Body Politics: Criminalization of sexuality and reproduction – Amnesty’s new primer

Congratulations to Amnesty International’s Criminalization of Sexuality and Reproduction Project Team for this useful new reference book:

Body Politics: Criminalization of sexuality and reproduction. (London: Amnesty International, 2018) 220 pages.  PDF online.

This book “aims to motivate and equip the organization’s global movement to challenge unjust criminalization of sexuality and reproduction in local, national, regional and international contexts.”  It is part of an Amnesty International series, which includes this Primer, a Toolkit and a forthcoming Training Manual (see links below).
As noted in the Introduction, “This Primer gives an overview of sexual and reproductive rights that states must respect, protect and fulfil and how states punish and prevent people from exercising these rights. . . . [It] looks at these issues from a human rights perspective, in particular through the lens of “bodily autonomy” – the entitlement to decide what we do with our bodies, what we allow, desire and/or forbid others to do with our bodies, and to make essential decisions about our bodies. The Primer includes discussion of seven issue areas where overreaching laws and policies criminalize sexual and reproductive actions, decisions and gender expression thereby violating our bodily autonomy and denying us our dignity and human rights.” (p.19)  The seven focus issues are:   Criminalizing pregnancy, abortion, adolescent sexual activity, same-sex sexual activity, sex outside marriage and sex work, as well as HIV non-disclosure, exposure and transmission. The book also contains a useful glossary.
As Anand Grover comments: “Amnesty International’s Primer and Toolkit – Body Politics: Criminalization of sexuality and reproduction – is a timely, meaningful and welcome contribution that can enable activists to both comprehend and challenge illegitimate criminalization of sexuality and reproductive decisions. It is vital to understand the extent to which criminalization has permeated states today and the damage which is done by such measures masquerading as legitimate public health or public morality initiatives. This Primer details the major areas of concern and the harm which both direct and indirect criminalization inflict on an individual’s human rights and the health of society as a whole. It is not enough, however, to simply understand the problem of criminalization of sexuality and reproductive decisions; steps must also be taken to challenge it. The Toolkit provides concrete campaigning techniques such as mapping stakeholder participation and power, identifying advocacy targets, and building capacity. The [forthcoming] Training Manual can be used to build understanding and capacity around these issues for a range of audiences and activists.”  (p. 9, our emphases)

“Body Politics: Criminalization of sexuality and reproduction”
220-page Primer
See also:  Toolkit:  38-page PDF
Rationale for this Amnesty International’s campaign  is explained here.

Kenya: High Court halts HIV+ data collection, upholding dignity & privacy

Many thanks to Professor Ebenezer Durojaye of the Dullah Omar Institute for Constitutional Law, Governance and Human Rights at the University of the Western Cape, for abstracting this significant judgment for REPROHEALTHLAW subscribers.  Prof. Durojaye can be reached at  ebenezerdurojaye19 at gmail.com

Kenya Legal and Ethical Network on HIV & AIDS (KELIN) & 3 others v Cabinet Secretary Ministry of Health & 4 others [2016] eKLR Petition 250 of 2015. (High Court at Nairobi)  Decision online.

This case centres on a directive issued by Kenyan President Kenyatta requesting that the names of school-going HIV positive children, their guardians and HIV-positive pregnant women and their addresses be compiled for the purpose of assisting the government to respond and provide appropriate service and support to the children living with HIV/AIDS. The said information should include the number of children infected with HIV, number of guardians or caregivers infected with HIV, number of expectant mothers that are HIV positive and number of breastfeeding mothers who are HIV positive.

This directive was challenged by KELIN and others claiming that it violated the rights and privacy of people living with HIV as guaranteed in the Constitution and the “HIV Prevention and Control Act.” The Court agreed with this submission and found that the disclosure of school-going children’s HIV status will undermine the rights to dignity and privacy of children. While the intention of the government may be laudable, however, the implication of the directive will no doubt infringe on the rights of people living with HIV in general and HIV-positive children in particular. The International Guidelines on HIV provide that data and information about the HIV status of a person should be collected without linking the information to an individual.   This decision is significant in the sense that it not only protects the privacy and dignity of HIV positive persons (especially HIV positive children) but also addresses the implication of this for HIV related stigma and discrimination. It is a known fact that people living with HIV experience human rights abuses arising from stigma and discrimination. It is hoped that this decision will send a strong message to governments across Africa to desist from encroaching on right to privacy of HIV-positive persons, particularly HIV-positive children.

