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Legal Framework Monitoring compliance Consensus decisions of international conferences Components of Reproductive and Sexual Rights Reforming Laws and Policies Why Rights Matter |
In recent decades, most nations have come to
recognize and accept the right of their citizens to reproductive health. Accordingly, they
have signed treaties and accords, and endorsed the programmes of conferences on population
and development. The importance of this, of course, is that there is now an international standard that practice can be measured against–a standard that draws on the best principles of all societies, and can protect individuals from local injustices and discrimination. There are now several legal instruments recognized by the world community that support and demand the protection of the right to reproductive and sexual health. The right to reproductive and sexual health is not really new. It is a necessary component of long-established and internationally recognized human rights: to life and survival, liberty and personal security, equal treatment, education, development, and the highest attainable standard of health. Nor is it a specifically "Western" idea. In every culture, the health and security of the individual are recognized as important to both the individual and the community. In 1945, the United Nations Charter was drawn up in the aftermath of World War II. There, at the beginning, the nations declared that one purpose of their new assembly would be to "achieve international cooperation in . . . promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion." Just three years later, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights set a "common standard of achievement for all peoples and nations" for ensuring fundamental political, social, economic, and cultural rights and freedoms. Declaring that these rights were the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world, the document also reaffirmed the UN Charter’s "faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, and in the equal rights of men and women." Over the years, the process of refining and reinforcing these basic international agreements has continued. In the 1970s, the international community agreed to two additional treaty covenants: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (the "Political Covenant"), and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (the "Economic Rights Covenant"). That there were two agreements reflected a difference of emphasis between states more concerned with individual rights and states more concerned with group rights. But both covenants agreed on the right of women to be free of all forms of discrimination, and on family rights. Specifically, the Economic Rights Covenant obligates states to take all steps necessary to reduce stillbirth and maternal mortality, and to assure medical services to all and medical attention in the event of sickness. The Political Covenant, in an optional protocol, enables individuals from participating states to make com-plaints about rights violations, and obliges states to respond if violations are found. These two Covenants have not been ratified by all countries, however, and many have done so only with substantial reservations. In 1979, in an attempt to fight the worldwide social, cultural, and economic discrimination against women, the UN General Assembly adopted the Women’s Convention (formally the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women). It declares that states must act to eliminate violations of women’s rights whether by private persons, groups, or organizations. It compels nations to work to eradicate discrimination in all its forms–including disadvantages conferred by gender roles. Articles in the Women’s Convention relevant to reproductive health include the
following issues: that states should endeavour to modify social and cultural patterns of
conduct that stereotype either gender or put women in an inferior position; that states
should ensure that women have equal rights in education and equal access to information;
that states should eliminate discrimination against women in their access to health care;
and that states should end discrimination against women in all matters relating to
marriage and family relations.
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