RHM’s new issue: Disability and sexuality: claiming sexual and reproductive rights
Reproductive Health Matters is pleased to publish its 50th journal issue! Over the past 25 years, RHM has supported new thinking about sexual and reproductive health and rights and it continues to challenge hegemonic assumptions about sexuality and reproduction. This issue includes research, personal experiences and critical analyses that address the current situation and future […]
Read moreSpotlight on Sustainable Development 2017
A global coalition of civil society organizations and trade unions launched last weeek at the United Nations in New York the report “Spotlight on Sustainable Development 2017” during the High-Level Political Forum. The report provides the most comprehensive independent assessment of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). “In the […]
Read moreRights at risk
The Observatory on the Universality of Rights (OURs) has launched its first report, Rights at Risk. The report maps a complex global anti-rights lobby targeting various international fora, making connections with national-level agendas, and building increasing alliances across region, religious affiliation, and issues. It reveals an array of evolving strategies and shrewd arguments being used […]
Read moreSexual politics in June 2017
June is LGBTIQ Pride month worldwide. This SPW brief highlights events around the world, prioritizing parades and other demonstrations that are not captured by mainstream radars. In that regard, we also recommend the readers who read Spanish to peruse the new blog Orgullos Críticos which examines trends and traps implied in the growing normalization and pinkwashing of pride parades
Read moreSexual politics in Ecuador in the 2000’s: a bird’s eye view
By María Amelia Viteri and Gabriel Ocampo. Homosexuality was criminalized in Ecuador until November, 1997[1]. As a result, until then, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons were considered criminals, could face imprisonment and were often tortured and even killed.
Read moreQueer Asia 2017 – Conference Review
By Matthew Waites. The Queer Asia conference has emerged as one of the most fresh and ground breaking conference events in global queer studies. The event is held at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, yet the organising team nevertheless managed to bring together presentations
Read moreThe mountain delivered a pope
By João Manuel de Oliveira. The legend says that Portugal is a conservative country with a supposedly glorious past, whenever colonization and its engagement with the slave traffic eliminated from the equation. It is also described as a profoundly religious country, deeply marked by the influence of endemic Catholicism. Sociologists, using an equation
Read moreGlobal Abortion Policies Database
WHO/HRP and the Population Division of the UN Department of Social and Economic Affairs launched the Global Abortion Policies Database this morning at the 30th annual meeting of the HRP Policy and Coordination Committee meeting. The main objectives of the database are to promote greater transparency of abortion laws and policies and State accountability for […]
Read moreThe Smart Sex Worker’s Guide to the Global Fund Strategy 2017–2022: “Investing to End Epidemics”
The Smart Sex Workers’ Guide to the Global Fund Strategy 2017-2022: “Investing to End Epidemics” is a resource for sex workers to better understand the purpose and the goals of the Global Fund. This Guide describes the key points of the Global Fund Strategy, looks at what they mean for sex workers, and explores the opportunities for sex work organisations to use the strategy to strengthen sex workers’ capacity to engage in Global Fund processes and influence sex worker programmes funded through the Global Fund.
Read moreUnderstanding Sex Work in an Open Society
Who are sex workers? Sex workers are female, male, or transgender adults who receive money or goods in exchange for consensual sexual services or erotic performances, either regularly or occasionally. Why use the term “sex worker” rather than “prostitute”? The terms “sex work” and “sex worker” recognize that sex work is work. Many people who […]
Read moreWomen and LGBT voices from Nigeria: Empower Newsletter n. 2
Women’s Health and Equal Rights Initiative (WHER) has launched its second issue of Empower newsletter. “We are hoping that our work will be a challenge to everyone to raise their voices in unity with ours as we continue on this quest for equality in a society where women are often faced with discrimination and violence.” […]
Read moreARROW for Change – Intersections: The Politicisation of Religion and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
The world is seeing a resurgence of religious extremism at national, regional, and global levels, which renews the threat to many of the rights that would be achieved and concretised such as equality of women, of citizens who belong to ethnic and religious minorities, and of sexual minorities. Amid this troubling development, ARROW has published […]
Read moreMacro-and Micro-Political Vernaculizations of Rights: Human Rights and Abortion Discourses in Northern Ireland
This paper examines the translation of human rights norms into discourses on abortion in Northern Ireland, a region where abortion is highly restricted, with extensive contemporary public debate into potential liberalization of abortion law. This paper emanates from research examining political debates on abortion in Northern Ireland and contrasts findings with recent civil society developments, identifying competing narratives of human rights with regard to abortion at the macro- and micro-political level.
Read moreSexual Politics in April and May 2017
In April and May, Brazilian crisis has deepened further more, prompting colossal political chaos which reverberated in sexual politics. Sonia Corrêa, SPW co-chair, assess the deep connections within the crisis regarding threats to abortion rights. Celebrations and good news came from around the world. In Bangkok, researchers and activists gathered
Read moreBrazil: under the shadows of chaos a major threat to abortion rights
As this highly volatile and complex political context was building up, PEC 29/2015, the Constitutional amendment on the right to life from conception — tabled by Senator Magno Malta in 2015 and dormant ever since in the Committee on Constitution and Justice — was re-introduced for rapid processing.
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