The full decision is online here.

Case Commentary by JURIST

Related Resources:

Kenyan constitutional  right to privacy was also upheld in this 2015 decision:
AIDS Law Project v. Attorney General and 3 Others [2015] eKLR, Petition No. 97 of 2010 (High Court of Kenya at Nairobi), declared not only that the criminal provision in Kenya’s HIV/AIDS Act was overbroad, vague, and therefore unconstitutional, but also that enforced disclosure of HIV status to sexual contacts violated constitutional right to privacy.   Decision online,  summarized and discussed in Legal Grounds III: Reproductive and Sexual Rights in Sub-Saharan African Courts   pp. 171-176).  CRR press release.

Legal Grounds III:  Reproductive and Sexual Rights in Sub-Saharan African Courts (Pretoria: PULP, 2017 ) [Discusses 54 court decisions 2008-2017, including 12 cases on “HIV”] Free PDF

Jacinta Nyachae and Paul Ogendi, “Litigating the right to health in Kenya: an analysis of selected cases,”  in: Litigating the Right to Health in Africa: Challenges and Prospects, ed. Ebenezer Durojaye (London, Routledge, 2015) Book information.

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The REPROHEALTHLAW Blog is compiled by the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, Canada,  reprohealth*law at utoronto.ca.   For Program publications and resources, see our website, online here.
TO JOIN THIS BLOG: enter your email address in upper right corner of this webpage, then check your email to confirm the subscription

South African rulings uphold rights of HIV+ employees

Many thanks to Godfrey Kangaude, LL.M. (UFS), LL.M. (UCLA), now an LL.D. candidate with the University of Pretoria and Executive Director of Nyale Institute for Sexual and Reproductive Health Governance in Malawi, for composing and/or editing summaries of 54 recent African court decisions for Legal Grounds III: Reproductive and Sexual Rights in Sub-Saharan African Courts, published in 2017 by Pretoria University Law Press (PULP).  All three volumes in the series are freely available in print or electronic form.

Two of the court decisions summarized in Legal Grounds III clearly upheld the rights of HIV-positive persons against discrimination, including  unjust dismissal, and exclusion from certain job opportunities.

Gary Shane Allpass v Mooikloof Estates (Pty) Ltd. [2011], Case No. JS178/09, a Labour Court of South Africa upheld the rights to equality and non-discrimination of HIV-positive persons in the workplace.  The Court ruled that a horse-riding instructor’s dismissal from employment for HIV-positivity was automatically unfair in terms of Section 187(1)(f) of the Labour Relations Act, 66 of 1995, because the reason for dismissal was his  HIV status, and was not justifiable on any other ground.   Summary for Legal Grounds III.   Decision online.

Dwenga and Others v Surgeon-General of the South African Military Health Services and Others [2014] ZAGPPHC 727, Case No. 40844/2013, the High Court at North Gauteng  reinforced an earlier ruling against discrimination toward HIV+ individuals employed by the military.  The South African National Defence Force had violated its own policies, and was unable to provide any evidence to suggest that the requisite health required for the positions sought by the Applicants could not be achieved by a person infected with HIV.  Summary for Legal Grounds III.    Decision online.

As Godfrey Kangaude emphasized regarding the Dwenga case: “Discriminatory attitudes and practices against persons with HIV are still prevalent in our societies, despite the progress that many countries have made in terms of putting in place public policies to curb these forms of discrimination. Having legislation in place or even a court decision is sometimes not enough incentive, even for public institutions such as the army, to end discriminatory practices. The Court commented that public institutions should be exemplary in complying with constitutional norms and standards, such as respect and protection of the rights of persons living with HIV. (Legal Grounds III, page 188)

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Legal Grounds III: Reproductive and Sexual Rights in Sub-Saharan African Courts (Pretoria University Law Press (PULP), 2017) covers decisions from 2008 to 2016.   228 pages, 54 case summaries, online.  Flyer with Table of Contents.

Legal Grounds I and Legal Grounds II (Center for Reproductive Rights, 2005 and 2010) are online here.
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Compiled by the Coordinator of the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program, reprohealth*law at utoronto.ca.   For Program publications and resources, see our website, online here.     TO JOIN THIS BLOG: enter your email address in upper right corner of this webpage, then check your email to confirm the subscription.

