Between law and sexual rights in Nigeria

Is extant legal framework protecting the sexual and reproductive rights of the Nigerian woman? YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE in this piece explore factors that answer the concerns on the attainment of reproductive health rights, lack of specific legislation, and the seeming unwillingness to domesticate international protocols that Nigeria co-signed.

by Yejide Gbenga-Ogundare
January 31, 2024

The issue of reproductive and sexual health rights has not always been an open discussion in the African society, repressed mainly by cultural beliefs, including in Nigeria, despite the prevalence of maternal mortality and morbidity. According to statistics in the OIDA International Journal of Sustainable Development, every day, Nigeria loses 145 women of childbearing age from complications of child birth leading to more focus on health issues and the right to health. But while the right to health has been recognised globally since reproductive health rights gained formal acceptance in 1993, the need for women to have access to quality reproductive health services such as medical care, planned family, safe pregnancy, delivery care and treatment and prevention of sexually-transmitted infections, while gaining recognition, cannot be said to have been given its due pride of place.

Continued: https://tribuneonlineng.com/between-law-and-s3xual-rights-in-nigeria/

Türk urges progress on ‘unfinished agenda’ of women’s sexual and reproductive health rights

19 October 2023
BY Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

(delivered at UNECE Regional Conference to mark the 30th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development “Population and Development: Ensuring Rights and Choices”)

…When the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development was agreed to by States in Cairo 30 years ago, it promised a profound impact on the lives of women and girls.

It promised them the power to make decisions about their own lives, their bodies, and their futures – rights which should have, in the first place, been non-negotiable.

Continued: https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2023/10/turk-urges-progress-unfinished-agenda-womens-sexual-and

19.10.2023

Commentary

ICPD Programme of Action

International Conference on Population and development

maternal deaths

maternal mortality

Programme of Action

sexual and reproductive health and rights

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

UNECE

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Unsafe Abortions, Inaccessibility, & Stigma: A Look Into India’s Abortion Scenario

By Janees Rafiq
26th October, 2020

Unsafe abortions have devastating effects on women’s health. Every year around 42 million women with unintended pregnancies choose abortion. Nearly half of these procedures that about 20 million abortions are unsafe. Around 68,000 women die because of unsafe abortions, making it one of the causes of increasing maternal mortality rate. Of women who survive unsafe abortions, 5 million suffer long-term health complications. Unsafe abortion is thus a pressing issue.

While some abortions are self-induced, most of them are performed by providers lacking required qualifications and skills to perform abortions and hence termed unsafe WHO defines unsafe abortion as a procedure for terminating an unintended pregnancy carried out either by persons lacking skills or in an environment that does not conform to minimal medical standards or both. According to WHO, every 8 minutes, a woman in a developing country dies due to complications arising out of unsafe abortions.

Continued: https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2020/10/unsafe-abortions-a-threat-to-womans-life/

Report: International Conference on Population & Development+25

International Conference on Population & Development+25
Nairobi, Kenya, 12-13-14 November 2019

Press Release: 22 November 2019

What was it about: some history

This conference has taken place every five years, beginning in 1994. At each follow-up meeting, the overarching purpose has been to measure progress (and the lack of progress) in implementing the 1994 Programme of Action, which was agreed by acclamation by the representatives of 179 countries, and the follow-up actions added at subsequent conferences. An excellent summary of the aims, goals and history of the conference can be found here and a 20th anniversary edition of the Programme of Action can be found here along with a global report on progress published in 2014.

In 1994, UNFPA, the conference convenor, described the Programme of Action as: “a bold new vision about the relationships between population, development and individual well-being… remarkable in its recognition that [sexual and] reproductive health and reproductive rights, as well as women's empowerment and gender equality, are cornerstones of population and development programmes. The Consensus is rooted in principles of human rights and respect for national sovereignty and various religious and cultural backgrounds.”

Continued: https://mailchi.mp/safeabortionwomensright/press-release-international-conference-population-development-25?e=372dd34034

22.11.2019