Sexual Rights Advocacy Intervention Programming

Reinforce the public policies and actions needed to eradicate poverty and break the cycles of exclusion and inequality as a condition for achieving development in the region.

Apply a human rights approach with a gender and intercultural perspective in addressing population and development issues, and step up efforts to recognize, promote and uphold relevant goals in order to eliminate inequalities and foster social inclusion.

Build and strengthen national and subnational public institutions with responsibility for population and development issues, and ensure that they function in an integral and sustainable manner with the active participation of non-governmental stakeholders.

Ensure full integration of population dynamics into sustainable development planning, sectoral policies and public policies and programmes in general ―in particular in development and land-use planning― at national and subnational levels, drawing on sociodemographic knowledge and information and harnessing technological advances.

Pursue sustainable development as a means of securing now and in the future human well-being for all peoples on an equitable basis, and ensuring that the linkages between population, resources, the environment and development are fully recognized, appropriately administered and maintained in a harmonious and dynamic balance with a thriving biodiversity and healthy ecosystems

Guarantee sustainable production and consumption patterns and avoid exacerbating the undesirable climate change phenomena brought about by human activity.

Guarantee for all boys, girls, adolescents and young people, without any form of discrimination, the chance to live a life free from poverty and violence, and to enjoy protection and exercise of their human rights, a range of opportunities and access to health, education and social protection.

Guarantee also the existence of mechanisms for the effective participation, without any form of discrimination, of adolescents and young people in public debate, in decision-making and in all policy and programme phases, in particular on matters that affect them directly, and strengthen institutional mechanisms for youth.

Invest in youth, through specific public policies and differentiated access, especially through the provision, without discrimination, of universal, free, public, secular, high-quality, intercultural education in order to ensure that this stage of life is full and satisfactory, to enable them to develop as autonomous individuals with a sense of responsibility and solidarity and with the ability to tackle creatively the challenges of the twenty-first century.

Promote and invest in labour and employment policies and special training programmes for youth to boost personal and collective capabilities and initiative and to enable them to reconcile studies and work activities, without precarious working conditions and guaranteeing equal opportunities and treatment.

Ensure the effective implementation from early childhood of comprehensive sexuality education programmes, recognizing the emotional dimension of human relationships, with respect for the evolving capacity of boys and girls and the informed decisions of adolescents and young people regarding their sexuality, from a participatory, intercultural, gender-sensitive, and human rights perspective.

Implement comprehensive, timely, good-quality sexual health and reproductive health programmes for adolescents and young people, including youth-friendly sexual health and reproductive health services with a gender, human rights, intergenerational and intercultural perspective, which guarantee access to safe and effective modern contraceptive methods, respecting the principles of confidentiality and privacy, to enable adolescents and young people to exercise their sexual rights and reproductive rights, to have a responsible, pleasurable and healthy sex life, avoid early and unwanted pregnancies, the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, and to take free, informed and responsible decisions regarding their sexual and reproductive life and the exercise of their sexual orientation.

Introduce or strengthen policies and programmes to prevent pregnant adolescents and young mothers from dropping out of school.

Prioritize the prevention of pregnancy among adolescents and eliminate unsafe abortion through comprehensive education on emotional development and sexuality, and timely and confidential access to good-quality information, counselling, technologies and services, including emergency oral contraception without a prescription and male and female condoms.

Design intersectoral strategies to help young women avoid subsequent pregnancies, including antenatal, childbirth and post-partum care, access to contraceptive methods, protection, support and justice.

Guarantee for boys, girls, adolescents and young people the opportunities and the basis for harmonious coexistence and a life free from violence, through intersectoral strategies to address the factors that disrupt harmony in the community and foment violence, to provide education from early childhood that promotes tolerance, an appreciation for diversity, mutual respect and respect for human rights, conflict resolution and peace, and to ensure protection, timely access to justice and compensation for victims.

Guarantee also reliable statistical data, disaggregated by sex, age, migration status, race and ethnicity, cultural variables and geographical location, with regard to education, health, in particular sexual health and reproductive health, employment and the participation of adolescents and young people.