I.V. v. Bolivia decision: Forced sterilization is based on harmful gender stereotypes

Many thanks to Christina Zampas, a Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law, for summarizing this decision of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.  She also presented oral expert testimony in this case during its hearing on 2 May 2016 in San Jose, Costa Rica, focusing on international and regional human rights standards in relation to informed consent to sterilization, and on gender discrimination and stereotyping. (Overview of her testimony.)

Caso I.V. v. Bolivia,   Sentencia de 30  Noviembre de 2016 (Excepciones Preliminares, Fondo, Reparaciones y Costas) Corte InterAmericana de Derechos Humanos  Decision in Spanish.

I.V. v Bolivia concerns the involuntary sterilization in 2000 of an immigrant woman from Peru in a public hospital in Bolivia during a caesarean section.   In its first case alleging forced sterilization and indeed, its first case on informed consent to a medical procedure, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights struck at the heart of such practices by addressing underlying causes of such violations: gender discrimination and stereotyping.

The Court held that the State violated the woman’s rights to personal integrity, personal freedom, private and family life, access to information and rights to found a family, and to be free from cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment contrary to the dignity of a human being, all contained in the American Convention on Human Rights.  The State had also violated its duties to condemn all forms of violence against women under the Convention of Belem do Pará.   In finding these violations, the Court recognized that sterilization without consent annulled the right to freely make decisions regarding one’s body and reproductive capacity, resulting in loss of control over one’s most personal and intimate decisions, with lasting implications.

While generally agreeing with decisions about forced sterilization of Roma women issued by the European Court of Human Rights and the CEDAW Committee , the Inter-American Court’s decision is groundbreaking in that it uniquely highlighted the transcendent role of state obligations to respect and guarantee the right to non-discrimination in the context of women’s human rights violations. Thus, the Court recognized that the freedom and autonomy of women in sexual and reproductive health, generally, has historically been limited or annulled on the basis of negative and harmful gender stereotypes in which women have been socially and culturally viewed as having a predominantly reproductive function, and men viewed as decision-makers over women’s bodies. The Court recognized that non-consensual sterilization reflects this historically unequal relationship. The Court noted how the process of informed decision-making operated under the harmful stereotype that I.V., as a woman, was unable to make such decisions responsibly, leading to “an unjustified paternalistic medical intervention” restricting her autonomy and freedom.  The Court thus found a violation of the right to non-discrimination based on being a woman. It also stressed the particular vulnerability to forced sterilization facing certain women, based on other characteristics such as socioeconomic status, race, disability, or living with HIV.

The Court ordered both individual reparations and general measures, including ensuring education and training programs for healthcare and social security professionals regarding informed consent, gender-based violence, discrimination and stereotyping.  The Court’s unequivocal articulation of the right of women to make decisions concerning reproductive health, without being subjected to discrimination based on stereotypes or power relations, is important in this first case by an international or regional tribunal addressing this in the context of sterilization.  It could also apply to other reproductive health care contexts, such as the case for abortion.

Links for this case:

Caso I.V. v. Bolivia,   Sentencia de 30  Noviembre de 2016 (Excepciones Preliminares, Fondo, Reparaciones y Costas) Corte InterAmericana de Derechos Humanos  Decision in Spanish
Report on the Merits (2014) in English.

Amicus Curiae brief by Ciara O’Connell, Diana Guarnizo-Peralta and Cesar Rodriguez-Garavito:  in English.

Related decisions, alluded to above:
V.C. v. Slovakia, European Court of Human Rights (Decision 8 November 2011)
N.B. v. Slovakia,  European Court of Human Rights (Decision 12 June 2012)
VC and NB decisions, summarized by Andy Sprung
I.G. and others v. Slovakia  European Court of Human Rights (Decision 13 November 2012).
IG decision, summarized by Andy Sprung

UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
A.S. v. Hungary  (Decision online).
Summary  and documents from CRR.
Analysis by Simone Cusack, OP CEDAW blog.
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Compiled by the Coordinator of the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program, reprohealth*law at utoronto.ca.   For Program publications and resources, see our website, online here.     TO JOIN THIS BLOG: enter your email address in upper right corner of this webpage, then check your email to confirm the subscription.

