Celebrating the 70th anniversary of the UDHR, celebrating sexual and reproductive rights

Sexual and reproductive rights are human rights. In 1948, when States proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations, they recognised “the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family”, civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights. Most relevant to sexual and reproductive health (SRH), the UDHR recognised the right to non-discrimination, the right to life, liberty and security of person, the right to social security, the right to a standard of living adequate for health and wellbeing, and that “motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance”. The UDHR did not go into details about the areas of life to which these rights are particularly applicable, but reaffirmed the dignity and worth of the human person, the equal rights of women and men and the determination to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom. Human rights related to sexuality, gender, gender diversity and SRH have been recognised in the treaties which were generated from the UDHR, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. These have been expanded upon by the Treaty Monitoring Bodies’ General Recommendations and Comments, which constitute official interpretations of the treaties. The Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, for example, adopted a specific General Comment on the Right to Sexual and Reproductive Health, and the Committee on the Rights of the Child’s General Comment on the implementation of the rights of the child during adolescence specifically recognises that “there should be no barriers to commodities, information and counselling on sexual and reproductive health and rights, such as requirements for third-party consent or authorization”. The Human Rights Committee’s latest General Comment provides the international community a much-needed framework to hold governments accountable for the high rates of death and injury which occur when women are forced to seek unsafe abortions, and calls for the provision of comprehensive reproductive health services. Sexual and reproductive rights have received extensive legal recognition at regional and national levels as well over the past decades. The European Court of Human Rights, for example, recognised the right to sexuality education as early as 1976, and most recently issued a similar decision in connection with Switzerland’s legal obligation to provide sexuality education to children, as a clear recognition of the role that sexuality education plays in the global education of children, in the fight against sexual abuse and in the protection of public health. At the national level, there is a major evolution of law reform in relation to decriminalising same-sex sexual conduct, and recognising equal rights regardless of sexual orientation and for same-sex couples, as well as the development of laws and adoption of supreme court decisions that recognise gender diversity as a proscribed ground for discrimination and grant legal gender recognition for transgender people. Policy and strategy documents, at regional, national and sub-national levels, are not legally binding by nature; however, they can be important guides for the application and operationalisation of sexual and reproductive rights. For example, the Maputo Plan of Action provides a policy EDITORIAL