My body my right

SHEL 000
2022
Ms L Tladi
Objectives
• What are human rights
• Differentiate between a right and responsibility
• Why are Rights Necessary?
• Discuss AMNESTY international campaign
• Differentiate between sexual rights and sexual health
• Differentiate between reproduction rights and
reproductive health
• Possible interventions
Objectives continue…….
• Discuss harmful Traditional Practices
• Impact of human and social consequences of human
trafficking
• Action: innovative approaches to solving complex
problems
• Amnesty prisoner of conscience
• Discuss female genital mutilation (FGM)
• Complications of FGM
What are human rights?
• Basic human rights inherent to all human beings
• We inherit them just by being human
• Everyone is entitled to these rights, without
discrimination
What is the difference between a right
and a responsibility?
• RIGHTS - The rules that help make everyone equal
 You have some rights when you are born - human right
 You also have legal rights, which are backed by the law
 It is important to know your rights so that if people try to take
them away you can stop them.
• RESPONSIBILITIES- things which others expect us to do
 Responsible people know what their rights and respect the
rights of others
 Being responsible means you care about other people’s rights
Why is it important to have Human
Rights?
• To make sure people’s rights are met
• To allow people to stand up to societal injustices
• To encourage freedom of speech and expression
• They allow people to love who they choose
• They provide a universal standard that holds governments
accountable
Amnesty International
• Amnesty International’s mission is to:
 Undertake research
 Action focussed on preventing
 Ending grave abuses of the rights to physical
 Mental integrity
 The context of its work to promote all human rights will be to promote freedom of
 Conscience

 Expression

 Discrimination
• The organization opposes abuses by opposition groups, including
the ff:
 Hostage-taking
 Torture and killings of prisoners
 Other deliberate and arbitrary killings
 Assists asylum-seekers who are at risk of being returned to a country
where they will be at risk of violations of basic and fundamental
human rights
 Cooperates with other non-governmental organisation (NGO),United
Nations (UN) and with regional intergovernmental organizations;
 Ensures control of international military, security and police relations
 Organises human rights education and awareness-raising programs.
Campaigning for Human Rights
• The roles of Human rights activist :
delegates visit different countries to meet victims of human rights
violations, observe trials, and interview local human rights activists and
officials.
mobilize public opinion to put pressure on governments and others with
influence to stop human rights abuses.
Support people to claim their rights through education and training.
Activities range from public demonstrations to letter-writing, from human
rights education to fundraising concerts etc
Campaigning Context

• Despite the fact that sexual and reproductive rights are human
rights, violations take place on a daily basis.

• Many women and girls around the world do not have control
over their own bodies and
 Struggle to access the information and services they need for a healthy life include:

 Sex education

 Reproductive health
Gender and sex education
• Although Amnesty International has not recorded any cases to date, it is punishable by
death in Afghanistan, Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen,
and parts of Nigeria and Somalia.

 Same-sex sexual activity is currently illegal in at least 76 countries.

 Young men and women between the ages of 15 and 24 have the highest rate

 There are 340 million new sexually transmitted infections around the world each
year.

 3000 young people around the world are infected with HIV every day
Prevalence of Pregnancy

• According to Amnesty International and WHO

• More than 142 million adolescent girls are likely to give birth by
2020.
• 70,000 adolescents die each year as a result of their pregnancy.
• 215 million women worldwide cannot access contraception.
• An estimated 22 million unsafe abortions take place every year.
Marriages

• According to Amnesty International and WHO

50 million girls are likely to be married before their 15th birthday over
the next decade.
In 52 countries, girls under 15 can marry with parental consent.

If present trends continue the number of child marriages each year will
be 15 million by 2030, a 14% rise.
The occurrence of violence
According to Amnesty and WHO
• 150 million girls across the world under the age of 18 have been sexually assaulted.
 50 % of those were under 16 when it happened.
• For 64 per cent of women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, their first
sexual experience was assault.
• In the United States, 83 per cent of girls aged 12 to 16 in state-run schools have
experienced sexual harassment at school.
• 140 million women and girls worldwide been subjected to Female Genital Mutilation
(FGM). Three million girls worldwide remain at risk of the procedure every year.
• One in three women worldwide have experienced violence and/or sexual abuse.
Sexual and Reproductive Rights
What is sexuality?
• Sexuality - a central aspect of being human throughout life and
encompasses sex
• Gender identities and roles, sexual orientation,
• Eroticism (sexual desire), pleasure, intimacy and reproduction.

