(Ok guys, I know this blog may be a different style from what I usually do, but, hey, thought id do something a bit different this time. However, here goes! Enjoy!)

"The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins." This powerful statement made by Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. can be regarded to be quite adequate when one seeks to assess the issues of the infringements of sexual and reproductive health and rights, and also the issue of the infringement of human rights. The World Health Organization (WHO) Department of Reproductive Health and Research provides a comprehensive definition of sexual health and rights. The WHO defines it as a right to achieve "the highest attainable standard of sexual health, including access to sexual and reproductive health care services". Other sources note that sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) can be defined as the right for all to make choices regarding their own sexuality and reproduction, providing that these rights respect the rights of others to bodily integrity. This definition also notes the right to access information and services needed to support these choices and optimize health care for all those who are in need of it.

Now in seeking to understand what is meant by human rights, one needs only look to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. According to article 1 of this document, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” As such, with these key definitions noted, one shall now be seeking to assess if these rights are indeed being infringed, and more importantly, how much, if anything at all, is being done to see these persons, whose rights were infringed, truly receive redress.

So, issue number one: are these rights really being infringed. The issue of sexual reproductive health and rights unfortunately is not one which has been given much importance in many developing countries, especially in Latin America, the Caribbean and in many parts of the African Diaspora. According to the United Nations (UN), it is estimated that about 1,600 women die each day from complications caused by pregnancy and child birth, with 99% of these deaths occurring in developing countries. The UN also notes that each year, it is estimated that approximately 2 million girls are at risk of female genital mutilation, fifty-one percent of all pregnant women are suffering from iron-deficiency anemia, cancer of the cervix, which is noted to be the most common form of cancer in developing countries, is often linked to the sexually transmitted human papilloma virus, and finally, domestic violence, rape and sexual abuse are a noted to be a significant cause of disability among women.

Now upon seeing such overwhelming evidence, it is only too clear that these persons are seeing the infringement of their SRHR and human rights on a daily basis for according to the WHO, everyone has a right to "the highest attainable standard of sexual health, including access to sexual and reproductive health care services", which these women obviously are not receiving and hence many of them end up dying or facing many serious health complications and abuse. Thus it is all to clear a point that these rights are indeed being infringed and thereby there is a need for something to be done.

Ok, so yes, infringements of rights, but the meat of the matter: what, if anything at all is being done to remedy this disregard for these persons’ rights? Undoubtedly, on a global scale, much is being done to try and combat the infringement of such rights. According to the UN, in December 1996, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) signed off on an agreement to pursue joint efforts to combat sexual violence, particularly against migrant women and girls, as well as enhanced reproductive health programmes for migrants. The agreement also noted that there was a need for close cooperation in advocacy, research, and technical cooperation between the two signatory agencies.

However, when one brings into focus how much is being done within these developing countries, one sees an obvious need for more effort. In many African countries, the conviction rate for rape is pathetically low. Access to proper health care in many Latin American countries is often nothing more than a dream to many persons and especially in the Caribbean, specifically Haiti, cases of domestic violence and other such violence against women have become common placed and yet very little is being done by the authorities to address it or to seek to lessen it. Hence, in this regard, in many of these developing countries, the need for more legislation and practical application and enforcement of such legislation is desperately needed. Thus, in conclusion, one would like to recommend that many of these UN agreements which seek to protect the rights of these individuals should be drafted into the legislations of the developing countries, so that there will be existing legislation to offer protection. One also recommends that these countries need to take a more practical stance in ensuring that the rights of individual are not infringed by making more valiant attempts at informing individuals about their rights and also what circumstances can be seen as an infringement of their rights. Undoubtedly, for many of these persons, ignorance of their rights has been their biggest stumbling block as to them receiving redress, hence a more aware populous would go a long way to reducing the infringement of such rights.

In closing, Kudos and 2 thumbs up to YAM, JYAN, AFY, aYA, EVA, and all the other groups who dedicate their time to taking a stance for the defense of the SRH rights of the youth in their country =)