Sexual and reproductive health and rights matters: a new age.

This year, we mark 25 years since RHM’s beginnings. 2018 is an uplifting year for an anniversary, with several notable events in relation to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). In January, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights published an advisory opinion on gender identity, equality and non-discrimination of same-sex couples, declaring that the rights for name change to conform to a person’s gender identity, and for legal mechanisms, including marriage in samesex couples, are protected by the American Convention on Human Rights. In March, protests took place in Poland against the creation of legal restrictions on abortion. Rallies were held in Chile against the new government’s attempt to allow conscientious objection as a reason to limit women’s access to safe abortion. In May, a longawaited referendum in the Republic of Ireland overturned, by a convincing majority, a restrictive abortion law which had been in place for decades. India’s Supreme Court unanimously struck down one of the world’s oldest bans on consensual same sex relations in September. In the same month, the United Nations issued a joint letter to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). The letter raised concerns of human rights violations with regard to the IAAF’s new criteria on intersex persons in Olympic competitions, which may affect the participation of several top African athletes, including Caster Semenya, amongst others. Other highlights of 2018 included the release of the World Health Organization’s new edition of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), which now classifies gender incongruence as a sexual health condition, instead of a mental health illness. The release of the Guttmacher–Lancet Commission’s report this year provides a reference point for a comprehensive definition of SRHR, set within the context of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. These developments are testimony to the solid gains made over the last 25 years, the legacy of a water-shed event – the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).