Decriminalization

Published on July 10, 2023
We regret that Pakistan did not receive any recommendations on its HIV/AIDS response, as Pakistan has one of the highest rates of new HIV infection in South Asia. Only 12% of people living with HIV can access treatment, and the public healthcare delivery system faces uneven distribution of health professionals among provinces and towns, a deficient workforce, insufficient funding and limited access to quality healthcare services.
Published on December 15, 2022

The 42nd session of the Universal Periodic review begins on the 23rd of January 2023. The working group session will take place from 23 January to 3 February 2023. 13 Countries will be under review during the session: Czechia, Gabon, Benin, Switzerland, Argentina, Ghana, Guatemala, the Republic of Korea, Pakistan, Japan, Sri Lanka and Zambia. In collaboration with our partners, the SRI collaborated on reports for Guatemala, Japan, Pakistan, Switzerland and Zambia.

Uploaded on June 06, 2023

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.

Uploaded on June 06, 2023

The 42nd session of the Universal Periodic review begins on the 23rd of January 2023. The working group session will take place from 23 January to 3 February 2023. 13 Countries will be under review during the session: Czechia, Gabon, Benin, Switzerland, Argentina, Ghana, Guatemala, the Republic of Korea, Pakistan, Japan, Sri Lanka and Zambia. In collaboration with our partners, the SRI collaborated on reports for Guatemala, Japan, Pakistan, Switzerland and Zambia.

Uploaded on May 01, 2023

The 43rd session of the Universal Periodic review begins on 1 May 2023. The working group session will take place from 1 to 12 May 2023. 14 Countries will be under review during the session: France,Tonga, Romania, Mali, Botswana, the Bahamas, Burundi, Luxembourg, Barbados, Montenegro, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, Liechtenstein and Serbia. In collaboration with our partners, the SRI collaborated on reports for Romania and Botswana.

Uploaded on April 14, 2022

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

Uploaded on October 08, 2021

Sex work is deeply intertwined with the public and policy debate on immigration in Denmark. Many street-based sex workers in Copenhagen and other big cities are migrants and are subjected to intersectional discrimination, including xenophobic and racist violence. The anti-migrant, xenophobic and racist sentiment is also frequently expressed by political leaders and senior ranking government officials. Government funding continues to be drastically cut from many sex workers’ organizations and organizations supporting migrants. Absurd and inaccurate reasoning is often provided for these funding cuts, such as conflating sex work with “human trafficking and illegal migrant work.”  

Uploaded on October 08, 2021

Patriarchy is pervasive and entrenched in Mozambican society. Women face restrictions and discrimination throughout their lifetime and in every sphere of life. The feminization of poverty and the greater incidence of HIV/AIDS without proper health care, prevent women from enjoying their rights. While important strides have been made by Mozambique as reported on during the UPR, much more still needs to be done.

Uploaded on May 28, 2019

The present report is submitted to the Human Rights Council pursuant to its resolution 27/32, in which the Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to update the report of the Office of the High Commission on violence and discrimination against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity (A/HRC/19/41).

Uploaded on May 23, 2019

Human Rights Council – 35th session

Item 3: IE on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

Thank you, Mr. President. Action Canada makes this statement on behalf of the Sexual Rights Initiative.

Sexuality and gender continue to be sites of oppression, discrimination, violence and subject to harsh religious, legal, political, economic and social control. They have become the sites of geopolitical contestation and are often leveraged to win elections, obscure or justify human rights abuses in other areas and cynically used to subvert the universality of human rights.

Uploaded on May 07, 2019

We are writing in response to UN Women’s call for submissions regarding UN Women’s policy on sex work. A number of sex workers’, women’s and human rights organizations have been engaging with UN Women for some months about this proposed policy, stressing the importance of a process that meaningfully engages with a broad range of sex workers’ and women’s rights organizations as essential to the policy development process.

Published on May 09, 2018

The 30th session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is taking place now until 18 May, 2018 at the UN Human Rights Council, in Geneva. Fourteen countries will be reviewed during the session: Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Canada, Cabo Verde, CameroonColombia, Cuba, Djibouti, Germany, Russian Federation, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu and Uzbekistan.

Published on November 17, 2016

Find out which human rights recommendations were accepted, noted or deferred by Haiti, Iceland, Lithuania, Moldova (Republic of), South Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Timor-Leste, Togo, Uganda, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), and Zimbabwe during the latest UN Universal Periodic Review.

The 26th session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) was held at the UN Human Rights Council, in Geneva, from 31 October-11 November 2016.

Published on October 26, 2016

A fundamental principle of human rights is the equal right to participate in political and public affairs. This is guaranteed by Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as other several human rights instruments, and is a key component of a human rights based approach which seeks to eliminate marginalization and discrimination in the development of laws and policies.

Published on October 02, 2015

On September 22nd, during the 30th session of the Human Rights Council, we co-hosted a side event to discuss protection gaps around sexual rights. The five panelists discussed the nature and causes of existing protection gaps in sexual rights, and gave recommendations to further protections for all individuals in the field of sexuality.

Published on June 25, 2014

Alongside the ongoing 26th session of the Council, the Sexual Rights Initiative, in partnership with, Ipas, Amnesty International and UNAIDS, hosted a parallel event examining the interplay of the criminalization of sexuality and reproduction with the international human rights framework.

Published on December 12, 2013

Human rights activists across the country are deeply disappointed with today’s decision of the Supreme Court in Suresh Kumar Kaushal v. Naz Foundation to overturn the historic Delhi High Court judgement of 2009, which decriminalised homosexuality in India. CREA believes that today’s decision to set aside that historic and progressive judgement is an unconscionable blow to people’s fundamental rights to equality and freedom from discrimination, violence, and harassment. This is a huge setback not just for the LGBT movement in this country and elsewhere, but also for human rights everywhere.