Sexuality Health And Human Rights

Sexuality, Health and Human Rights surveys the rapid changes taking place at the start of the twenty-first century in the social, cultural, political and economic domains and their impact on sexuality, health and human rights.

This report demonstrates the relationship between sexual health, human rights and the law. Drawing from a review of public health evidence and extensive research into human rights law at international, regional and national levels, the report shows how states in different parts of the world can and do support sexual health through legal and other mechanisms that are consistent with human rights standards and their own human rights obligations.

The last two decades have witnessed an explosion of research on sexuality as the social sciences have worked to find new ways of understanding a rapidly changing world. Growing concern for issues such as population, women's and men's reproductive health, and the HIV and AIDS pandemic, has since provided new legitimacy for work on sexuality, health and rights. A detailed and up-to-date reference work, The Handbook of Sexuality, Health and Rights provides an authoritative overview of the main issues in the field today. Leading academics and practitioners are brought together to reflect on past, present and future approaches to understanding and promoting sexual health and rights. Divided into nine parts, it covers: Pioneering beginnings Language, discourse and sexual categories From sexuality to health The reproductive imperative How to have sex in an epidemic The choreography of sex The darker side of sex From sexual health to sexual rights Struggles for erotic justice This handbook surveys the state of the discipline and offers an examination and discussion of emerging, controversial and cutting edge areas. It is an essential reference for academics and researchers in the fields of sexuality studies, sexual health and human rights, and offers key reading for more advanced students.

Both research and consultations over the last decades have identified sexuality-related communication as an issue that requires urgent attention. While clients would like their health-care providers to discuss sexual health concerns, health workers lack the necessary training and knowledge to feel comfortable addressing such issues. This guideline provides health policy-makers and decision-makers in health professional training institutions with advice on the rationale for health-care providers' use of counselling skills to address sexual health concerns in a primary health care setting.

The concept of reproductive health promises to play a crucial role in improving women's health and rights around the world. It was internationally endorsed by a United Nations conference in 1994, but remains controversial because of the challenge it presents to conservative agencies: it challenges policies of suppressing public discussion on human sexuality and regulating its private expressions. Reproductive Health and Human Rights is designed to equip healthcare providers and administrators to integrate ethical, legal, and human rights principles in protection and promotion of reproductive health, and to inform lawyers and women's health advocates about aspects of medicine and healthcare systems that affect reproduction. Rebecca Cook, Bernard Dickens, and Mahmoud Fathalla, leading international authorities on reproductive medicine, human rights, medical law, and bioethics, integrate their disciplines to provide an accessible but comprehensive introduction to reproductive and sexual health. They analyse fifteen case-studies of recurrent problems, focusing particularly on resource-poor settings. Approaches to resolution are considered at clinical and health system levels. They also consider kinds of social change that would relieve the underlying conditions of reproductive health dilemmas. Supporting the explanatory chapters and case-studies are extensive resources of epidemiological data, human rights documents, and research materials and websites on reproductive and sexual health. In explaining ethics, law, and human rights to healthcare providers and administrators, and reproductive health to lawyers and women's health advocates, the authors explore and illustrate limitations and dysfunctions of prevailing health systems and their legal regulation, but also propose opportunities for reform. They draw on the values and principles of ethics and human rights recognized in national and international legal systems, to guide healthcare providers and administrators, lawyers, governments, and national and international agencies and legal tribunals. Reproductive Health and Human Rights will be an invaluable resource for all those working to improve services and legal protection for women around the world. Updates to this book, and information on translations to French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and Arabic are now available at www.law.utoronto.ca/faculty/cook/ReproductiveHealth.html

'We used to talk about development with a human face. We should be talking about development with a body' Arit Oku-Egbas, African Regional Sexuality Resource Centre, Nigeria Sex and sexuality have always had a place at the heart of the development agenda - from concerns regarding population and environment, to practices in education and efforts for protecting reproductive health and rights. Yet this agenda has largely focused on negative dimensions of sexuality - disease, risk, violation - rather than positive aspects, including rights to sexual fulfillment, wellbeing and pleasure. The shift towards a rights-based approach to development has brought the human rights dimensions of sexuality into clearer view, and consequently the need to address discriminatory laws and violations of the human rights of those whose sexual identity and practices diverge from dominant sexual orders/norms. This book offers compelling insights into contemporary challenges and transformative possibilities of the struggle for sexual rights. It combines the conceptual with the political, and offering inspiring examples of practical interventions and campaigns that emphasize the positive dimensions of sexuality. It brings together reflections and experiences of researchers, activists and practitioners from Brazil, India, Nigeria, Peru, Serbia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK and Zambia. From political discourse on sex and masculinity to sex work and trafficking, from HIV and sexuality to struggles for legal reform and citizenship, the authors explore the gains of creating stronger linkages between sexuality, human rights and development.

he starting point for this guideline is the point at which a woman has learnt that she is living with HIV and it therefore covers key issues for providing comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights-related services and support for women living with HIV. As women living with HIV face unique challenges and human rights violations related to their sexuality and reproduction within their families and communities as well as from the health-care institutions where they seek care particular emphasis is placed on the creation of an enabling environment to support more effective health interventions and better health outcomes. This guideline is meant to help countries to more effectively and efficiently plan develop and monitor programmes and services that promote gender equality and human rights and hence are more acceptable and appropriate for women living with HIV taking into account the national and local epidemiological context. It discusses implementation issues that health interventions and service delivery must address to achieve gender equality and support human rights.

This open access book provides a comprehensive overview of the health inequities and human rights issues faced by sex workers globally across diverse contexts, and outlines evidence-based strategies and best practices. Sex workers face severe health and social inequities, largely as the result of structural factors including punitive and criminalized legal environments, stigma, and social and economic exclusion and marginalization. Although previous work has largely emphasized an elevated burden and gaps in HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) services in sex work, less attention has been paid to the broader health and human rights concerns faced by sex workers. This contributed volume addresses this gap. The chapters feature a variety of perspectives including academic, community, implementing partners, and government to synthesize research evidence as well as lessons learned from local-level experiences across different regions, and are organized under three parts: Burden of health and human rights inequities faced by sex workers globally, including infectious diseases (e.g., HIV, STIs), violence, sexual and reproductive health, and drug use Structural determinants of health and human rights, including legislation, law enforcement, community engagement, intersectoral collaboration, stigma, barriers to health access, im/migration issues, and occupational safety and health Evidence-based services and best practices at various levels ranging from individual and community to policy-level interventions to identify best practices and avenues for future research and interventions Sex Work, Health, and Human Rights is an essential resource for researchers, policy-makers, governments, implementing partners, international organizations and community-based organizations involved in research, policies, or programs related to sex work, public health, social justice, gender-based violence, women's health and harm reduction.

Brings together eight wide-reaching and provocative essays that examine the practical and theoretical issues of reproductive health policy and implementation. This book assesses the impact of policies that have been initiated and consider future directions that governments must take in order to translate visionary ideas into actual achievements.