Kenyan High Court: Anti-Counterfeit Act threatened access to generic medicines

Many thanks to Godfrey Kangaude, LL.M. (UFS), LL.M. (UCLA), an LL.D. candidate with the University of Pretoria and Executive Director of Nyale Institute for Sexual and Reproductive Health Governance in Malawi, for composing or editing dozens of analytical summaries of African court decisions for our forthcoming volume, Legal Grounds III: Reproductive and Sexual Rights in Sub-Saharan African Courts.   Earlier volumes in the series, published in 2005 and 2010 by the Center for Reproductive Rights, are freely available in print or electronic form.  Legal Grounds online.

Several recent African court decisions resolve legal issues that affect public health in many nations.  For instance, in Patricia Asero Ochieng and Two Others v. The Attorney General & Another [2012] (Petition No. 409 of 2009),  a High Court of Kenya (at Nairobi) asked the government to remove a fundamental ambiguity in new legislation, the Anti-Counterfeit Act, which jeopardized citizens’ constitutional right to health.

Godfrey Kangaude’s summary of the decision shows how the Act’s ambiguous definition of “counterfeit” threatened to restrict access to low-cost generic medicines for HIV AIDS .  As he concludes, “The Court found that the Act’s conflation of counterfeit and generic drugs creates a possibility for misinterpretation by officials, who might seize legitimate generic drugs, which would have a disastrous impact on persons who rely upon them, such as the petitioners. It emphasised that such ambiguity is not permissible, especially where any misinterpretation would impact on the constitutionally guaranteed rights of individuals.

“It further said that the protection of the rights of persons to health and access of medicines is more critical than the protection of intellectual property rights, so that the protection of the rights of the petitioners should take precedence. The Court buttressed its reasoning with General Comment No. 17 where the ESCR Committee [United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights] said that states parties should prevent the use of scientific progress for purposes contrary to human rights, for instance by excluding patentability where commercialisation of innovations would jeopardise enjoyment of human rights.” [2]

NOTES:
[1] Patricia Asero Ochieng and 2 Others v The Attorney General & Another [2012], Petition No. 409 of 2009 (High Court of Kenya at Nairobi) Decision online.
[2] Godfrey Kangaude, Case summary,  Patricia Asero Ochieng and 2 Others v The Attorney General & Another [2012], Case summary Godfrey Kangaude.

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Legal Grounds: Reproductive and Sexual Rights in African Commonwealth Courts   (up to 2008) Volumes I and II can be downloaded here.  Our update will be published early in 2017.  Decisions already identified for Volume III  are online here.  New case summaries are added every month.   If you can suggest other cases, please do!   How You Can Help.

 

 

 

REPROHEALTHLAW Updates

REPROHEALTHLAW Blog
February 11, 2016

SUBSCRIBE TO REPROHEALTHLAW:  To receive these updates monthly by email, enter your address in upper right corner of this webpage, then check your email to confirm the subscription.

LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Commission) adopted General Comment No. 3 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (General Comment No. 3 “The Right to Life”) in November 2015 in Banjul, The Gambia.  On the  AfricLAW blog,   Paul Ogendi mentions that the document “avoids controversial subjects like abortion, euthanasia and others, ”  but “. . . for the very first time in Africa stakeholders can rely on a truly African document developed by an African institution to enhance the protection of the right to life regionally and beyond.”

Democratic Party v. The Secretary General of the East African Community, Appeal No. 1 of 2014 (East African Court of Justice at Arusha, Appellate Division).  Decision online.  See:  “It’s official: The East African Court of Justice can now adjudicate human rights cases.”  by Ally Possi, LL.D. (Pretoria) on AfricLaw Blog.

Gambia:  Female circumcision banned 2 December 2015. National Assembly passed the Women’s (Amendment) Bill 2015  to prohibit female circumcision.  See: “Banning female circumcision in The Gambia through legislative change: The next steps,” by Satang Nabaneh, LL.M. (Pretoria), on AfricLaw Blog.

Peru agrees to compensate woman in KL v Peru (UN Human Rights Committee).  Hospital denied legal abortion to teen with anencephalic fetus due to unclear laws.  OHCHR press release.  Background from CRR.

Portugal: Lawmakers overturn presidential veto on gay rights, abortion law.  “…changes will waive mandatory counselling and medical payments for women seeking an abortion through the public health service.”  News from Portugal.

Sweden: District court rules midwife must perform abortions. News article.

