makes this statement on behalf of the Sexual Rights Initiative.

We welcome the report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation in spheres of life beyond the household with an emphasis on public spaces.

HRC 42: Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary forms of Slavery Statement by the Federation for Women and Family Planning

Thank you, President. I make this statement on behalf of the Sexual Rights Initiative.

We welcome the report of the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery. We strongly urge the Council to observe and analyse the linkages between labour and migration including informal labour. It is of particular importance to end impunity and build accountability for both state and the private sector on their labour practices, but this is not enough.

Agenda Item #3 – Promotion and Protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development

Statement delivered by Action Canada for Population and Development (ACPD)

Agenda Item #3 – Promotion and Protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development – General Debate

Joint HRC38 End of Session Statement

The Center for Reproductive Rights, the Sexual Rights Initiative, the Association for Progressive Communications, the International Service for Human Rights, the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education, the World Young Women Christian Association welcome the major gains on women’s and girls’ rights and sexual and reproductive health and rights at the 38th session of the Human Rights Council.

Item 6: UPR outcome of Canada– Joint statement Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights and the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform

Mr. President, Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights and the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform makes this statement in collaboration with the Sexual Rights Initiative.

We welcome Canada’s acceptance of the recommendation to ensure equal access to abortion and comprehensive sexuality education across all provinces and territories.

Item 6: UPR outcome of Bangladesh – Joint statement: SRI, Asian Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW) and Right Here Right Now Bangladesh

United Nations Human Rights Council 39th Session

NGO Oral Statement

Speaker Name: Samreen Shahbaz

Thank you Mr. President,

The Asian Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW) and Action Canada for Population and Development make this statement in collaboration with Right Here Right Now Bangladesh and Sexual Rights Initiative.

Item 6: UPR outcome of Cameroon – Joint statement with the African Sex Workers Alliance (ASWA) and the Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL)

Human Rights Council - 39th session

Item 4: UPR Outcomes Cameroon Action Canada for Population and Development

Speaker: Pooja Badarinath

Thank you Mr. President,

Action Canada makes this statement on behalf of the Sexual Rights Initiative, the African Sex Workers Alliance (ASWA) and the Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL).

Annual discussion on the integration of a gender perspective throughout the work of the Human Rights Council and that of its mechanisms

Thank you Mr. President,

Action Canada makes this statement also on behalf of the Sexual Rights Initiative and AWID.

We welcome the panel’s focus on integrating a gender perspective into the Council’s human rights investigations. We particularly appreciate the panel’s recognition that there has been insufficient attention to pre-existing gender-based rights violations that are exacerbated by conflict settings, as well as the need to ground understandings of gender-based violence in the lived realities of the people most affected.

Item 3 & 5 - Clustered interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples and the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

39th session of the Human Rights Council

Item 3 & 5 - Clustered interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples and the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

September 19, 2018

Statement by Action Canada for Population and Development joined by Association for Women’s Rights in Development

Hague Civil Society Call to Action

We, the members of civil society and individuals present at the International Conference on Human Rights and ICPD Beyond 2014 (The Hague, 7-10 July, 2013), representing diverse constituencies from around the globe, welcome the constructive spirit and promising tone of the International Conference. In that same spirit we repeat our call upon governments and agencies to commit to the full realization of the sexual and reproductive rights of all people.

Civil Society Welcomes Landmark Resolution on Maternal Mortality and Morbidity and Human Rights at the Human Rights Council

A comprehensive resolution on preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and human rights in humanitarian settings (A/HRC/RES/39/13), led by New Zealand, Colombia, Burkina Faso and Estonia, was adopted by consensus on Thursday September 27, 2018. This initiative is part of a long-term push by States, civil society organizations (CSOs) and U.N. agencies to address the human rights violations contributing to preventable maternal mortality and morbidity.

SRI response to request from President of UN General Assembly for contributions on the role of women, the young and civil society

A human rights-based approach was promoted at both the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. Through the ICPD’s Programme of Action 179 governments committed to ensuring the realization of reproductive rights for all, including women and adolescents and to providing a comprehensive range of sexual and reproductive health information and services.