World Sexual Health Day 2015 September 4 “Sexual Health for a Fairer Society”

World Sexual Health Day 2015
“Sexual Health for a Fairer Society”

World Sexual Health Day 2015 will focus on Sexual Health and Justice, Sexual Rights and Human Rights. 


The definitions of sexuality and sexual health have been greatly elaborated alongside widely accepted recognition that sexual health requires respect, protection and fulfilment of human rights. Considerable progress has also been made in enacting or changing laws that affect sexuality and sexual health, in line with human rights standards. These measures include legal guarantees against non-discrimination and violence, decriminalisation of consensual sexual conduct and guaranteeing availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality of sexual health information and services to all. Such legal actions have had positive effects on health and specifically on sexual health, particularly for marginalised populations. Yet in all regions of the world, laws still exist which jeopardise health, including sexual health, and violate human rights. In order to ensure accountability for the rights and health of their populations, states have an obligation to bring their laws into line with international, regional and national human rights standards. These rights-based legal guarantees, while insufficient alone, are essential for effective systems of accountability, achieving positive sexual health outcomes and the respect and protection of human rights.


Gender, Sexuality and Reproductive Justice



Sexuality and the right to reproductive health are fundamental to the human experience; all women and men should be able to exercise these rights free from coercion and violence.

Why It Matters

Around the world, discussion of human sexuality and reproductive health and rights has often been considered too socially and politically sensitive or too personal for serious exploration or public debate.

At the same time, governments implement laws and programs that have direct or unanticipated impacts on these human freedoms with little or no input from those most affected. As a result, healthy development, autonomy and personal agency in these areas have often been compromised.

The Focus of Our Work

Our work is dedicated to strengthening sexual and reproductive health and rights, and encouraging comprehensive sexuality education and evidence-based public discourse on sexuality.

We support those working to ensure that young people are empowered to have access to the information and services they need. Our efforts focus particularly on young women from poor and excluded communities because they bear the greatest burden of violence and disease. We support sexual and reproductive health policies, innovative programs and research that address the social, cultural and economic factors that undermine improved outcomes for girls and women.

All of this work is motivated by the belief that a deeper understanding of human sexuality is an essential element of human rights and healthy social relationships. Those most affected must be at the fore of efforts to ensure that sexual and reproductive health and rights are addressed as a cornerstone of individual, family and community health


Advancing sexual health through human rights: The role of the law



The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action (POA) defined reproductive health and reproductive rights. Sexual health, ‘the purpose of which is the enhancement of life and person relations, and not merely counselling and care related to reproduction and sexually transmitted diseases’, was included as part of reproductive health (UN, 1994). And while the POA also enjoined governments and others to give full attention to meeting the ‘educational and services needs of adolescents … to deal … with their sexuality’ and to the promotion of ‘mutually respectful and equitable gender relations’, it did not elaborate on the various dimensions of sexuality, sexual health and sexual rights. In 1995, international consensus was reached at the Fourth World Conference on Women that ‘the human rights of women include their right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality’ (UN, 1996), a very important recognition, but still limited in scope and content.

Since then, dramatic developments have occurred in the global understanding of sexuality and sexual health. While it encompasses some aspects of reproductive health such as contraception and abortion, many aspects of sexual health – including sexual pleasure, intimacy and the sexual health consequences of violence and female genital mutilation, as well as the complexities of sexual dysfunction – are not directly associated with reproduction. Sexual health extends beyond the reproductive years and cannot be adequately supported without a broadened understanding of sexuality. Further, social mobilisation on HIV and AIDS beginning in the early 1990s forced attention to the taboos, stigma and discrimination related to sexuality, while public health leaders and research, alongside these social movements, raised awareness of the importance of human sexuality and sexual behaviour, including people's ability to have fulfilling and pleasurable sexual relationships (World Health Organization [WHO], 2006).

There is now increasing recognition that sexual health cannot be achieved without the respect, protection and fulfilment of all human rights and that meeting human rights obligations is essential for social justice, sustainable development and public health (International Planned Parenthood Federation [IPPF], 2008; WHO, 2004, 2010a; World Association for Sexual Health [WAS], 2014). For example, an intergovernmental Latin American and Caribbean review of 20 years of ICPD implementation concluded that states must:

promote policies that enable persons to exercise their sexual rights, which embrace the right to a safe and full sex life, as well as the right to take free, informed, voluntary and responsible decisions on their sexuality, sexual orientation and gender identity, without coercion, discrimination or violence, and that guarantee the right to information and the means necessary for their sexual health, and reproductive health. (United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean [UNECLAC], 2013)

A strong claim has also been made in the context of the post-2015 development agenda that due recognition should be given to sexual and reproductive health and rights in the sustainable development goals, since sexual and reproductive health and rights are critical dimensions of development and are a critical component of health and wellbeing of individuals (Temmerman, Khosla, & Say, 2014).