CALLS
Reproductive Health Matters, Call for submissions on “Sexuality, sexual and reproductive health in later life” for November issue.   Submission system opens March 15, 2016.  Call for Papers

Feminist Legal Studies.  Submission process for prospective new authors.  Editorial by Ruth Fletcher.

“Abortion and Reproductive Justice- The Unfinished Revolution II”  International Conference, 2-3 June 2016, Ulster University, Belfast, Northern Ireland   Early birds – register now.  Draft programme.   Programme with Abstracts for each panel

PUBLICATIONS:

[abortion, Africa] Taking Women’s Rights Seriously: Using Human Rights to Require State Implementation of Domestic Abortion Laws in African Countries with Reference to Uganda, by Charles G Ngwena, Journal of African Law 60.1 (Feb 2016): 110-140.  Abstract and article.

[abortion, England]  “Risks, Reasons and Rights:  The European Convention on Human Rights and English Abortion Law,”  by Rosamund Scott, Medical Law Review 24 (2016): 1-33.   Open access online.

Abortion Law in Transnational Perspective:  Cases and Controversies, ed. Rebecca J. Cook, Joanna N. Erdman and Bernard M. Dickens, 16 chapters.  University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014, 482 pages.  Introduction by the editors. Table of Cases online  Table of Contents with chapter abstracts.  Purchase from U Penn Press.  Now in Spanish: ¡Ahora en español!   E-chapters now accessible in institutional libraries through Project Muse and JSTOR.

[conscience] “Conscience Wars in Transnational Perspective: Religious Liberty, Third-Party Harm, and Pluralism” by Douglas NeJaime and Reva Siegel.  In:  The Conscience Wars: Rethinking the Balance between Religion, Identity, and Equality, ed. Susanna Mancini & Michel Rosenfeld (Cambridge Univ. Press 2017 Forthcoming).  Chapter online.

[conscientious objection] “Tasmania’s Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) Act 2013: An analysis of conscientious objection to abortion and the ‘obligation to refer,’”  by Ronli Sifris,  Journal of Law and Medicine 22(2015): 900-914    Article online.

[conscientious objection]  “Recommended Reading” on Conscientious Objection has recently been added to our Conscientious Objection topic pages.

[HIV] “Advancing the sexual and reproductive health and human rights of women living with HIV: a review of UN, regional and national human rights norms and standards” by Rajat Khosla, Nuna Van Belle, Marleen Temmerman, online here,  in “Sexual and reproductive health and human rights of women living with HIV,” special issue of  Journal of the International AIDS Society 18 Supplement 5 (2015).  Special issue contents.

NEWS
[abortion, Africa]  The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights launches campaign to decriminalize abortion. Ipas announcement

[abortion, Brazil]  Surge of Zika Virus Has Brazilians Re-examining Strict Abortion Laws  New York Times article.   WHO statement.   Interview with Prof. Debora Diniz:  Huffington Post article.  Women on Web offers free medical abortions online here.

[abortion, including Ireland ] Dr. Ruth Fletcher discusses access to abortion in Ireland, law’s “reproductivity,” and feminist knowledge production.   Interview transcript.

[abortion, Ireland]  Parliamentary assembly considers abortion proposals for cases of rape or fetal abnormality.   Stormont abortion.

US-focused news, resources, and legal developments are available on Repro Rights Prof Blog.  View or subscribe.

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
Vienna Master of Arts in Human Rights, University of Vienna, Austria.  Apply by March 29, 2016. MA Human Rights details

Master of Health Science (MHSc) in Bioethics program for September 2016.  Apply by March 1, 2016.  MHSc Bioethics details .

JOBS:
Gender Justice and Women’s Rights Director,  Oxfam, Oxford, UK, apply by Feb. 19, 2016.  Oxfam job details.

Latin American Communications Manager, Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA)  Job details.

Program Officer Sexual Violence/Adolescent Girls’ Legal Defense Fund, Equality Now, Nairobi, Kenya – advice and legal research, litigation activities and administration of projects.  Equality Now job details

Sexual and Reproductive Rights Advocate Trainer, Amnesty USA,  Apply by Feb 12, 2016  Job details.

Senior Advisor III, Community Access, Ipas, Chapel Hill NC, USA.  Ipas job details.

Links to other employers in the field of Reproductive and Sexual Health Law are online here.

