APF Regional Consultation on Reproductive Rights
Malaysia 20 Jun 2011The consultation provided an opportunity for APF members to identify concrete steps they could take to better promote and protect reproductive rights.
Graphic: Woman and baby
Reproduction is a fundamental, life-changing experience for the vast majority of humanity.
However, each year 80 million women have unintended pregnancies (45 million of which end in abortion) and more than half a million women are estimated to die from complications associated with pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period.
Around 340 million people acquire new sexually transmitted infections.
In every part of the world, women and adolescents bear the brunt of sexual and reproductive ill-health. Globally, it is women and girls in developing countries who are at most risk of reproductive-related disease, disability and death.
The importance of reproductive rights in meeting international development goals has been widely recognised. However, reproductive rights are valuable ends in themselves and essential to the enjoyment of other fundamental rights.
Graphic: Women and girls in India
Attaining the goals of sustainable, equitable development requires that individuals are able to exercise control over their sexual and reproductive lives.
This includes the rights to:
We need to address head on the systemic gender inequalities that hamper women's empowerment, their health and their options in life, and that prevent redress when their human rights are violated.
National human rights institutions (NHRIs) are uniquely placed to contribute positively to human rights promotion and protection, especially in areas that are relatively new, sensitive and prone to misunderstanding.
They can help rights-holders claim the rights to which they are entitled; monitor and report on the implementation of rights; educate officials and the community about reproductive rights; and sometimes even contribute to the delivery of services.
In recent years, the APF and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) have worked together to support NHRIs in the region to more effectively integrate reproductive rights into their ongoing work.
The first stage of this project was a study of 15 APF members (2011) - Integrating Reproductive Rights into the Work of NHRIs in the Asia Pacific - examined how they have addressed the issue to date; what obstacles they have encountered; and how reproductive rights can be more effectively integrated into their work.
A regional consultation in June 2011 brought together representatives from our members and UNFPA to discuss the study's findings and identify concrete steps that NHRIs could take to better promote and protect reproductive rights in their work.
Many of our members have put the results of these discussions into action.
The APF also provides practical support for our members. Following our first blended learning training program on the human rights of women and girls in 2015, the APF provided $5,000 seed funding to the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission to hold a three-day workshop on reproductive rights with female teachers and civil society activists.