Resources

The 49th session of the Universal Periodic will take place from 28 April to 09 May 2025. 14 Countries are under review during the session: Kyrgyzstan, Kiribati, Guinea, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Spain, Lesotho, Kenya, Armenia, Guinea-Bissau, Sweden, Grenada, Türkiye, Guyana and Kuwait. In collaboration with our partners, the SRI submitted reports for Armenia, Sweden and Kenya.

The 48th session of the Universal Periodic will take place from 20 to 31 January 2025. 14 Countries are under review during the session: Italy, the Gambia, Fiji, Kazakhstan, Iran, El Salvador, Bolivia, San Marino, Angola, Madagascar, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq and Egypt. In collaboration with our partners, the SRI submitted reports for Angola and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The 47th session of the Universal Periodic will take place from 4 to 15 November 2024. 14 Countries are under review during the session: Norway, Albania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Portugual, Bhutan, Dominica, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Brunei Darussalam, Costa Rics, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Qatar and Nicaragua. In collaboration with our partners, the SRI submitted reports for Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bhutan and Albania.

The 46th session of the Universal Periodic will take place from 29 April to 10 May 2024. 14 Countries are under review during the session: New Zealand, Afghanistan, Chile, Cyprus, Uruguay, Yemen, Vanuatu, North Macedonia, Comoros, Slovakia, Eritrea, Viet Nam, Dominican Republic and Cambodia. In collaboration with our partners, the SRI submitted reports for Cambodia and North Macedonia.

The 45th session of the Universal Periodic was held from 22 January to 02 February 2024. 14 Countries were under review during the session: Saudi Arabia, Senegal, China, Nigeria Mauritius, Mexico, Jordan, Malaysia, Central African Republic, Monaco, Belize, Chad, Congo and Malta. In collaboration with our partners, the SRI submitted reports for Malaysia and Nigeria.

Las crisis globales interrelacionadas entre sí y creadas por el capitalismo mediante el neoliberalismo rampante, el extractivismo sin control y la degradación del clima, el populismo y el nacionalismo violentos, la desigualdad cada vez más en aumento al interior de los estados y entre ellos, y los sistemas de opresión patriarcales, racistas, de clase y capacitistas enraizados tienen un impacto profundo sobre los derechos sexuales. Como parte del desarrollo de su nueva estrategia a diez años, la Iniciativa por los Derechos Sexuales (SRI) se propuso profundizar su análisis de la economía política de los derechos sexuales. Utilizando un enfoque participativo, la SRI organizó una serie de tres conversaciones en las que fuimos desmenuzando las diferentes dimensiones del tema.

Este documento contiene un resumen de las intervenciones de nuestras 3 conversaciones de 2023 sobre la economía política de los derechos sexuales.

Sexual rights are profoundly impacted by the interrelated global crises brought on by capitalism through rampant neoliberalism, unchecked extractivism and climate degradation, violent populism and nationalism, soaring inequality within and between states, and entrenched patriarchal, racist, classist and ableist systems of oppression. As part of the development of a new ten-year strategy, SRI sought to deepen its analysis of the political economy of sexual rights. Using a participatory approach, SRI convened a series of three conversations that teased out different dimensions of the overarching theme. Each conversation drew in various actors working nationally, regionally, and globally.

This document contains a summary of the interventions of our 3 conversations of 2023 on the political economy of sexual rights.

This submission reflects on the progress that Azerbaijan has made since its last review to meet its obligations to respect, protect and fulfil human rights. Azerbaijan received and supported recommendations during the last cycle of the UPR on gender equality, violence and discrimination against women, as well as women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) issues. These include bodily autonomy, reproductive health and family planning, sexual orientation and gender identity, maternal and infant morbidity and mortality, and child marriage. These sets of rights are cornerstones of democratic societies.

This report examines gaps in Canada’s obligation to respect, protect, and fulfil the right to abortion. Abortion is a decriminalized healthcare procedure and is enshrined in numerous human rights instruments and ratified conventions. Despite this, many people in Canada face barriers when seeking abortion services and some are ultimately unable to access care.