Compiled by the Coordinator of the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program, reprohealth*law at utoronto.ca .   For Program publications and resources, see our website, online here.  TO JOIN THIS BLOG: enter your email address in upper right corner of this webpage, then check your email to confirm the subscription.

REPROHEALTHLAW Updates: Decisions, News, Resources and Jobs

REPROHEALTHLAW
January 14, 2016

SUBSCRIBE TO REPROHEALTHLAW:  To receive these updates monthly by email, enter your address in upper right corner of this webpage, then check your email to confirm the subscription.

DECISIONS AND LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS:

Dominican Republic: Constitutional Court Repeals Abortion Law  (Dec.04, 2015 Despite progress made by the Dominican Republic in 2014 to amend the penal code to decriminalize abortion in limited circumstances, the Constitutional Tribunal of the Supreme Court this week declared this amendment unconstitutional. CRR Press Release. Colectiva Mujer y Salud press release.  Thomson-Reuters news report.

Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, Re Judicial Review [2015] NIQB 96, November 30, 2015  (High Court of Justice in Belfast):  Northern Ireland’s abortion law are incompatible with European Convention on Human Rights Article 8 because it does not allow exceptions for fatal fetal abnormalities, rape, or incest.   The  judgment also has implications for Commonwealth countries that retain the English 1861 Offences Against the Person Act.   Decision of November 30, 2015.  Official summary.  Reprohealthlaw blog    “Judge leaves Northern Ireland’s abortion laws to lawmakers.” New York Times     “Northern Ireland medics fear prison over abortion advice” Guardian article.

Sierra Leone – Update – Safe Abortion Act delayed.    President Koroma “engages” religious leaders, delaying legalization.  He plans to send the Act back to Parliament for review.  Government press release.  The International Campaign for Safe Abortion, a coalition of NGOs, is circulating an Ipas petition urging quick passage of the Safe Abortion Act into law:   Petition to the President of Sierra Leone.

[Uganda]: Centre for Health, Human Rights and Development [CEHURD] and Iga Daniel v Attorney General [2015], Constitutional Petition No. 64 of 2011 (Constitutional Court of Uganda at Kampala).  The decision deals in part with criminalization of sex with women with mental disabilities.  Dehumanizing language “idiot” or “imbecile” has been replaced  Decision online.

EVENTS

[abortion] 3rd International Congress on Women’s Health and Unsafe Abortion (IWAC 2016), Bangkok, Thailand, January 26-29, 2016.  Congress details.

Abortion Under Apartheid: Nationalism, Sexuality, and Women’s Reproductive Rights, book presented by Susanne Klausen (Oxford University Press, 2015) at Carleton University, Ottawa, on Friday January 29, from 12:30 to 2:30 in the History Lounge (Paterson Hall, room 433) book launch details.

[assisted reproduction, surrogacy]”Assisted Reproduction: Navigating the Criminalization of Commercial Surrogacy and Reacting to Unexpected Situations”  McGill Journal of Law and Health’s Annual Colloquium, February 6th, 2016, 10:00-14:00, Faculty of Law, New Chancellor Day Hall, Room 100 (Moot Court), McGill University, Montreal, Canada.  RSVP here.

[Northern Ireland]”Abortion and Reproductive Justice- The Unfinished Revolution II”  International Conference, Ulster University, Belfast, Northern Ireland,  June 2-3, 2016.  Conference details.

[abortion] “Improving women’s journeys through abortion,” 12th FIAPAC conference,  Lisbon, Portugal, Oct 13-15 2016  (Abstracts due April 15, Early registration by June 30) FIAPAC 2016 details.

PUBLICATIONS:

[abortion, anencephalic pregnancy, Brazil] The new Brazilian law journal Revista Publicum, based at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) released its first issue on December 30, 2015, 261 pages, in Portuguese.  It contains an interview with Supreme Court judge Luis Roberto Barroso, who discusses the legalization of abortion in cases of fetal anencephaly.   new Brazilian law journal.   Related Resource:  “Bringing abortion into the Brazilian Public Debate: Legal strategies for anencephalic pregnancy,” by Luis Roberto Barroso, abstracted here.

Abortion Law in Transnational Perspective:  Cases and Controversies, ed. Rebecca J. Cook, Joanna N. Erdman and Bernard M. Dickens, 16 chapters.  University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014, 482 pages.  Introduction by the editors. Table of Cases online  Table of Contents with chapter abstracts.  Purchase from U Penn Press.  Now in Spanish: ¡Ahora en español!