Promote, protect and guarantee sexual health and rights and reproductive rights in order to contribute to the fulfilment of persons and to social justice in a society free from all forms of discrimination and violence.

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.

Review legislation, standards and practices that restrict access to sexual and reproductive health services, including the provision of comprehensive user-friendly services for adolescents and youth, and guarantee access to full information on all of the service options available to all persons, without any form of discrimination, in order to ensure that the highest international standards of protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms are met in the region.

Design policies and programmes to eradicate discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the exercise of sexual rights and the manifestations thereof.

Guarantee universal access to good-quality sexual health and reproductive health services, bearing in mind the specific needs of men and women, adolescents and young people, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons, older persons and persons with disabilities, with special attention to vulnerable persons, persons living in rural and remote areas and to the promotion of citizen participation in the follow-up to commitments.

Promote the prevention and timely detection of and guarantee universal access to comprehensive treatment for HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections and eliminate the stigma and discrimination to which persons living with the virus are often subjected.

Strengthen measures for detection of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections in pregnant women and for prevention of the vertical transmission of the virus.

Eliminate preventable cases of maternal morbidity and mortality, including, within the set of integrated benefits of sexual health and reproductive health services, measures for preventing and avoiding unsafe abortion, including sexual health and reproductive health education, access to modern and effective contraceptive methods, counselling and comprehensive care in cases of unwanted and unaccepted pregnancy, as well as comprehensive post-abortion care, where necessary, on the basis of a risk- and harm-reduction strategy.

Promote prevention and self-care programmes for the sexual health and reproductive health of men.

Ensure, in those cases where abortion is legal or decriminalized under the relevant national legislation, the availability of safe, good-quality abortion services for women with unwanted and unaccepted pregnancies, and urge all other States to consider amending their laws, regulations, strategies and public policies relating to the voluntary termination of pregnancy in order to protect the lives and health of women and adolescent girls, improve their quality of life, and reduce the number of abortions.

Ensure that all women have effective access to comprehensive health care during the reproductive process and specifically to skilled, institutional, compassionate obstetric care and to the best possible maternal health services during pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium, as well as to services that include the termination of pregnancy in those cases where the law provides for such services, and guarantee universal access to assisted fertility treatments.

Guarantee effective access to a wide range of culturally relevant, scientifically sound, modern contraceptive methods, including emergency oral contraception.

Formulate plans for strengthening mechanisms for detecting problems during pregnancy, including at the preconception stage, improve the quality of antenatal care to include an intercultural perspective, guarantee the provision of a safe supply of blood for care during pregnancy, childbirth and the post-partum and puerperium period, and enhance compassionate care during delivery and birth and comprehensive perinatal care, bearing in mind the needs of women, boys, girls and families.

Guarantee sufficient financial, human and technological resources in order to provide universal access to sexual health care and reproductive health care for all women, men, adolescents, young people, older persons and persons with disabilities without any form of discrimination.

Address gender, racial, ethnic and intergenerational inequalities, bearing in mind the way these dimensions overlap in situations of discrimination affecting women, especially young Afro-descendent women.

Ensure that Afro-descendent persons, in particular Afro-descendent girls, adolescents and women, can exercise the right to health, especially the right to sexual health and reproductive health, taking into account the specific socioterritorial and cultural features and the structural factors, such as racism, that hinder the exercise of their rights.

Promote the development of Afro-descendent populations by implementing public policies, establishing standards and creating institutions to guide and carry forward affirmative action policies, plans and programmes at the sectoral level, whereby the principles of equality and non-discrimination can be incorporated into all levels of government, with organized civil society participating throughout the process of design, implementation and evaluation of those instruments.

Ensure that policies and programmes are in place to raise the living standards of Afro-descendent women, by fully enforcing their rights, in particular their sexual rights and reproductive rights.

Generate knowledge and reliable and timely information with a gender perspective and disaggregated by sex, age and socioeconomic status, among other variables, on Afro-descendent populations through participatory processes, paying attention to the international requirements and recommendations relating to the issue.