HRC 58: Gender Alliance for Development Center and SRI Statement on the UPR Adoption of Albania

Despite policy advancements in Albania, significant gaps remain in the protection and support of workers, particularly women in rural areas. Labour rights violations persist, especially for women who face systemic barriers to employment and economic security. Whilst the government adopted the National Strategy for Employment and Skills (2023–2030), rural women remain disproportionately excluded from the workforce​. Limited access to childcare, a lack of vocational training, and deep-rooted gender norms restrict their participation, leaving them vulnerable to poverty and economic dependence.

HRC 58: SRI Statement to the Interactive dialogue with the Independent Expert on foreign debt

We welcome the Independent Expert’s report. As it remarks, Global South countries are most affected by a climate crisis they did not cause and by an inequitable global financial system. They are struggling with increasing debt levels, forced to borrow more money, often just to repay existing debts, with IMF- and World Bank-imposed austerity measures, including cuts to public spending and privatization of essential services affecting disproportionately women, children, elderly, racialized and marginalized communities.

HRC 58: Rising Flame Joint Statement: ID with the SR on the rights of persons with disabilities

We commend and appreciate the efforts of the Special Rapporteur in highlighting the rights of women and girls with disabilities by aligning the Beijing+30 review with commitments made in UNCRPD and SDG. We also thank her for spotlighting the leadership of women with disabilities in the regional B+30 processes.

HRC 58: SRI, YWCA Hamilton and Barbra Schlifer Clinic statement to the Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on housing

Housing is more than shelter. It is a fundamental determinant of health, safety, and well-being. Migrants, particularly those with irregular status, face systemic barriers to securing safe housing, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation, ill health, displacement, gender-based violence, and human rights violations. In Canada, many migrant workers, especially in agricultural and caregiving sectors, and international students endure overcrowded and unsafe conditions with little recourse when facing exploitation, violence, or eviction.

HRC 58: Joint Statement to the Annual high-level panel discussion on human rights mainstreaming

The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action have long been heralded as a pivotal moment in the recognition of women’s rights. While feminists fought fearlessly for a declaration many also noted its shortcomings. Those concerns remain relevant today.

Intersectionality, Economic Justice and the Right to Development

This publication is a summary of a submission, sent to the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development in June 2023 in response to a call to inform his vision-setting report. In this submission, SRI called for the Special Rapporteur to address inequalities and the right to development from an intersectional perspective, and to provide a thematic report dedicated to gender and the right to development.

UPR Submissions - 49th session

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.

HRC 57: Joint Civil Society Statement on Abortion : General Debate Item 8

We need a new sustainable development model that prioritises equal and equitable access to all resources for all, and which values people over profits. On the occasion of International Safe Abortion Day, we call for an intersectional feminist model to development that centres the voices of women, girls and gender-diverse persons in determining indicators to measure global development.

HRC 57: SRI Statement to the Panel discussion on th​e implementation of States’ obligations on the role of the family in supporting the human rights of its members

The principle of universality must be applied to challenge which families are considered to be worthy of state protection and therefore which family members are entitled to human rights, according to the state. At this very moment, we are witnessing families being decimated in service of a racist, colonial state and its expansionist aspirations. Are these family members not entitled to human rights?

HRC 57 SRI statement to the Interactive dialogue with the Expert Mechanism on the right to development

The study is crucial in a context of willful denial by many Global North states of the right to development, its collective dimensions, and its aim of ending economic colonialism and dependency - the same states that directly benefit from our unequal international economic order.

HRC 57: SRI statement to the Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on water and sanitation

Instead of continuing on this destructive path, he challenges us all to rethink the ways in which water is valued, managed and utilized in order to strengthen communities, to repair our poisoned ecosystems and to better understand the connections between water, territory and our bodies.

HRC 57: SRI, IPPF and AWID Statement to the panel discussion on promoting and protecting economic, social and cultural rights within the context of addressing inequalities.

Without addressing oppressive systems, particularly the global financial architecture and its impact, human rights are a distant dream. Given the urgent need to reform the global financial architecture, how can the HRC and other actors ensure that efforts to promote economic, social, and cultural rights do not remain superficial? If the underlying financial systems driving global inequalities are not addressed, it will all remain window-dressing.

Everything You Need to Know About UPR 45

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.

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.

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 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: 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.

Submission to the Special Rapporteur on cultural rights: the right to participate in sports

Prepared in response to the call for inputs issued by the Special Rapporteur on cultural rights to inform her report on the right to participate in sports, this submission advocates for an intersectional approach that examines the colonial, racist, patriarchal and capitalist underpinnings and root causes for violations of the right to participate in sports.

UPR Submissions - 47th session

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.

UPR Submissions - 45th Session

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.

HRC 55: SRI Statement to the Annual meeting on the rights of the child

We cannot continue talking about the universality of human rights and social protection while selectively restricting access to protection for specific groups of children. In order for social protection for children to be universal and comply with children’s rights, we must hold States accountable for their obligations not only within their borders but also globally.

