WUNRN
Reproductive Rights Are Human Rights - Handbook
Direct Link to Full 229-Page 2014 Publication:
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/NHRIHandbook.pdf
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http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/WRGS/Pages/HealthRights.aspx
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Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights |
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Women’s
sexual and reproductive health is related to multiple human rights, including
the right to life, the right to be free from torture, the right to health,
the right to privacy, the right to education, and the prohibition of
discrimination. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) have
both clearly indicated that women’s right to health includes their sexual and
reproductive health. This means that States have obligations to respect,
protect and fulfill rights related to women’s sexual and reproductive health.
The Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the
highest attainable standard of physical and mental health maintains that
women are entitled to reproductive health care services, goods and facilities
that are: (a) available in adequate numbers; (b) accessible physically and
economically; (c) accessible without discrimination; and (d) of good quality
[see report A/61/338. Despite
these obligations, violations of women’s sexual and reproductive health
rights are frequent. These take many forms including denial of access to
services that only women require, or poor quality services, subjecting
women’s access to services to third party authorization, and performance of
procedures related to women’s reproductive and sexual health without the
woman’s consent, including forced sterilization, forced virginity
examinations, and forced abortion. Women’s sexual and reproductive health
rights are also at risk when they are subjected to female genital mutilation
(FGM) and early marriage. Violations
of women’s sexual and reproductive health rights are often deeply engrained
in societal values pertaining to women’s sexuality. Patriarchal concepts of
women’s roles within the family mean that women are often valued based on
their ability to reproduce. Early marriage and pregnancy, or repeated
pregnancies spaced too closely together, often as the result of efforts to
produce male offspring because of the preference for sons, has a devastating
impact on women’s health with sometimes fatal consequences. Women are also
often blamed for infertility, suffering ostracism and being subjected various
human rights violations as a result. CEDAW
(article 16) guarantees women equal rights in deciding “freely and
responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to
the information, education and means to enable them to exercise these
rights.” CEDAW (article 10) also specifies that women’s right to education
includes “access to specific educational information to help to ensure the
health and well-being of families, including information and advice on family
planning.” The
Beijing Platform for Action states that “the human rights of women include
their right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters
related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of
coercion, discrimination and violence.” The CEDAW Committee’s General
Recommendation 24 recommends that States prioritise the “prevention of
unwanted pregnancy through family planning and sex education.” The CESCR General
Comment 14 has explained that the provision of maternal health services is
comparable to a core obligation which cannot be derogated from under any
circumstances, and the States have to the immediate obligation to take
deliberate, concrete, and targeted steps towards fulfilling the right to
health in the context of pregnancy and childbirth. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ |
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