Grassroots organising, using the United Nations’ Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and creating new multilateral coordination are some of the ways to counter the current attack on sexual and reproductive health (SRH), according to activists.

There is a “rise of unapologetic, unabashed, hegemonic masculinity and really harmful gender stereotypes,” Paola Salwan Daher, Women Deliver’s senior director for collective action, told a webinar on the anti-rights pushback.

Far-right governments “are bringing the message that women should not have the same rights as men,” and tech billionaires “have put their incommensurable wealth behind this”, she added.

“We are seeing deeply biased misinformation around women’s bodies, around women’s health, and the undermining of women and girls’ agency.”

To counter what she describes as “Conservative International”, Women Deliver is convening a global gender equality conference in April to enable like-minded organisations “to meet each other to strategise together”. 

“We are organising to push forward a more progressive agenda that really centres the autonomy, the rights to dignity for women and girls,” she said.

Salwan Daher added that the current “crisis of multilateralism doesn’t come from nowhere”.

“It has been exacerbated by the postures of the Trump administration, but really, it was brewing before. It was brewing because of double standards in the application of international law. The genocide in Palestine has really exposed the fault lines,” said Salwan Daher.

“We do not want a world without multilateralism. So now is the time to reimagine collectively what multilateral can look like. How do we make it people-centred? How do we make accountability at the root of everything, every process and every global space? How do we ensure the legal obligations of states?”

Abortion taboo

Pauline Fernandez, coordinator of the Philippines Safe Abortion Advocacy Network (PINSAN), said that despite her country having one of the harshest laws against abortion, there was growing recognition of the need to decriminalise abortion.

“Despite it being criminalised, abortion remains a widespread and urgent reality in the Philippines,” said Frenandez.

“Data shows that upwards of a million women undergo abortions annually, and because of abortion-related complications, up to three women die every day in the Philippines.”

Sustained organising about the importance of decriminalisation had seen PINSAN to her grow from 10 to 130 organisations.

Over 30,000 people have signed PINSAN’s petitionin support of decriminalisation, helped by a recent Netflix documentary on the subject by a famous local filmmaker.

Regular reviews

Dr Virginia Kamowa, regional and country manager at the Global Center for Health Diplomacy and Inclusion (CeHDI), which co-hosted the event, said that the Universal Periodic Review UPR) provides a lever to ensure better SRH services.

“The UPR is the only mechanism of UN that reviews every country on a regular cycle against the human rights obligations of the governments, and produces a public on-the-record government commitment,” explained Kamowa.

“More and more recommendations have been on health,” she said, adding that aroung 82% of health recommendations were accepted by the country being reviewed.

Improving maternal health involved many aspects of SRH, she noted.

Rwanda was reviewed last week, while the reviews of St Lucia, Namibia, Mozambique, Somalia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone and Eswatini are imminent.

“All 193 UN member states undergo a UPR. There’s a national report that is written by the government within the country, but also the UN bodies within the country that also do their own population and stakeholder research, civil society, NGOs and human rights institutions also compile their summary reports.

“During the process, other states ask questions and make recommendations to the country that is being reviewed, and the reviewed country can accept or not those recommendations, and then there is follow up in the next cycle of the UPR review.”

Image Credits: ©Gates Foundation/ Prashant Panjiar.