Sexual Rights at HRC 43

Published on февраля 21, 2020

The 43rd session of the UN Human Rights Council will take place from February 24 to March 20, 2020.

Find below information about anticipated sexual rights-related resolutionspanels and reportsUPR outcomes, and parallel events taking place during the 42nd session.

Click here to access the full programme of work for HRC43

Expected Resolutions Relevant to Sexual Rights

  • Rights of persons with disabilities (New Zealand, Mexico)
  • Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment: mandate of the Special Rapporteur (Denmark)
  • Mandate of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance (African Group)
  • Mandate of the Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights (Cuba)
  • Regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights (Armenia, Belgium, Mexico, Senegal, Thailand)
  • Right to work ( Egypt, Greece, Indonesia, Mexico, Romania)
  • Mental health and human rights (Brazil, Portugal)
  • Rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities (Austria, Mexico and Slovenia)
  • Freedom of opinion and expression: mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression (Canada, the Netherlands)
  • Birth registration and the right of everyone to recognition everywhere as a person before the law (Mexico, Turkey)
  • Promotion and protection of human rights and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Azerbaijan, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Ecuador, Fiji, Luxembourg, Portugal, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Thailand, Uruguay) 
  • Mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders (Norway)

Sexual Rights Related Panels

Annual high-level panel discussion on human rights mainstreaming (Monday 24 February 2020, 4 - 6 p.m.)

Theme: Thirty years of implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child: challenges and opportunities

Click here to download the concept note » 

  

High-level panel discussion commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women (Tuesday 25 February 2020, 9 - 11 a.m.)

Click here to download the concept note » 

 

Annual interactive debate on the rights of persons with disabilities (Friday, 6 March 2020, 4 - 6 p.m.)

Theme: Article 8 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, on awareness-raising

Click here to download the concept note »

 

Debate on the midterm review of the International Decade for People of African Descent (Friday, 13 March 2020, 4 - 6 p.m.) 

Commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Click here to download the concept note »

Click here for a list of all panels and concept notes

Sexual Rights Related Reports

A/HRC/43/27

Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Awareness-raising under article 8 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 

Click here to read the report »

A/HRC/43/41

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
Thematic study on the impact of ableism in medical and scientific practice 

Click here to read the report » and click here to read SRI’s submission »

A/HRC/43/42

Report of the Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights of persons with albinism
Women and children impacted by albinism

Click here to read the report »

A/HRC/43/43

Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context
Guidelines for the Implementation of the Right to Adequate Housing

Click here to read the report »

A/HRC/43/44

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food

Critical perspective on food systems, food crises and the future of the right to food

Click here to read the report »

A/HRC/43/45

Report of the Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights

Private debt and human rights 

Click here to read the report »

A/HRC/43/48

Report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief

Freedom of religion or belief and gender equality

Click here to read the report when it becomes available »

A/HRC/43/49

Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of punishment

Psychological torture

Click here to read the report when it becomes available »

A/HRC/43/50

Report of the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights

Cultural rights defenders 

Click here to read the report when it becomes available »

A/HRC/43/51

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders

Human rights defenders operating in conflict and post-conflict situations

Click here to read the report »

A/HRC/43/55

Report on the fifth session of the open-ended intergovernmental Working Group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights

Click here to read the report »

Click here for a list of all reports

UPR OUTCOMES

Outcomes from the 34th session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) will be adopted during this session of the HRC. The 34th session of the UPR was held in November 2019.

Fourteen countries were reviewed: Angola, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, El Salvador, Fiji, Gambia, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, San Marino, and Slovenia.

SRI collaborated with organizations and individuals in preparing seven reports for six countries:

THE GAMBIA

Women In Liberation and Leadership, African Men for Sexual Health and Rights, SRI

Topics: violence and discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression

Click here to read the submission » 

KAZAKHSTAN

The Legal Center for Women’s Initiatives “Sana Sezim,” SRI

Topics: Domestic violence, sexual and reproductive rights, comprehensive sexuality education, access to SRH services

Click here to read the submission »

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Sarajevo Open Centre, SRI

Topics of 1st submission: Gender-based discrimination and violence, abortion, contraception, sexuality education, employment equity, labour rights, maternity and parental leave, healthcare, biomedically assisted procreation, assisted reproductive technology.

Click here to read the submission » 

Sarajevo Open Centre, SRI

Topics of 2nd submission: violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, sex characteristics; sexual and reproductive rights; rights to freedom of assembly, privacy.

Click here to read the submission »

EL SALVADOR

Red Salvadoreña de Mujeres Defensoras de DDHH, la Agrupación Ciudadana por la despenalización del aborto, la Colectiva Feminista para el Desarrollo Local, SRI

Topics: femicide, women, sexual violence, abortion, LGBTTTIQ, discrimination, health, state violence, hate crimes, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation 

Click here to read the submission in Spanish » 

BOLIVIA

Plataforma Derechos Aquí y Ahora Bolivia, SRI

Topics: Legal interruption of pregnancy, gender identity, sexual orientation, equal marriage, right to equality, non-discrimination, comprehensive sexuality education, sexual and reproductive health, abortion, forced child pregnancy, secular state 

Click here to read the submission in Spanish » 

All Reports from the Working Groups, containing all recommendations received by States Under Review can be accessed here.