HRC 55: SRI, CREA & TCIG Statement to the Annual interactive debate on the rights of persons with disabilities

In many instances, social protection benefits are not accessed by persons with disabilities due to family’s own perception of their legal incapacity. We need to understand what are the additional support elements which need to be available for accessing services ensuring the inclusion of persons with disabilities.

HRC 55: SRI Statement to the Interactive dialogue with the Independent Expert on Foreign Debt

As noted in the report, military spending by Global North states reflects their priorities and disregard for basic human rights - and we remind states in the Global North that their military aid and arms exports currently contribute to the genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza, in violation of the current ICJ provisional measures order.

HRC 55: SRI Statement to the panel discussion on challenges and good practices to realize the right to social security and to provide quality public services

President, this panel comes at a critical juncture for the premier multilateral body responsible for promoting and protecting human rights. UNDP has documented that “twenty-five developing economies, the highest number since 2000, spent over 20 percent of their government revenues in 2022 on total external debt servicing.”

SRI Conversations Summary: The Political Economy of Sexual Rights 2023

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.

Summary of SRI Conversation 3: Coercion, cooption, and collusion: Global governance under neoliberalism.

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.

Summary of SRI Conversation 2: Coercive and punitive economic measures and their impact on sexual and reproductive rights

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.

SRI Conversation 3: 22 November: Coercion, cooption and collusion: Global governance under neoliberalism

This is the last in a series of three conversations in which SRI explores the effect of economic politics on human rights, specifically sexual rights. The first, in September, examined the link between sexual rights and histories and legacies of colonial exploitation and their neoliberal afterlives; the second conversation, in October, focused on the tactics and effects of coercive economic measures.

Summary of SRI Conversation 1: Legacies and contemporary forms of colonialism, imperialism, and occupation, and their impact on sexual and reproductive rights

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.

Register Now: SRI Conversations: 27 October: Coercive and punitive economic measures & Sexual Rights

Join us for this exciting series of conversations hosted by the Sexual Rights Initiative on the political economy of sexual rights. Our second conversation will be on the following theme: Coercive and punitive economic measures and their impact on sexual and reproductive rights.

HRC 54 SRI Statement on the ID on OHCHR report on panel discussion on the negative impact of the legacies of colonialism

Until all neocolonial and occupying states and forces are withdrawn, until transnational corporations and foreign military bases and operations are expelled, until extractivist industries are stopped, until debt is cancelled and the international economic order reframed to put people before profit, people living under occupation and those who bear the brunt of neocolonialism as well as their allies will continue to fight to be free.

HRC 54 SRI & IWRAW Asia Pacific Joint Statement to the Interactive Dialogue with the SR on the Right to Development

When we talk about debt, let us also talk about the unpaid reparations, current and historical illicit financial flows, and the global tax abuses that benefit Global North countries, corporations, and economic elites across the world.

HRC 54 SRI Statement to the ID on the OHCHR report on economic, social and cultural rights, and COVID-19 recovery

The current economic, geopolitical and global health context is a reflection of colonial power dynamics and structures shaping racist inequalities in resources, health access and outcomes within and among countries. COVID-19 highlighted the impacts of decades of systematic underfunding of health systems partly fuelled by austerity, privatisation and structural adjustment programs, underpinned by neoliberal ideologies and approaches.

Submission to the Special Rapporteur on the right to development: thematic priorities for the mandate

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.

HRC 53 SRI Statement to the Annual full-day discussion on the human rights of women: Social Protection

Privatisation and financialization of social protection transfer responsibility and risk, to the individual instead of the state. This has two important consequences: first, it absolves the state from its obligations, and second, structural oppressions, which create and entrench inequalities, continue to operate without any challenge.

Akãhatã & SRI Statement to the Interactive Dialogue with the Working Group on Transnational Corporations

The social and economic development that transnational corporations were supposed to bring is just a distant promise for Global South countries, as extractivism, degradation of natural resources, privatisation of public resources and violations of human rights are a palpable reality.

HRC 53 Joint Statement: Interactive dialogue with the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls

Feminists have long understood that poverty is the result of violent impoverishment and (neo)colonial economic exploitation. We know that economic justice is essential for the realization of gender justice - just as it is for racial, disability or climate justice. However, members of this Council continue to treat these issues in siloes, or even as competing human rights concerns.

Joint submission to the Independent Expert on foreign debt: multiple crises, fiscal systems and human rights

This joint submission by SRI, AWID and IWRAW AP responds to a call for input issued by the Independent Expert on foreign debt for her upcoming report on multiple crises, fiscal systems and human rights. The submission aims to address the current situation as a crisis of neo-liberal capitalism, white supremacy, colonialism and patriarchy, and calls for an intersectional approach to these crises, their causes and their human rights impacts.

Submission to OHCHR Promoting and protecting economic, social and cultural rights within the context of addressing inequalities in the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic

This submission argues that one of the essential elements to “profoundly transform economies to make them greener, fairer and more inclusive” is to review the current macroeconomic system, which itself is a continuation of the historical and ongoing consequence of colonialism: its impact on people and to embark on a radical global system change - one which places people and the planet before profits.

