WUNRN
International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
__________________________________________________________________
Via Civil Society Section
Office of the UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights
On Monday 15 November 2010, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) convened a Day of General Discussion on the right to sexual and reproductive health. The right to sexual and reproductive health is understood as a component of the right to health under article 12 and the right of family to protection and assistance under article 10 (2) of the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The four panels with speakers from NGOs, UN agencies, regional organizations, human rights treaty bodies and academics were as follows: 1) Concept of right to sexual and reproductive health; 2) Normative aspects; 3) Cross-cutting issues; and 4) Conclusions. They were chaired respectively by Luz Melo of UNFPA, Jane Connors and Craig Mokhiber of OHCHR, and Rocio Barahona-Riera of CESCR.
Representatives of States, UN Agencies, NGOs as well as individual experts participated in the Discussion Day.
As part of the preparatory work leading to the formulation of a general comment by CESCR on the right to sexual and reproductive health and, the Discussion Day provided an opportunity to exchange views and garner insights from practitioners and experts on the right with a view to foster a deeper understanding of the content and implications of articles 12 and 10 (2) of the Covenant.
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/discussion15112010WrittenContr.htm#experts
Written contributions from participants
Background documents received