- 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.
Todo lo que necesitan saber sobre EPU 45
La sesión 45° del Examen Periódico Universal tuvo lugar del 22 de enero al 2 de febrero de 2024. En esa sesión fueron examinados 14 países: Arabia Saudita, Senegal, China, Nigeria Mauricio, México, Jordania, Malasia, República Centroafricana, Mónaco, Belice, Chad, Congo y Malta. En colaboración con organizaciones aliadas, la SRI presentó informes sobre Malasia y Nigeria.Tout au sujet de l’EPU 45
45e session de l’Examen périodique universel (EPU) a eu lieu du 22 janvier au 2 février 2024. Quatorze pays y ont fait l’objet d’un examen : l’Arabie saoudite, le Sénégal, la Chine, le Nigeria, Maurice, le Mexique, la Jordanie, la Malaisie, la République centrafricaine, Monaco, le Bélize, le Tchad, le Congo et Malte. En collaboration avec ses partenaires, la SRI a soumis des mémoires concernant la Malaisie et le Nigeria.UPR Submissions - 48th session
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.
Databases and Tools
Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights has been working since 2002 to strengthen and protect basic rights and freedoms in Egypt, through research, advocacy and supporting litigation in the fields of civil liberties, economic and social rights, and criminal justice.
LogoImageActive partnerYesPartner websiteCREA
Creating Resources for Empowerment in Action (CREA) is a feminist human rights organisation based in New Delhi, India. It is one of the few international women’s rights organisations based in the global South, led by Southern feminists, which works at the grassroots, national, regional, and international levels. Together with partners from a diverse range of human rights movements and networks, CREA works to advance the rights of women and girls, and the sexual and reproductive freedoms of all people.
LogoImageActive partnerYesPartner websiteAkahatá
Akahatá | Working Team on Sexualities and Genders is a group of experienced and recognized activists from Latin America who joined together in 2011 to work on the promotion, protection and development of human rights related to sexual rights and reproductive rights. To accomplish its mission, Akahatá promotes dialogue, exchanges of experience and develops strategies and research, organizes training programs and undertakes advocacy to develop human rights, including sexual rights, of all people.
LogoImageActive partnerYesPartner websiteCoalition of African Lesbians
Foundation for Women and Family Planning
The Foundation for Women and Family Planning advocates for sexual and reproductive health and rights including the right to legal abortion, access to modern contraception and sexuality education, at the national, regional and international levels. It conducts permanent monitoring of the observance of human rights in Poland and informs public opinion and relevant institutions in the country and abroad about the results.
LogoImageActive partnerNoDid you miss it? Here’s what happened at HRC 56!
The 56th session of the UN Human Rights Council took place from 18 June to 12 July 2024. The ongoing liquidity crisis experienced by the United Nations, which deeply affects the Council’s functioning, has once again put civil society organisations under an additional and significant burden - especially when it comes to accessing hybrid modalities and organising side events. Below, you will find information on some of the key sexual rights-related: Resolutions Panel discussions Oral statements UPR Outcomes Side Events¿Se lo perdieron? ¡Esto es lo que ocurrió en CDH 56!
La sesión 56° del Consejo de Derechos Humanos (CDH 56) se desarrolló del 18 de junio al 12 de julio de 2024. La crisis de liquidez que sufren las Naciones Unidas y que afecta profundamente el financiamiento del Consejo, una vez más representó una carga adicional y significativa para la sociedad civil, sobre todo en cuanto a su acceso a modalidades híbridas (de participación) y su capacidad de organizar eventos paralelos. A continuación, encontrarán información sobre algunas cuestiones relacionadas con derechos sexuales en: Resoluciones Mesas redondas Intervenciones orales Resultados del EPU Eventos paralelosVous l'avez ratée ? Voici ce qui s'est passé à la 56e session du Conseil des droits de l’homme !
