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Promoting 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:

  • Reproductive health as a component of overall health, throughout the life cycle, for both men and women
  • Reproductive decision-making, including voluntary choice in marriage, family formation and determination of the number, timing and spacing of one's children and the right to have access to the information and means needed to exercise voluntary choice
  • Equality and equity for men and women, to enable individuals to make free and informed choices in all spheres of life, free from discrimination based on gender
  • Sexual and reproductive security, including freedom from sexual violence and coercion, and the right to privacy.

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.

United Nations Population Fund Logo DR. BABATUNDE OSOTIMEHIN, ،EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, UNFPA

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.


Graphic: Mother and baby, Bangladesh

APF Regional Consultation on Reproductive Rights

Malaysia

The consultation provided an opportunity for APF members to identify concrete steps they could take to better promote and protect reproductive rights.


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.


Report

Reproductive Rights: A Manual for National Human Rights Instititutions

05 Oct 2015  
Women
Report

Integrating Reproductive Rights into the Work of NHRIs in the Asia Pacific

05 Oct 2015  
Women
Report

Application of Human Rights to Reproductive and Sexual Health

05 Oct 2015  
Women
Report

Reproductive Rights: A Tool for Monitoring State Obligations

10 Sep 2015  
Women
More resources

Image credits

  1. Woman and baby - MD. Hasibul Haque Sakib, Flickr; http://bit.ly/1iVeVZQ
  2. Women and girls in India - Suchit Nanda/Majority World, Flickr