• Sexuality is experienced and expressed in thoughts, fantasies, desires,

beliefs, attitudes, values, behaviours, practices, roles and relationships
• While sexuality can include all of these dimensions, not all of them are
always experienced or expressed
 Sexuality is influenced by the interaction of the
following
 Biological and psychological
 Social and economic
 Political and cultural
 Ethical and legal,
 Historical
 Religious and spiritual factors
Sexual rights

• Sexual rights are a part of the universal declaration of human rights and consist of
the right of all persons – including the ff:
• Those with disabilities
• Free of discrimination
• Without coercion, or violence
• To seek and receive information related to sexuality
• Bodily integrity respected
• To decide whether to be sexually active
• Engage in consensual sexual relationships.
• Sexual rights are universal human rights based on
• The inherent freedom,
• Dignity
• Equality of all human beings.
They are interrelated and sometimes overlap with
reproductive rights, but they are not synonymous with
reproductive rights.
 Sexual rights include:
 The right to choose one’s sexual partner
 To control one’s own body,
 To experience sexual pleasure, t
 Not be abused or violated,
 Freely choose contraceptive methods,
 Access to safe and legal abortion,
 Access to information about prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
 Comprehensive sexuality education.
Sexual rights

• Include the following :

 Equality and non-discrimination
 Life, liberty and security of the person
Autonomy and bodily integrity free from torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading
treatment or punishment
 Freedom from all forms of violence and coercion
Privacy
The highest attainable standard of health, including sexual health; with the possibility of
pleasurable, satisfying, and safe sexual experiences
Enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its application
The right to information

WAS Advisory Council, March 2014

Sexual rights continue……
 Education and comprehensive sexuality education
 Enter, form, and dissolve marriage and similar types of relationships based on
equality and full and free consent
 Decide whether to have children, the number and spacing of children, and to have
the information and the means to do so
 Freedom of thought, opinion, and expression
 Freedom of association and peaceful assembly
 Participation in public and political life
 Access to justice, remedies, and redress
WAS Advisory Council, March 2014
Negative consequences originating
from a lack of sexual rights
• Sexual rights violations can lead to :
Hunger
 Insecurity
Powerlessness
Limited access to health
Education because of discrimination against non-conforming
sexual behaviour.
Negative consequences originating from
a lack of sexual rights continues….
• Sexual rights violations can lead to:
Physical aggression against lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender
(LGBT) people or
the threat of female genital cutting of young girls creates insecurity,
especially for poorer
Already powerless people.
• Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or marital
status in the healthcare and medical system can prevent access
to health insurance or proper medical care, can leave many
people outside social networks and may push them into poverty.
Sexual Health
• The World Health Organization defines sexual health as:
A state of physical, mental and social well-being in relation to
sexuality
• It requires the following:
Positive and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual
relationships
The possibility of having pleasurable and
Safe sexual experiences, free of coercion, discrimination and
violence
WHO , 2006
What influences Sexual Health?

The determinants of the sexual health :

• Our values and beliefs • Spirituality

• Upbringing • The people around us

• Culture • Our personal experiences

• Religion • Societal expectations

• Indigenous Status • Legal and/or sexual rights

WHO,2006 and Rao et al 2012

Reproductive rights

• Definition Reproductive rights (WHO)

• Based on the recognition of the fundamental right of all couples and individuals to
decide freely and responsibly over the number,
• spacing and timing of their children
• To have the information and means to do so, as well as the right to attain the highest
standard of sexual and reproductive health.
Reproductive rights embrace certain human rights that are already
recognized in:
national laws
international human rights documents
consensus documents.
Right to make decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination,
coercion and violence
 Twelve Human Rights Key to Reproductive Rights

The right to:

Life
Liberty and Security of Person
Health, including Sexual and Reproductive Health
Decide the Number and Spacing of Children
Consent to Marriage and to Equality in Marriage
Privacy

United nation human rights

Twelve Human Rights Key to Reproductive
Rights continues….
• The Right to:
Equality and Non-Discrimination

Be Free from Practices that Harm Women and Girls

Not be Subjected to Torture or Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or

Punishment
Free from Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

Access Sexual and Reproductive Health Education and Family Planning Information

Enjoy Scientific Progress

Reproductive health
• The framework of the World Health Organization's (WHO)
definition of health as a :
 State of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of
disease or infirmity, reproductive health, or sexual health/hygiene, addresses the
reproductive processes, functions and system at all stages of life.