SRI submission to the Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures: sanctions and the right to health

In response to the Special Rapporteur’s call for input about unilateral coercive measures and the right to health, SRI made a submission examining unilateral sanctions ​​as forms of economic and racial injustice and imperial domination, and a violation of the right to development.

HRC 52 SRI Statement to the Interactive Dialogue on Access to COVID-19 Vaccines

Big pharma and vaccine hoarding governments are responsible for 1.3 million avoidable deaths in the first year of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. That is 1 death every 24 seconds. As a test of international cooperation and human rights, this is nothing short of abject failure.

Statement by SRI and Akãhatã to the Interactive Dialogue with the IE on the effects of foreign debt

We note that the Expert pointed out the seriousness of the fact that in 40 years of democracy, the Argentine State, which tried those responsible for the last civil-military dictatorship, has not implemented any mechanism to find the truth in relation to the foreign debt taken by the dictatorship itself. For at least 30 years there has been a social demand to audit foreign debt and cancel the debt contracted by the dictatorship, because it is not legitimate.

2022 In Review

As we embark on another year of activism for sexual rights, we wanted to share with you our highlights of 2022. While the UN human rights system continues to be confronted by multiple challenges –from funding shortages, geopolitical tensions and polarisation and attempts to undermine multilateralism to the presence and influence of regressive and conservative actors, we have made steadfast progress in advancing sexual rights in this system. Read below for our highlights of 2022.

Joint submission to the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls: poverty and inequality

SRI, IWRAW Asia Pacific and AWID made a joint submission in response to the Working Group’s call for inputs on “Human security of women and girls in the context of poverty and inequality.” The submission advocates for an economic justice approach and class analysis of poverty and inequality.

UPR Submissions - 41st session

The 41st session of the Universal Periodic review begins on the 7th of November 2022, and this session marks the beginning of the fourth cycle of the UPR. The working group session will take place from 7 November to 18 November 2022. 14 Countries will be under review during the session: Bahrain, Ecuador, Tunisia, Morocco, Indonesia, Finland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, India, Brazil, Philippines, Algeria, Poland, Netherlands and South Africa. In collaboration with our partners, the SRI collaborated on reports for South Africa, India, Poland and the Netherlands.

HRC 58: SRI Statement to the Panel discussion on the realization of human rights in sustaining and increasing the gains made in the HIV response and leaving no one behind

We should not need the numbers to know that we are pushing millions of people into a health crisis. In the 80s and 90s, millions of people died from AIDS-related illnesses that were treatable and from HIV transmission that was preventable. Callous and calculating states, along with unregulated pharma companies, made it clear that those most affected were disposable – while those who could pay were a source of profit.

Statement to the OHCHR workshop on on promoting and protecting economic, social and cultural rights within the context of COVID-19: Session 4

Around the world, health systems and health financing have been eroded, undermined and weakened by decades of neoliberalism, austerity, privatisation and structural adjustment programs and an emphasis on minimising State intervention and relying on a discourse of “personal responsibility.

Statement to the OHCHR workshop on on promoting and protecting economic, social and cultural rights within the context of COVID-19: Session 2

The rising inequalities, made even starker due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, are a symptom of the failed economic system that prioritises profit over people and impoverishes people. It is very important to look at the impact of the erosion of public systems through privatisation and financialisation and resulting human rights violations and abuses. In particular, to delve deeper into why public health systems were woefully inadequate to deal with the Pandemic.

UPR 42 Pakistan Submission - FDI, APA and SRI

This joint stakeholder report assesses Pakistan’s progress since its third cycle review in meeting its obligations to respect, protect, and fulfill the sexual and reproductive health and rights obligations it has towards young people, particularly women and transgender persons. The submission focuses on access to safe abortion, the sexual rights of LGBT people, and access to sexual and reproductive health information, education and services.

UPR 41 South Africa Submission - Sisonke, African Sex Workers Alliance (ASWA) and SRI

This report has been jointly prepared by the African Sex Workers Alliance (ASWA), the Sexual Rights Initiative (SRI) and Sisonke, South Africa. It seeks to highlight the existing and ongoing human rights violations against sex workers due to restrictive and punitive laws and policies in South Africa It also outlines South Africa commitment to provision and protection of rights through various national and international mechanisms, including the previous cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and the relevant recommendations.

Sexual Rights at the 27th UN Universal Periodic Review

The 27th session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) was held at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva from 1-12 May 2017. Eleven countries were reviewed during UPR27: Bahrain, Ecuador, Tunisia, Morocco, Indonesia, Finland, United Kingdom, India, Brazil, Philippines, Algeria, Poland, Netherlands, and South Africa.

SRI welcomes UN Women’s strong position on sex work, sexual exploitation and trafficking in persons

On November 12th, the Sexual Rights Initiative sent a letter to UN Women, welcoming its strong, human rights-based approach, to issues of sex work, sexual exploitation and trafficking in persons. The original letter and UN Women’s note can be accessed below.

Reparations and remedies for violence must be transformative

Transformative reparations must also take into account that marginalized women have the least access to judicial or administrative remedies. Multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination serve to disempower, exclude, and stigmatize women, which if not considered in reparation schemes, will only reinforce existing inequalities.