Sexual Rights Initiative Side Event

The effect of anti-gender politics on human rights 

Room XXII - Palais des Nations, Geneva
Monday 9 March 2020, 16:00-17:00. 

The term “gender” entered intergovernmental parlance for the first time in the process leading towards the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD, Cairo). The term, while cited numerous times in the ICPD Program of Action, was never subject to any disagreement or controversy during the negotiations. A few months later, however, in March 1995 (exactly 25 years ago) during the last Preparatory Committee for the Fourth World Conference on Women, the word “gender” was ferociously contested by the Holy See and other delegations  Although anti-gender discourses and arguments circulate worldwide, Europe, in particular Eastern Europe, and Latin America have been sites where anti-gender political mobilising has been intense. 

This side event seeks to critically discuss how anti-gender ideology arguments and related political mobilising are impacting on the human rights of youth, women and persons whose gender and sexuality differ from dominant heteronormativity in Europe and Latin America.  

Speakers include Mary Anne Case (University of Chicago ), Sonia Corrêa (ABIA - Sexuality Policy Watch), Neil Datta (European Parliamentary Forum), and Victoria Pedrido (Akahatá).

CART closed captioning will be available in English. French and Spanish interpretation will be provided. The side event will be livestreamed with captions on the SRI Facebook page www.facebook.com/SRInitiative.

Join the conversation using the hashtags #ProtestThePatriarchy and #HRC43

Other Sexual Rights-related Events

Side events are subject to change. Please check the daily order of the day and bulletin of informal meetings on the Human Rights Council website.

Capacity and Consent of Adolescents: Empowering Adolescents to Exercise their Bodily Autonomy (Permanent missions of the Netherlands and Canada, United Nations Population Fund, World Health Organization/Human Reproduction Programme, Center for Reproductive Rights, Sexual Rights Initiative, Choice for Youth and Sexuality, FIDA Kenya, Rutgers, International Planned Parenthood Federation, Plan International)

9 March 2020, 12:00-13:00, Room XXV

This side event will discuss some of the key tensions in legal frameworks on adolescent’s rights. Panelists will discuss how restrictive legal frameworks underpinning the issues of capacity and consent of adolescents with regards to sexuality and access to sexual and reproductive health information and services intersect with related issues on adolescents’ rights, such as mandatory reporting and third-party authorization laws, child early and forced marriage, criminalization of consensual sexual relations between adolescents, sexual violence, comprehensive sexuality education and forced pregnancy testing.

Infertility and Human Rights (Center for Reproductive Rights, Sama, World Health Organization/Human Reproduction Programme, ShareNet)

2 March 2020, 13:00-14:00, Room VII

This side event will help create a space to speak about the human rights and gender implications of infertility, access to infertility care, and surrogacy. Additionally, it will discuss infertility’s prevalence, prevention, causes and impact, and disparities in access to infertility care, including IVF. A human rights-based approach and framing of infertility, access to infertility care, and surrogacy ensures that the human rights of all impacted stakeholders are respected, protected and fulfilled.

Briefing on the Generation Equality Forum (UN Women, Permanent Missions of France and Mexico)

25 February, 13:30-15:00, Room XXI 

International guidelines on human rights and drug policy (OHCHR)

25 February, 13:00-14:30, Room VII

The environmental human rights defenders crisis: towards a Geneva roadmap (Permanent Missions of Fiji and Switzerland, EarthJustice, Geneva Environment Network, Université de Genève)

27 February, 10:30-12:00, Room XXII

Indigenous women as frontline human rights defenders (Permanent Missions of Denmark, Norway and International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA))

27 February, 13:30-15:00, Room XXIII

Gender and Religion (Association for Progressive Communications)

2 March 2020, 11:00-12:00, Room XXVII

Women Human Rights Defenders in Conflict and Post-conflict (International Service for Human Rights)

4 March 2020, 11:00-12:00, Room XXVII

Gender-based Violence in Conflict Areas (Right Livelihood Award Foundation)

4 March 2020, 14:00-15:00, Room VII

Right to Food in Conflicts (FIAN International)

4 March 2020, 15:00-16:00, Room XXVII

Women Human Rights Defenders in Asia (FORUM-Asia)

5 March 2020, 13:00-14:00, Room XXVII

Disability Inclusion: Translating the 2030 Agenda and the CRPD into Local Actions (Permanent Mission of Thailand)

6 March 2020, 12:00-13:00, Room XXV

The Right to Peaceful Assembly (International Organization for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination)

12 March 2020, 12:00-13:00 Room XXV

Celebrating civic space (OHCHR, Special Rapporteurs on freedom of peaceful assembly and association; freedom of opinion and expression; and human rights defenders)

12 March 2020, 16:30-18:00, Room XXII

Recognition, Respect and Families (COC Nederland)

19 March 2020, 14:00-15:00, Room XXIII