Resources Archive - Page 25 of 37 - OURs - The Observatory of the Universality of Rights

A practical guide for partnering with police to improve abortion access

April, 2016, Ipas

This guide is a resource for advocates, trainers, project managers and technical advisors who design programs and workshops to engage police on abortion issues. Drawing on the work of Ipas and other organizations, it offers practical strategies for partnering with police to address stigmatized issues and promote public health, with a specific focus on abortion. It can be used both in settings where abortion is legal and accessible and in settings where it is highly restricted.

Surfacing

Surfacing: Selected Papers on Religious Fundamentalisms and Their Impact on Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW), 2008

INTRODUCTION

Convergences on religious exceptionalism: A synthesis of the ARROW symposium on religious fundamentalisms on sexual and reproductive health and rights. Michael L. Tan

THE PAPERS

The troubled contexts of human dignity: Women’s engagements with patriarchy, community and conflict in South Asia. Kalpana Kannabiran
Religious fundamentalisms in India: The impact of Hindu fundamentalisms on sexual and reproductive health and rights. Jashodara Dasgupta

Religious fundamentalisms in Muslim societies: The impact of the religious right on sexual and reproductive health and rights. Zaitun Mohamed Kasim

Roman Catholic conservatism and fundamentalism in the Philippines and their disparate impact on women. Elizabeth Aguiling-Pangalangan

CONCLUSION
Challenging religious fundamentalisms: Ways forward. Rashidah Abdullah

Addressing Gaps in the Defense of Women Human Rights Defenders

This report from the Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL) was a product of a 2009 strategic dialogue, which was a collaborative effort between the Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition (WHRD IC) and CWGL to bring together women working specifically on defenders’ rights.

The meeting was an opportunity to develop strategies and tactics that would be undertaken by coalition members and then introduced to the larger human rights community. This strategic conversation was a continuation of a CWGL initiative started in the 1990s to deepen feminist strategies around women’s rights by bringing together activists, academics, and policy makers to think and plan purposefully with regard to movement challenges and urgent concerns.

The strategic conversation on Addressing Gaps in the Defense of Women Human Rights Defenders

was convened with the knowledge that more than a decade after the recognition of women’s rights as human rights at the 1993 UN World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, Austria and subsequently at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, there continue to be many gaps in the integration of women’s concerns into the international human rights agenda.

African Commission 275 – SOGI

Resolution on the Protection against Violence and other Human Rights Violations against Persons on the Basis of their Real or Imputed Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity

Resolution 275 was adopted at the 55^th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Luanda, Angola, 28 April to 12 May 2014. The adoption of resolution 275 was historic, being the first time that the African Commission made a pronouncement about LGBT rights, and responding to the increased attacks against LGBT personal across Africa, and the passing of “anti-homosexuality laws” in places like Nigeria and Uganda. The resolution is an important rejection of the claims made by some that LGBT rights are somehow incompatible with “African culture”.

The resolution:

Condemns the increasing incidence of violence and other human rights violations, including murder, rape, assault, arbitrary imprisonment and other forms of persecution of persons on the basis of their imputed or real sexual orientation or gender identity;
Specifically condemns the situation of systematic attacks by State and non-state actors against persons on the basis of their imputed or real sexual orientation or gender identity;
Calls on State Parties to ensure that human rights defenders work in an enabling environment that is free of stigma, reprisals or criminal prosecution as a result of their human rights protection activities, including the rights of sexual minorities; and
Strongly urges States to end all acts of violence and abuse, whether committed by State or non-state actors, including by enacting and effectively applying appropriate laws prohibiting and punishing all forms of violence including those targeting persons on the basis of their imputed or real sexual orientation or gender identities, ensuring proper investigation and diligent prosecution of perpetrators, and establishing judicial procedures responsive to the needs of victims.

Protection Gaps for Sexual Rights

On September 22nd, during the 30th session of the Human Rights Council, AWID and Sexual Rights Initiative 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.

Naureen Shameem of AWID made the case for applying an intersectional lens to sexual rights, and for recognizing the cross-over between religious fundamentalisms and violations of sexual rights.

Without an intersectional approach sexual rights as addressed at the UN will inevitably focus on the privileged and visible, and ignore the more marginalized.

In fundamentalist contexts, women’s bodies—always seen as carriers of culture and honor—become the site of religious and political control

Violations of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and sexual freedoms have been named by WHRDs as some of the top impacts of fundamentalisms

Lack of space to discuss sexuality, unsafe abortion, denial of HIV treatment, and a range of acts of “culturally-justified violence against women” are just some of the deleterious effects of fundamentalisms on sexual rights.

Changes in data collection practices to reflect a holistic approach, collaboration between Treaty Bodies and joint reports by Special Procedures are some of the ways the UN could tackle existing protection gaps.

The Human Rights Council should recognize the intersections of sexual rights with its regular items of work (such as discrimination against women, violence against women, disability and economic rights)

Download Naureen’s presentation here.

Everything You Need to Know About the World Congress of Families

Ipas, Political Research Associates, and the Southern Poverty Law Center

The World Congress of Families (WCF) is one of the key driving forces behind the U.S. Religious Right’s global export of homophobia and sexism.

From its headquarters in Rockford, Illinois, WCF pursues an international anti-choice, anti-LGBTQ agenda, seeking to promote conservative ideologies—and codify these in regressive laws and policies—that dictate who has rights as “family,” and who doesn’t.

Love is a family value: Supporting all families and family members

United Nations LGBT Core Group

A Human Rights Day Event

This event explored the role family plays in the lives of LGBT people around the world, as well as themes of acceptance and family diversity.

FEATURING
Mary Lambert, Singer/Songwriter

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS BY
Jan Eliasson, Deputy Secretary-General of the UN

MODERATED BY
Thomas Roberts, Television Journalist, MSNBC

ADDITIONAL SPEAKERS
Rev. Kapya Kaoma, Political Research Associates, Zambia
Ms. Kenita Placide, United & Strong, St. Lucia
Ms. Theresa Sparks, San Francisco Human Rights Commission, USA

Protection of the family: contribution of the family to the realization of the right to an adequate standard of living for its members

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

The report is divided into five sections. After a brief introduction in section I, section II describes the evolution of the existing international consensus regarding the role of the family in sustainable development, including poverty reduction policies.

Section III gives an overview of international human rights standards as they pertain to family life, outlining the elements of a human rights-based approach to family policies.

Section IV provides concrete examples of measures taken by State in implementing their international obligations regarding the protection of the family.

The last section puts forwards conclusions and recommendations.

CEDAW and Muslim Family Laws: In Search of Common Ground

Musawah

This report documents the trends identified in the Musawah research project on the Convention on the Elimination of All Kinds of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which examined States parties’ justifications for their failure to implement CEDAW with regard to family laws and pratices that discriminate against Muslim women. The research reviewed documents for 44 Muslim majority and minority countries that reported to the CEDAW Committee from 2005-2010.

This report presents Musawah’s responses to these justifications based on our holistic Framework for Action. It includes recommendations to the CEDAW Committee for a deeper engagement and more meaningful dialogue on the connections between Muslim family laws and practices and international human rights standards. Musawah is an active participant at CEDAW meetings and strives to ensure the voices of Muslim women are heard on the international stage.

Protection of the Family: What it means for human rights – Interview

Association for Women’s Rights in Development

AWID spoke to Neha Sood, Policy and Advocacy Officer at Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights and part of the Sexual Rights Initiative, to learn the basics about two recent UN Human Rights Council (HRC) resolutions on the protection of the family.

December 2015