UN General Assembly adopts important resolutions that include reproductive rights and sexual and reproductive health

The General Assembly has recently adopted important resolutions that include specific references to reproductive rights and sexual and reproductive health. They also reaffirm the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), the key actions for the implementation of ICPD and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

Resolution on Global health and foreign policy (A/67/L.36)

The resolution on Global health and foreign policy (A/67/L.36), which had 90 co-sponsors, calls upon Member States to value the contribution of universal health coverage to achieving all interrelated Millennium Development Goals, with ultimate outcome of more health lives, particularly for women and children. It also recognizes that the provision of universal health coverage requires full and effective implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, the ICPD Programme of Action and the outcomes of their review conferences, including commitments relating to sexual and reproductive health and the promotion and protecting of all human rights in this context, and emphasizes the need for the provision of universal access to reproductive health, including family planning and sexual health, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes. (para 11) 

The provision of universal health coverage, moreover, is mutually reinforcing with the implementation of the Political Declaration on Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases and the Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS. (para 12)

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Resolution on Supporting efforts to end obstetric fistula (A/C.3/67/L.22/Rev.1)

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) of the General Assembly adopted a consensus resolution on Supporting Efforts to End Obstetric Fistula.  Presented by the African Union (AU), it had 167 cosponsors from all regions. It includes the ICPD Programme of Action and the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action among the outcome documents that it reaffirms.

The resolution for the first time in a Regular Session of the General Assembly includes reproductive rights, in accordance with the ICPD Programme of Action, the text, in addition to sexual and reproductive health. (para 3)  It also calls for the urgent need to address child marriage. (para 2) and emphasizes the importance of secondary and higher education, including ‘age-appropriate sex education’. (para 4) The resolution calls on the international community to designate 23 May as the International Day to End Obstetric Fistula.

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Resolution on Intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women (a/C.3/67/L.19/Rev.1)

The Third Committee of the General Assembly adopted a resolution on Intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women, submitted by the traditional cosponsors, France and The Netherlands, and adopted by consensus.

The resolution stresses that “violence against women” means any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.  (para 1) It also recognizes that gender-based violence is a form of discrimination that seriously inhibits women’s ability to enjoy rights and freedoms on a basis of equality with men. (para 2)

The text, as in the resolution on obstetric fistula also includes reproductive rights. It urges States to strengthen “national health and social infrastructure to reinforce measures to promote and protect women’s equal access to public health-care services, including for sexual and reproductive health, and reproductive rights, in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, and address the health consequences of all forms of violence against women, including by providing specialized health care services such as supportive counselling, post-exposure prophylaxis for exposure to HIV and other services”.  (para 18(w))

It reaffirms the International Conference on Population and Development among other documents and recognizes, for the first time, that domestic violence remains widespread and affects women of all social strata across the world and the urgent need to eliminate such violence as well as recalling for the first time all pertinent Security Council resolutions on women peace and security and on children and armed conflict.  

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Resolution on Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilations (A/C.3/L.21/Rev. 1)

The Third Committee also adopted a resolution, presented by the African Union on Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilations by consensus, with 107 cosponsors. This was the first time a resolution on this topic had been taken to the Third Committee, rather than just being discussed in the Commission on the Status of Women.

The resolution reaffirms that female genital mutilations are a harmful practice. which constitutes a serious threat to the health of women and girls, including their sexual and reproductive health.

It stresses that the empowerment of women and girls is key to breaking the cycle of discrimination of violence and the promotion and protection of human rights, including the right to the highest attainable standard of mental and physical health, including sexual and reproductive health.  In addition to fulfilling their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, they should fulfill their commitments to implement the ICPD Programme of Action and the Beijing Platform for Action, as well as other documents. (para 1)

States are also urged to support women and girls who have been subjected to female genital mutilations and those at risk and to take measures to improve their health, including their sexual and reproductive health. (para 5)

For full text of resolution please click here