La 56e session du Conseil des droits de l'homme des Nations unies s'est tenue du 18 juin au 12 juillet 2024. La crise budgétaire que connaissent actuellement les Nations unies et qui affecte lourdement le fonctionnement du Conseil, a une fois de plus imposé aux organisations de la société civile une charge supplémentaire et importante, en particulier lorsqu'il s’est agit d'accéder aux modalités hybrides et l’organisations des événements parallèles. Vous trouverez ci-dessous des informations sur certains des principaux événements en rapport avec les droits sexuels : Résolutions Tables rondes Déclarations orales Résultats des examens périodiques universels (EPU) Événements parallèlesHRC 56: North South Initiative & SRI Statement on Malaysia UPR Adoption
We welcome the recommendations made to Malaysia on the ratification of the 1951 Refugee Convention (and its protocol) and regret the noting of the same. Malaysia currently fails to adequately recognise refugee status, and UNHCR registration provides only limited protection against arbitrary arrest, detention and refoulement. Malaysia is yet to provide clarity on how it determines the refugee status of detainees, and indeed the UNHCR has been denied access to immigration detention centres for almost five years now. This is concerning given current policies and the prevailing climate of xenophobia towards refugees and migrants.CDH 56: Declaración de SRI: Adopción del Examen Periódico Universal - México
Alentamos a México a que las políticas y leyes que adopte tengan un enfoque interseccional, ya que son numerosas las violaciones a los derechos humanos donde además del género o la orientación sexual y la identidad de género, aspectos como la clase, el origen étnico, el estatus migratorio u otros factores incrementan sustancialmente las vulnerabilidades de las personas que sufren discriminación.HRC 56: SRI Statement to Nigeria's UPR adoption
We regret the noting of recommendations pertaining to providing access to information and education on sexual and reproductive health. Nigeria is failing to meet its obligations to provide such information, with private institutions left to bridge the gap in access to evidence-based, accurate information. Everyone has the right to learn about one’s body, sexuality, and sexual and reproductive health. We call on Nigeria to ensure access to comprehensive sexuality education for all, as part of its obligation to ensure that everyone enjoys the right to a quality education.HRC 56: IDPC, GAATW, WHRIN, HRI, IWRAW and SRI Joint Statement to the Interactive dialogue with the SR on extreme poverty
We echo the report’s call on States to repeal all laws and policies that penalise individuals for structural inequality, and to move away from punitive and carceral approaches.
There is overwhelming evidence showing that the criminalisation of drug use and of sex work is deeply discriminatory, disproportionately affecting people on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity and class. It also increases exposure to physical and sexual violence. It is also used as a driver of other harmful policies, for instance by restricting access to safe housing and shelter, as well as to safe places of work and labour rights for sex workers.
HRC 56: SRI and AWID statement to the annual full-day discussion on the human rights of women: Panel 2: Human rights economy and women’s rights
Human rights economy seeks to prioritize investment in economic, social and cultural rights, as well as the right to development. However, the transformative potential of a human rights economy will remain hollow without addressing the global financial architecture as a colonial structure that exerts control over countries in the Global South through debt burdens, austerity measures, structural adjustment programs and loan conditionalities through international financial institutions.HRC 56: SRI, AWID & NSWP statement to the interactive dialogue with the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls
We urge States to heed the Working Group’s recommendations related to the realization of individual and collective rights to substantive equality, including guaranteeing the right to decent work, comprehensive social protection, and repealing laws criminalizing poverty. International and regional economic, financial and monetary institutions and their member States must move away from the growth-centered and neoliberal paradigm that are root causes of inequalities.HRC 56: SRI statement to the annual full-day discussion on the human rights of women: Economic violence against women and girls
Economic violence against women and girls, as with many other forms of gender-based violence, is rooted in patriarchal, racist, classist systems of oppression. In the last decades, structural conditions created by global capitalism and neoliberal policies, combined with those first mentioned, have added new dimensions, causes and consequences.HRC 56: SRI statement to the Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the right to health
We support the Special Rapporteur’s recommendations to States to move away from criminal approaches to drug use and control frameworks and rather adopt an evidence-based, human rights approach. Moreover, access to medicines is a human right that must not be impeded by policies that favour corporate interests over people’s health and rights.HRC 56: Sex Worker delegation at the Council
In collaboration with the Global Network of Sex Work Project, SRI supported a delegation of sex workers from different countries to participate in the 56th session of the Human Rights Council. This delegation also benefited from the support of the Count me In! Consortium and the Our Voices, Our Future Consortium.HRC 56: Women Deliver statement to the Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls
Evidence collected over 25 years by Amnesty International in Norway and Ireland, Médecins du Monde in France has consistently demonstrated that criminalisation as recommended by the SR VAW, has been responsible for increasing the economic vulnerability, worsening the quality of life of sex workers everywhere this system is implemented.HRC 56: NSWP statement to the Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls
As a mother, I am offended by the report’s assertion that sex workers are bad mothers and our children are a result of violence who will end up getting stolen, trafficked, raped and killed. I have chosen sex work to be my profession, but this is not my whole reality. Before I am a sex worker, I am many things. My rights should not be denied because of my job.HRC 56: IWRAW statement to the Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls
As a sex worker and sex worker advocate, I and my community find this report problematic and harmful. As a feminist, I object to the report because it denies our agency and autonomy.