Autonomy vs Protectionism looking back on our HRC 53 Side-event

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.
Analysis
Bodily autonomy
Protectionism

HRC 59: 2nd Statement by the Sex Workers' Delegation to the ID with Special Rapporteur on VAW

Statement
The report on consent presents overly broad generalisations without clear alternatives, grouping diverse industries under uniform criticism. Her paternalistic analysis denies the decision-making autonomy of women, effectively denying their agency under the guise of protection. This protectionist analysis, which is reflected in the Special Rapporteur’s work, scapegoats trans and gender diverse people, creating an artificial hierarchy of rights.
Sex work
Bodily autonomy
Protectionism
Sexual orientation and gender identity

HRC 59: Statement by the Sex Workers' Delegation to the ID with Special Rapporteur on VAW

News
By focusing on “protective” approaches rooted in moral frameworks, the report reinforces harmful narratives that view sex workers primarily as victims, or ignore the existence of sex work as work! The digital frontier is not new for sex workers; for years, we have faced cyber-bullying, online harassment, cyber monitoring, and platform discrimination. Punitive laws and anti-sex work policies continue to expose sex workers to violence, both online and offline, and restrict our access to digital tools that we utilize for our safety
Sex work
Protectionism
Gender-based violence

SRI submission to the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health: violence and its impact on the right to health

In response to the Special Rapporteur’s call for inputs on violence and its impact on the right to health, SRI made a submission addressing violations of bodily autonomy and the operation of systems of oppression as structural violence

Submissions
Poverty and economic inequality
Right to health
Bodily autonomy
Sex work
Abortion
Protectionism
Decriminalization
Gender-based violence
Racial discrimination

SRI Submission to the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health: Sexual Rights During the COVID-19 Pandemic

In response to the Special Rapporteur’s call for contributions, SRI made a submission locating the impact of COVID-19 on the right to sexual and reproductive health within a broader context of racial capitalism, patriarchy, colonialism, ableism and austerity.

Submissions
Right to health
Sexual and reproductive health and rights
Covid-19
Austerity
Contraception
Abortion
Protectionism
Gender-based violence
Maternal mortality and morbidity
Sex work

Joint Submission to the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, its Causes and Consequences

This joint submission in response to the questionnaire by the Special Rapporteur provides context to the analysis on laws on violence against women. As a critical aspect to understanding laws on rape and other forms of sexual violence, this submission locates penal laws within the larger structural paradigm that dictates and influences the enactment and implementation of these laws and policies. It provides critical analysis of the harms of carceral approaches or approaches that rely on punishment and incarceration, when addressing gender-based violence. It argues that the report of the Special Rapporteur is an opportunity to lay down clear frameworks on consent and to counter paternalistic and essentialist discourses.

Submissions
Gender-based violence
Sexual violence
Protectionism
Bodily autonomy