Arab governments to reaffirm their commitment to SRHR in their countries

The Arab Population Forum, held in Beirut, Lebanon between 19 and 21 of November 2004 and organized by ESCWA, the League of Arab States and UNFPA had two very exciting and inspiring occurances that took place.

One was a statement delivered on behalf of MENA Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (please find below) at the Reproductive Human Rights Session, and the other was the youth statement delivered at the youth session, spearheaded by participants from the Youth advocacy workshop organized by the Youth Coalition just prior to the forum.

The statement, delivered by Faysal El Kak from Lebanon, recieved big interest and positive feedback. It was significant in that it affirmed the commited work in the region for SRR, asserted an NGO presence and explicitly refered to Human Rights violations like marital rape, taboos around sexuality including sexual orientation and premarital sexuality, which were of course never mentioned anywhere else. Faysal is lobbying to have it included in the preceedings report.

The Youth Statement, delivered formally in the "arab youth" session by six participants of the Youth Dialogue (a side event organized by UNFPA) also caused quite a stir. There was quite a resistance to youth from some of the delegations, even though most were supportive of including the statement as is.

Please, find below the original statement of the Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights In Muslim Societies.

A CALL ON ARAB GOVERNMENTS BY

THE COALITION FOR SEXUAL AND BODILY RIGHTS IN MUSLIM SOCIETIES

ON THE 10th ANNIVERSARY OF ICPD

This Forum, marking the 10th anniversary of ICPD, which resulted in the landmark agreement and adoption of the ICPD Programme of Action, presents an outstanding opportunity for Arab countries to join their voices and reaffirm their commitment to the PoA and adopt its “rights-based approach” to enhance vital dimensions of population and human life in the Arab region.

As leading non-governmental organizations in the region, working to promote and defend sexual and reproductive rights as human rights, we applaud the reaffirmation by governments of their commitment to the ICPD PoA and ICPD+5 at previous regional meetings, including:

 Asia Pacific in December 2002;
 the Caribbean in November 2003;
 Europe and North America in January 2004;
 Latin America and the Caribbean in March 2004; and
 Africa in June 2004.

We call upon the Arab region to do the same and accelerate the implementation of ICPD and ICPD+5, in conjunction with other agreements and treaties and outcome documents most countries of the region have joined, including CEDAW, Beijing and Beijing+5.

The evolving discourse on health and wellness as encompassing the totality of human dimensions, from the intellectual, physical, social, emotional, and spiritual dimensions, to the biological, socio cultural, economic and political, has further revealed the importance and necessity of the human rights approach to capture and implement sexual and reproductive health and rights.

In order to eradicate the many human rights violations in the region concerning sexual, bodily and reproductive rights, including all forms of sexual and gender based violence, marital rape, FGM, honor crimes, forced and early marriages, trafficking in women or virginity tests; we call upon the governments to revise, enact and/or reinforce penal, civil, labour and administrative sanctions in domestic legislation to address and properly punish such crimes; to provide access to comprehensive, affordable and quality sexual and reproductive health information and services for all people including youth; and to adopt comprehensive “rights-based” programs and policies in the domain of sexual and reproductive health.

To this end, taboos around sexuality education, adolescent sexuality, pre-marital and extra-marital relationships, sexual orientation, unsafe abortion, post-abortion care and HIV/AIDS need to be addressed; and legal, corrective and protective measures must be developed.

This can be achieved by:

 promoting comprehensive sexuality education;
 enhancing affordable, accessible and equitable sexual and reproductive health services;
 upholding adolescents’ right to information;
 providing appropriate non-stigmatizing counseling;
 re-examining the judicial system, and
 accelerating holistic legal reform to promote sexual and reproductive health, and freedom from all types of coercion and violence.

Ten years after ICPD, we call again on all governments of the region to generate the political will and develop the programs and policies to turn these commitments into concrete realities.

Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights In Muslim Societies