[abortion, Eastern Europe] “Mandatory Waiting Periods and Biased Counseling Requirements in Central and Eastern Europe: Restricting Access to Abortion, Undermining Human Rights, and Reinforcing Harmful Gender Stereotypes. (Center for Reproductive Rights, 2015)  abstract and 13-page fact sheets.

[abortion, Latin America] Guía de entrenamiento de causal violencia sexual: dirigida a personal de la salud y judicial   [Training guide on legal abortion on grounds of rape: for health care personnel and the judiciary] by Ana Cristina González Vélez y Viviana Bohorquez Monsalve (Bogotá: August 2013.    Full text in Spanish.

[abortion, Latin America] Interrupción legal del embarazo por la causal violación: enfoques de salud y jurídico [Legal abortion on grounds of rape: approaches from a health and legal perspective] por Paola Bergallo y Ana Cristina González Velez con las contribuciones del Grupo Foro Virtual Causal Violación y la Secretaría Técnica y Asistente:  Silvina Ramos con la colaboración de Agustina Ramón Michel   (Bogota, La Mesa por la Vida y la Salud de las Mujeres, 2012), 212 pages  PDF (3 mb) now online in Spanish

[abortion -Northern Ireland) “Human Rights and Making Change: Looking Backwards and Moving Forwards from the Northern Ireland High Court Decision on Abortion” December 10, 2015  by Dr Catherine O’Rourke, University College Cork, Faculty of Law, CCJHR blog post.

[abortion – Northern Ireland] “Submission of Evidence to the CEDAW Committee Optional Protocol: Inquiry Procedure,  by the Family Planning Association Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Women’s European Platform (NIWEP), and Alliance For Choice, February 11, 2015. Abstract and Full Text.

[abortion, South Africa]  Claiming and defending abortion rights in South Africa  by Cathi Albertyn,  Revista direito GV São Paulo 11(2) (JUL-DEZ 2015) 429-454.   Abstract and full text in English, abstract in Portuguese.  [Reivindicando e defendendo o direito ao aborto na África do Sul]

[adolescents] “Enhancing the Role of Health Professionals in the Advancement Of Adolescent Sexual Health and Rights in Africa” (2016), by Godfrey Kangaude. International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 132 (2016) 105–108.  online here.

Adolescents’ reproductive and sexual health – “Recommended Reading” – new section of our Adolescents topic page, online here.  It includes these recent papers:

—“The potential of the Expert Committee of the African Children’s Charter in advancing adolescent sexual health and rights in Africa,” by Ebenezer Durojaye,  (2013) 46:3 The Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa 385. Online here.

—“Righting the mismatch between law, policy and the sexual and reproductive health needs of young people in the Asia-Pacific Region” by J. Godwin, et al.  (2014) 22:44 Reproductive Health Matters 137. Article online.

—“Sexual health and rights of adolescents: A dialogue with sub Saharan Africa” by Godfrey Kangaude and Tiffany Banda, “ in Charles Ngwena and Ebenezer Durojaye, eds, Strengthening the protection of sexual and reproductive health through human rights in the African Region through human rights (Pretoria: University of Pretoria Law Press; 2014) 251.

—“Adolescent girls, HIV, and state obligations under the African Women’s Rights Protocol” by Karen Stefiszyn, in Charles Ngwena and Ebenezer Durojaye, eds, Strengthening the protection of sexual and reproductive health through human rights in the African Region through human rights (Pretoria: University of Pretoria Law Press; 2014) 155.

[obstetric violence] “Making Loud Bodies ‘Feminine’: A Feminist-Phenomenological Analysis of Obstetric Violence,” by Sara Cohen Shabot, Human Studies (published online Oct 9, 2015), pp 1-17.  Abstract and article.

“Patients’ Refusal of Recommended Treatment” (2015), by Bernard Dickens and Rebecca Cook. International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 131 (2015) 105–108.  Article and abstract online at SSRN.

US-focused news, resources, and legal developments are available on Repro Rights Prof Blog. View or subscribe.

NEWS

[abortion – Women on Web] “From Nagpur to Northern Ireland: pill pipeline helping women get round abortion laws” Guardian article.

