CHAPTER 1: REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS AND THEIR RELEVANCE TO THE WORK OF NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS
Elements of the right to sexual and reproductive health may include the following:
l
Reproductive decision-making including voluntary choice in marriage, family formation and
determination of the number, timing and spacing of one’s children; access to the information
and the means needed to exercise voluntary choice
l
Universal access to reproductive health services, including family planning
l
Appropriate reproductive education, information and services to adolescent girls
and boys
l
Freedom from harmful practices such as early marriage, sale in marriage, female cutting/
female genital mutilation, sex-selective birth practices (both pre- and post-natal)
l
Access to and respect for non-harmful cultural reproductive practices, for example the right to
choose safe home birth and choice of female medical practitioners.
l
Freedom from sexual violence and abuse
l
Freedom from forced sterilization, forced abortion and forced contraception
l
Freedom from discrimination on any basis, including sex, age, marital status, pregnancy, sexual
orientation, ethnicity, language, religion, culture, physical and mental disability, and HIV status,
to ensure the enjoyment of reproductive rights
l
Maternal health, particularly access to services to promote maternal health and to reduce
maternal morbidity (disease/poor health) and mortality (death), including pre- and post-natal
care
l
Right to confidentiality with respect to reproductive health information and services
l
Reproductive rights associated with the right to work and to participate in the
community
Reproductive rights and reproductive health have been recognized as critical to human
development and security. The Millennium Development Declaration, adopted in 2000, and the
eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), developed in 2001, initially omitted the ICPD
goal of universal access to reproductive health. This was amended in 2007 however, and became
effective on 1 January 2008, when target 5b ‘achieve universal access to reproductive health’
and four related indicators, was introduced. It is also clear that reproductive rights are essential
to the attainment of a number of the MDGs including Goal 3 (promoting gender equality
and empowering women); Goal 4 (reducing the child mortality rate) and Goal 5 (reducing
maternal mortality). The link between reproductive rights and improvement in maternal health
is especially strong. As shown in the text box below, the international community recognizes
that this goal can only be achieved by reducing maternal mortality and improving access to
reproductive health services.
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