• Reproductive health, therefore, implies that people are able

to have a :
 Responsible, satisfying and safer sex life and that they have the capability to reproduce and
the freedom to decide if, when and how often to do so
Implies that men and women ought to be informed of and
to have
Access to safe
Effective
Affordable
Acceptable methods of birth control
Access to appropriate
Health care services of sexual,
Reproductive medicine
Implementation of health education programs
To stress the importance of women to go safely through pregnancy
and childbirth could provide couples with the best chance of having a
healthy infant
Reproductive health care includes having access to a
range of good-quality information and services:

 Family-planning counselling, information, education,

communication and services, including access to:
 Safe and effective contraceptive methods;
 Education and services for prenatal care, safe delivery and post-
natal care, especially breast-feeding
 Infant and women's health care
 Prevention and appropriate treatment of infertility
 Prevention of unsafe abortion and management of the
consequences of abortion
Female genital mutilation (FGM)
What is Female genital mutilation (FGM)
• Comprises of all procedures that involve partial or total removal
of external genitalia or other injury to the female genitalia, for
no-medical reasons
Clitoridectomy
Excision
Infibulation
Others e.g. pricking, piercing and scraping
Procedure of FGM

• Typically carried out by a traditional circumciser using a

blade
• FGM- conducted from days after birth to puberty and
beyond.
• Most girls are cut before the age of five
• Procedures differ according to the country or ethnic
group
Method of FGM
• Performed by a traditional circumciser (cutter) in the
girls' homes, with or without anaesthesia
• Older woman, but in communities where the male barber has
assumed the role of health worker he will also perform FGM

• Materials used by traditional cutters involved:

• Non-sterile devices are likely to be used, including knives, razors,
scissors, glass, sharpened rocks and fingernails
Violation of human rights
• Gender inequality practice in attempt to control women’s
• Sexuality,
• Ideas about purity, modesty and beauty
• It is usually initiated and carried out by women, who see it as a
source of honour and fear that failing to have their daughters
and granddaughters cut will expose the girls to social exclusion
• Assumption that FGM reduces women’s sexual desires,
preserves premarital virginity & prevents promiscuity
Prevalence of FGM
• Approximately 100- 140 million girls and women worldwide are living with
the consequences of FGM
• An estimated 3 million girls at risk of FGM every year.
• FGM is known to be practised in:
 27 countries in Africa & Yemen, esp. in eastern, north- eastern & western
regions
 Some countries in Asia & Middle East
• Growing migration has increased the number of girls and women living outside their
country of origin may be at risk of being subjected to the practice in:
• Europe
• Australia
• North America.
Consequences of FGM

Immediate health risks Long term health risks

• Severe pain • Chronic pain
• Swelling • Painful sexual intercourse
• Shock • Infection
• Excessive bleeding (anaemia) • Keloids( excessive scar tissue)
• Infection • Urinary & menstrual problems
• Difficulty in passing urine
• Psychological consequences
• Death
• Psychological consequences
Harmful Traditional Practices
• These practices are against people’s rights
Harmful practices refer to behaviours and practices which are harmful
to people’s physical and mental health.
People have the right to live free from harm, oppression, discrimination
and violence
Painful acceptable cultural practice
 Behaviours and practices which have been committed primarily against women
and girls in certain communities and societies for so long that they are
considered, or presented by perpetrators
 Abuse
 FGM
 Domestic violence
The most common harmful traditional
practices are:
• Forced or early marriages
Refer to a marriage, in which one or both parties (boys or girls) are
younger than 18 years old and do not consent to the marriage.

Forced or early marriage is also called a child marriage and can bring a
lifetime of disadvantages for the children involved.

 It goes against children’s rights to health, education, being free from

violence and exploitation.
Female genital mutilation or cutting
Refers to traditional practice that intentionally alter or injure female
genital organs for non-medical reasons
This practice has serious and sometimes lasting health consequences
for girls and women

Honour based violence or honor killings,

where relatives, including fathers or brothers, kill girls in the name of
family ’honor’, for example, for having sex outside marriage, or refusing
an arranged marriage
The purpose of International Human
Rights
Protect people against harmful traditional practices
with the following rights:
• Right to life and health
• Right to non-discrimination on the basis of sex
• Right to liberty and security
• Right to freedom from inhumane and degrading treatment
What is the solution?
Engaging men and boys in sexual and reproductive health
work
• To reach out to men with services and
education that enable them to share in the responsibility
for reproductive health
• Men’s awareness should be enhanced:
Sexual and reproductive health
Support for their partners’ reproductive health choices.
Solutions continue…
• Men’s access to comprehensive reproductive
health services should be increased
• Men should be mobilised to take an active stand for
gender equity and against gender based violence.
• Protect weak people
• Discontinue human abuse in any form
• Promote equality
The essential package of sexual and reproductive health interventions:

Comprehensive sexuality education

Counselling and services for a range of modern contraceptives, with a
defined minimum number and types of methods
Antenatal, childbirth and postnatal care, including emergency obstetric
and new-born care
Safe abortion services and treatment of complications of unsafe
abortion
Prevention and treatment of HIV and other sexually transmitted
infections
Prevention, detection, immediate services and referrals for cases of
sexual and gender-based violence
The essential package of sexual and
reproductive health interventions cont…
Prevention, detection and management of
reproductive cancers, especially cervical cancer
Information, counselling and services for:
Subfertility and infertility
Sexual health and well-being
Human Trafficking
What is human trafficking?
• The action or practice of illegal trade of humans
( men & women)
• Through use of violence, deception & exploitation
• Usually for financial gain
Why does it occur?
• Vulnerability:
• Human traffickers prey on people who are:
• Poor, Isolated and Weak

• The result of practices that marginalize entire groups of people and make
them particularly vulnerable to being trafficked may lead to :
• Disempowerment,
• Social exclusion
• Economic vulnerability.
o All factors that push individuals into situations of trafficking include
o Mass displacement, conflict, lack of access to education and job opportunities,
violence, and harmful social norms like child marriage
Impact
• The human and social consequences of human
trafficking may lead to:
Physical abuse
Torture of victims to the psychological and emotional trauma,
Economic and political implications of unabated crime
Ostracism
Lack of independent living skills
What is the solution?
• College Students:
Take action on your campus.
Join or establish a university club to raise awareness about human trafficking and
initiate action throughout your local community
• Journalists:
The media plays an enormous role in shaping perceptions and guiding the public
conversation about human trafficking
• Attorneys:
 Offer human trafficking victims legal services, including support for those seeking
benefits or special immigration status.
What is the solution?
• Businesses:
Provide jobs, internships, skills training, and other opportunities to
trafficking survivors.
• Faith-Based Communities:
Host awareness events and community forums with anti-trafficking
leaders or collectively support a local victim service provider
WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMAN
TRAFFICKING?
• Human rights most relevant to trafficking:
The prohibition of discrimination on the basis of race, colour, sex,
language,
religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property,
birth, or other status
The right to life
The right to liberty and security
The right not to be submitted to slavery, servitude, forced labour or
bonded labour
Human rights most relevant to trafficking:
The right to be free from gendered
violence
The right to freedom of association
The right to freedom of movement
The right to the highest attainable
standard of physical and mental health
Amnesty prisoner of conscience
• Prisoner of conscience (POC) is a term coined by Peter Benenson in a 28
May 1961 article ("The Forgotten Prisoners") for the London Observer
newspaper.
• Most often associated with the human rights organisation Amnesty
International, the term can refer to anyone imprisoned because of their
race, sexual orientation, religion, or political views
• It also refers to those who have been imprisoned and/or persecuted for
the non-violent expression of their conscientiously held beliefs
• Any person who is physically restrained (by imprisonment or otherwise)
from expressing (in any form of words or symbols) any opinion which he
honestly holds and which does not advocate or condone personal
violence
Amnesty is calling for the following:
• Call on the government to:
Urgently finalise national termination of pregnancy guidelines and
ensure their dissemination in all provinces of South Africa;
Ensure provision of reproductive health commodities – medical
abortion drugs and other apparatus and ensure health providers are
well trained through CPD processes to maintain their registration
Work with inter-ministerial partners and local governments for the
stringent enforcement of by-laws to tackle illegal abortion providers,
including introducing steps to address illegal advertising
Amnesty’s calling continues…..
• Call on the government to:
Mainstream sexual and reproductive health and rights,
including contraception and safe abortion, into the health
agenda;
Celebrate ‘Abortion Provider Appreciation Day’ annually on
10 March; and
Engage the US government about the urgent need to repeal
the ‘Global Gag Rule’ in South Africa.
Spread the Word, break the taboo
• To resolve these problems, you have to challenge the ignorance
that surrounds the issue
• We need to raise awareness – and make sure that those who
already have information on sexual rights share it with others
• We need to spread this information by word of mouth and
equally, encourage young volunteers to help.
• Government includes sexuality and reproduction into school
programmes
• We need to reach out to parents and adults so that they feel
comfortable talking about the subject with their children