The 44th session of the Universal Periodic was held from 6 to 17 November 2023. 14 Countries were under review during the session: Turkmenistan, Cabo Verde, Uzbekistan, Germany, Canada, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Tuvalu, Djibouti, Bangladesh, Azerbaijan, Cuba, the Russian Federation and Cameroon. In collaboration with our partners, the SRI submitted reports for Canada, Bangladesh and Azerbaijan.

UPR 44 Canada Submission - Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic, Justice for Migrant Workers (J4MW), YWCA Hamilton, The Community Research Platform at McMaster University, and the SRI

This summary contains the essence of our panellists' interventions during our 3rd conversation on the the political economy of sexual rights focusing on coercion, cooption, and collusion: global governance under neoliberalism. This exciting series of conversations hosted by the Sexual Rights Initiative explore how macroeconomics profoundly affects sexual rights and share ideas on effective strategies to address these challenges within social justice activism, including advocacy in UN human rights spaces. By bringing together a diverse group of activists, scholars, and advocates, this virtual conversation series aims to build cross-movement collaboration and global partnerships.

This summary contains the essence of our panellists' interventions during our 2nd conversation on the the political economy of sexual rights focusing on coercive and punitive economic measures & sexual rights. This exciting series of conversations hosted by the Sexual Rights Initiative explore how macroeconomics profoundly affects sexual rights and share ideas on effective strategies to address these challenges within social justice activism, including advocacy in UN human rights spaces. By bringing together a diverse group of activists, scholars, and advocates, this virtual conversation series aims to build cross-movement collaboration and global partnerships.

This summary contains the essence of our panellists' interventions during our 1rst conversation on the the political economy of sexual rights focusing on the legacies and contemporary forms of colonialism, imperialism, and occupation, and their impact on sexual and reproductive rights.

In 2004, in an article titled “Sexuality, Violence Against Women, and Human Rights: Women Make Demands and Ladies Get Protection”, the legal scholar Ali Miller outlined a paradox. Despite the recognition of women’s human rights and increasing attention paid to violence against women in countless spaces, including through the media, the violence was not understood, prevented or adequately responded to. Miller points to two interconnected phenomena to explain this paradox. Firstly, the rise and practice of respectability politics. Due to this, more ‘explosive’ aspects of sexuality such as desire or autonomy are set aside in favour of issues that present less challenge to the systems of patriarchy, racism and class. And secondly, protectionism.

The suggested changes to the Draft General Recommendation proposed in this document are based on the joint submission, and focuses on the impact of systemic racism on global health systems, and consequent impact on people.

Prepared in response to the call for inputs issued by the Special Rapporteur on the right to development to inform his 2023 thematic reports and priorities for the mandate, this submission recommends adopting an intersectional approach to the right to development by engaging with gender, racial and economic justice, among others.

Whilst the buying and selling of sex is not llegal in Botswana, there are a number of legal provisions in place that prohibit a wide range of activities associated with sex work such as soliciting clients, public indecency or living on the earnings of sex work. This means that sex work is nevertheless criminalised - a status quo that poses a material risk to sex workers, and violates their rights to work, to health, to bodily autonomy and to be free from violence.

In September 2022, SAT Botswana, a youth-focused organisation, convened a workshop to consult with other youth-led and focused organisations, with ten organisations present. The objective of the meeting was to deliberate and develop a report for the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on critical issues, focusing on the state of adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health and rights in Botswana. In addition, the workshop discussed issues concerning adolescents and young people, highlighting some of the increasing sexual health challenges emanating from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Romanian Constitution guarantees equal treatment of all citizens before the law and public authorities, without any privilege or discrimination. This includes explicit reference to sexual orientation as a protected ground, and legal protection against hate crimes. Despite this, Romania is not respecting, protecting and fulfilling a broad range of rights related to sexuality and gender, particularly as pertains to sexual and reproductive health and rights. This failure is marked by an inability to provide adequate access to contraceptives, the lack of accessibility and availability of abortion services despite abortion being legal in the country, and the failure to invest in HIV/AIDS programming to prevent new cases in the country.