While there is currently no formal political international consensus on the term ‘sexual rights’, the work of WHO and international organisations such as World Association for Sexual Health (WAS) and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), among others, has led to an understanding that sexual rights are grounded in universal human rights that are already recognised in international and regional human rights documents and in national constitutions and laws (IPPF, 2008; WAS, 2014; WHO, 2010a). This conceptual understanding takes into account the significant development over the past two decades of human rights laws and standards relating to sexuality.

Considerable progress has been made in changing or enacting laws affecting sexual health, in line with human rights standards, although the opposite has been also observed. This is important because harmonising laws with human rights standards can foster the promotion of sexual health across and within various populations, while the negative health impact of laws that are in contradiction with human rights standards has been increasingly documented. Laws matter because they set the rules of social interactions (at macro- and inter-personal levels) and can provide the framework for implementation of sexual health-related policies, programmes and services. They can provide human rights guarantees, but they may also create limitations on health and rights. Either way, laws and regulations have an impact on the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of sexual health. For example, laws that foster the dissemination of objective, comprehensive sexuality information, if implemented for all, contribute to people's knowledge of what protects or damages their sexual health, including where and how to seek further information, counselling and treatment if needed. On the other hand, laws that restrict access to health services by requiring third party authorisation for services for women and adolescents, for example, and laws that criminalise certain consensual sexual behaviour, effectively exclude or deter people from seeking and receiving the information and services they require and to which they have a right.

While actions are needed across many sectors, it is vital that people in the health sector understand how health, human rights and law interact, and their relevance to both individual and public health. In this paper, we examine some of these interactions, presenting concrete examples of legal changes and new standards related to a few key aspects: non-discrimination, criminalisation and access to information and services, and we point to how governments can and should be shaping the legal environment to meet their human rights obligations and improve sexual health.


Human rights law is codified in international and regional treaties such as the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights, and in national constitutions and laws. Treaties become legally binding through ratification and incorporation into national constitutions and laws. A decision of international courts such as the International Criminal Court, and regional courts such as the European Court of Human Rights, is binding on the nation that receives the decision. Such decisions are also authoritative interpretations of what the treaty means and other countries often adjust their laws to conform. Human rights standards include not only law but also norms and principles which can be used to guide state action and which are derived from a variety of sources such as the statements of United Nations treaty monitoring bodies (e.g., the Committee of the Rights of the Child that monitors state compliance with the Covenant on the Rights of the Child). These authoritative bodies have produced key views, findings and recommendations that constitute human rights standards for the protection of human rights related to sexuality and sexual health as demonstrated throughout this article.

Law and its role in countering discrimination


Inequality among and between persons and groups is a strong predictor of ill health, including sexual health (see the paper by Snow, Laski, & Massy, 2014). Inequalities, manifested in people's differential access to services and resources, ability to participate in the making of laws and policies and the ability to seek remedies for abuses committed against them, are often the result of discrimination (WHO, 2010a).

Discrimination is understood in international human rights treaties to mean any adverse distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference which is based on any ground such as ‘race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, birth or other status’ and which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise of rights (United Nations [UN], 1966).

Recent developments in international human rights standards make clear that the grounds on which discrimination is prohibited are non-exhaustive and include disability, age, marital and family status, sexual orientation, gender identity and health status (e.g., HIV) (UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights [CESCR], 2009; UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women [CEDAW], 2010) all of which are closely associated with sexual health. Several countries have recently made some of these grounds explicit in their legislation (Council of Europe, 2011). Among other examples, the anti-discrimination law in Serbia recognises equality of people and includes, among the grounds for non-discrimination, gender, gender identity and sexual orientation as well as health, marital and family status (National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, 2009).

Discrimination often encompasses more than one form of exclusion or stigma and states are responsible for having laws in place to prevent and address such discrimination (Council of Europe, 2011; Organization of American States General Assembly, 2013). Poor women and girls belonging to ethnic minorities, for example, are often burdened by both gender and race or socioeconomic-linked discrimination and exclusion (CEDAW, 2011). Denial of access to safe and legal abortion affects all women, but poorer or minority women and girls are more likely than others to face the health consequences, including mortality, of unsafe abortion, and they and their families face more difficulties in obtaining redress and remedies (CEDAW,
.