The final version of the Hague Civil Society Call to Action, from the ICPD Beyond 2014 International Conference on Human Rights, with signatories is now available online.

The SRI’s partner, Action Canada for Population and Development (ACPD), will be represented on the panel for the Annual Day of Discussion on the integration of a gender perspective. The panel discussion takes place as apart of the 24th session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC). The topic for the discussion is “Civil society’s contribution to the integration of a gender perspective in the work of the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms.”

Action Canada for Population and Development (ACPD), a member of the Sexual Rights Initiative (SRI) coalition, was represented on the panel for the UN Human Rights Council’s (HRC) Annual Discussion on the integration of a gender perspective. The discussion took place as part of the official proceedings of the HRC’s 24th session. The topic of the discussion was “Civil society’s contribution to the integration of a gender perspective in the work of the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms.”

In support of the September 28 Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion, the Sexual Rights Initiative, Center for Reproductive Rights and Ipas have developed a joint statement on abortion rights for delivery at the upcoming 36th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The session runs from Sept.

During the 24th session of the UN Human Rights Council, the Sexual Rights Initiative (SRI) collaborated with national-level organizations and advocates to deliver oral statements regarding outcomes from the Universal Periodic Review ‘s (UPR) of Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Canada, Colombia, Russia and Uzbekistan.

To commemorate the 2013 Global Day of Action for the Decriminalization of Abortion (September 28th), the Sexual Rights Initiative organized an event that took place during the 24th session of the UN Human Rights Council to discuss the realization of women’s human rights, specifically women’s right to access safe and legal abortion, including through the decriminalization of abortion. Being one of the first events on the topic at the Council, it represents a ground-breaking moment in its history.

On September 11th 2013, Member States, civil society organizations, activists, academics and UN agencies came together to discuss the impact of the Human Rights Council resolutions on maternal mortality and morbidity and remaining gaps in the realization of human rights, accountability and implementation in countries around the world.

The anti-choice civic bill which aims to ban all abortions in case of fetal malformation was subject of first reading in the Polish Parliament on 26th of September. The civic bill collected over 400 000 signatures of support and was proposed by the “Stop Abortion” initiative. The draft bill was debated in the Polish Sejm on Thursday the 26th and was subject to vote on Friday 27th. Polish Sejm rejected the civic bill. 421 MPs voted in total. 233 voted for rejecting the bill in first reading, 182 voted against and 6 abstained from voting.

The 24th Session of the Human Rights Council took place from September 9th until the 27th 2013. Sexual Rights Initiative (SRI) partners participated in the session to ensure that sexual rights issues are included and advanced. SRI partners collectively advocated for the increased understanding and integration of issues related to sexual and reproductive rights, gender equality and human rights in resolutions, and through parallel events and oral statements.

HRC23 Resolutions

In preparation of the 24th session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), the Sexual Rights Initiative produced an analysis of the terminology of child, early and forced marriage from the international human rights law and UN policy perspectives.