UN Human Rights Council: report on Fundamentalism, Extremism and Cultural Rights
The Secretariat has the honour to transmit to the Human Rights Council the report of the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, Karima Bennoune, pursuant to Council resolution 19/6. In the report, the Special Rapporteur addresses the phenomena of fundamentalism and extremism and their grave impact on the enjoyment of cultural rights. She […]
Read moreSelf-Care and Sexuality – In Plainspeak
As the theme of this month’s In Plainspeak issues, we locate self-care (and self and care) in relation to its connections with issues of sexuality. In the Issue in Focus, Mamatha Karollil lays out ideas of care and sexuality for examination under a psychoanalytic lens.
Read moreLGBTI organizations navigating imperial contexts
This article presents the first sustained social analysis of the Kaleidoscope Trust, the UK’s leading social movement organization on LGBTI issues internationally, and its engagement with the Commonwealth – particularly through forming The Commonwealth Equality Network, comprising national NGOs. A contribution is made to sociological and critical analysis of transnational LGBTI movements, through argument for […]
Read moreAbortion incidence and unintended pregnancy in Nepal
Despite legalization of abortion and expansion of services in Nepal, unsafe abortion is still common and exacts a heavy toll on women. Programs and policies to reduce rates of unintended pregnancy and unsafe abortion, increase access to high-quality contraceptive care and expand safe abortion services are warranted.
Read moreEnsuring an inclusive global health agenda for transgender people
Article authored by Rebekah Thomas,a Frank Pega,b Rajat Khosla,c Annette Verster,d Tommy Hanaa & Lale Sayc. Published at Bull World Health Organ. Click here to read it.
Read moreUganda’s Abortion Rate: decreased since 2003, but Unsafe Procedures persist
An estimated 314,300 Ugandan women had abortions in 2013, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the U.S.-based Guttmacher Institute and Uganda’s Makerere University. This translates to a rate of 39 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–49, a significant decline from the rate in 2003, which was 51. The study also found that […]
Read moreDefending LGBT rights in South Asia: Stories of Survival and Justice
Six countries in South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) have established a national human rights institution (NHRI), all of which include complaint mechanisms. The establishment of these NHRIs has provided LGBT people with access to complaints mechanisms that can help resolve human rights violations these marginalised communities often face. However, several […]
Read moreNew IDS Bulletin published – Engaged Excellence
Who defines good quality research? How, why and with whom should we co-construct knowledge? What counts as impact? How do we build enduring partnerships? The articles in this new IDS Bulletin – edited by Melissa Leach, John Gaventa and Katy Oswald – aim to answer these questions based on IDS’ approach of ‘engaged excellence’.
Read moreTGEU publishes revised legal gender recognition toolkit.
Transgender Europe (TGEU), launching the revised edition of the Legal Gender Recognition toolkit hope it can inspire more change across Europe in the area of gender recognition procedures. The Legal Gender Recognition Toolkit is the most up to date overview based on European human right standards. Legal gender recognition in Europe is complex but also […]
Read moreQueering Islamophobia – The Homonationalism of the Muslim Ban
As we resist Trump’s potential anti-LGBTQ orders, it’s important to remember that even though Trump is himself transphobic and homophobic, he can get on the side of LGBTQ rights when it’s convenient.
Read moreMissing Frameworks in the Gender Equality Movement in Indonesia?
I attended an event by UN Women Indonesia called “16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence” in Jakarta after I left my wonderful academic year at IDS. It was series of seminars and workshops by feminist organisations to celebrate International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Human Rights Day. The event helped […]
Read moreAccess to misoprostol through community-based advocacy in Kenya and Tanzania
This initiative proves that, even where abortion is legally restricted and socially stigmatized, community-based organizations can publicly and openly share information about misoprostol and refer it to women by using innovative and effective strategies, without political backlash
Read moreSexual Politics in January 2017
In January, the first and foremost events to be reported are avalanche of draconian and regressive policy measures adopted in the chaotic first two weeks of the Trump administration. Though buried beneath the impact of outrageous closure of borders and decisions about trade agreements – which are subject to contradictory interpretations — gender and sexuality […]
Read moreThe Women’s March on Washington was inevitable
With endorsement of the Republican Party, the Trump campaign openly disrespected and insulted more than half of the US population and this led to what can be described as a “pressure cooker effect”. After months of an unprecedented election season when Hillary and all women were mistreated by the candidate — who felt entitled to abuse his position– and sometimes also by the press; after outrageous remarks and threats to attack immigrants, Muslims, Mexican-Americans and the entire American population of African descent, the build up of outrage was steaming from coast to coast.
Read moreNew CRC General Comment on Adolescents
The Committee on the Rights of the Child issued its new General Comment on Adolescents. Among other advancements, the new general comment: Recognizes that states should remove parental authorization requirements for SRH info and services (para. 60) Urges states to consider introducing a presumption of capacity for adolescents seeking preventative and time-sensitive SRH commodities and […]
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