European Union Divorces Itself from US Abortion Ban – 2016 Budget mandates EU funds, “not be subject to restrictions imposed by other partner donors” (i.e. US ban on use of funds for abortions)  Global Justice Centre comment.

JOB OPPORTUNITIES

[Canada, HIV/AIDS]  Policy Analyst/Researcher, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network.  Please send cover letter, resume and unedited writing sample to hiring {at} aidslaw.ca asap or before January 31, 2016.  Job details.

[United Kingdom] 2-year postdoctoral researcher needed to work with Prof. Sally Sheldon and  interdisciplinary research team on an AHRC-funded project, “The Abortion Act: a Biography.”   Kent Law School Kent University , Canterbury, Kent, United Kingdom.  Postdoctoral work details

Deputy Director, Public Health Program, Open Society, New York, USA.   Job details

Executive Director,  Asia Catalyst, New York, USA, which builds strong civil society and advances the right to health for marginalized groups in Asia  Job details

Links to other employers in the field of Reproductive and Sexual Health Law are online here

Compiled by the Coordinator of the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program, reprohealth*law at utoronto.ca For Program publications and resources, see our website, online here.
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Enhancing the Role of Health Professionals for Adolescent Sexual Health and Rights in Africa

Congratulations to Godfrey Kangaude, LL.M. (UFS), LL.M. (UCLA), Executive Director of the Malawi Law Society and Co-Director of Nyale Institute for Sexual and Reproductive Health Governance, whose recently published article is now available online:

Godfrey Kangaude, “Enhancing the Role of Health Professionals in the Advancement Of Adolescent Sexual Health and Rights in Africa” (2016). International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 132 (2016) 105–108.  online here.

Abstract:      To realize adolescents’ right to sexual health, state parties’ implementation of the obligations stipulated under Article 14 of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa should reflect the key principles of the rights of the child, articulated under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Welfare and Rights of the Child. However, societal norms that stigmatize adolescent sexual conduct constitute barriers to adolescents’ sexual health care, including their access to contraceptives to avoid unwanted pregnancies and protect themselves from sexually-transmitted infections and HIV. States should sensitize and train health professionals to provide sexual health services and care in accordance with the principles of the rights of the child, and create enabling laws and policies to facilitate their work with adolescents.

The full text of this article is online here.

For “Recommended Reading” about adolescent reproductive and sexual health law, with abstracts, see our updated information resources on Adolescents, online here.

More IJGO articles on Ethical and Legal Issues in Reproductive Health are online here.

Involuntary Sterilization of HIV-Positive Women as Intersectional Discrimination

Congratulations to Dr. Ronli Sifris of Monash University’s Faculty of Law, whose forthcoming article in Human Rights Quarterly is already available online through SSRN:

Involuntary Sterilization of HIV-Positive Women:
An Example of Intersectional Discrimination

forthcoming in (2015) 37(2) Human Rights Quarterly

This article considers the involuntary sterilization of HIV-positive women through the lens of intersectional discrimination. It begins by examining the international human right to be free from discrimination before considering involuntary sterilization as a form of discrimination against women. The article then draws on the example of the involuntary sterilization of HIV-positive women to make the point that, in order to truly understand the insidious nature of involuntary sterilization, it must be viewed through the prism of intersectional discrimination.

The full text is online through SSRN.

 

REPROHEALTHLAW: Updates, Resources and News

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LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS:

Ireland: Detailed guidelines on legal abortion released: Termination permitted when there is “real and substantial threat” to a woman’s life – News article July 2014.

Kenya:  High Court:  Police should investigate child sexual assaults.   C.K. (a child) (Through Ripples International As Her Guardian And Next Friend) & 11 Others  v.  Commissioner of Police/Inspector General of the National Police Service,  & 3 Others [2013] eKLR  Decision online.  Summary by law student.

Peru adopts National Guidelines, an important step to clarify rights to safe abortion services, in response to CEDAW “LC” decision of 2011.  News  July 2014.  Center for Reproductive Rights press release.

Zimbabwe Supreme Court finds State liable for preventing emergency contraception after rape but not termination of pregnancy.  Mildred Mapingure v Minister of Home Affairs, No. SC 22/14, 25 March 2014, Supreme Court of Zimbabwe.  Court  Decision online.    Summary by law student.

EVENTS:

“Overcoming Obstacles – Towards the effective implementation of the rights of women with disabilities in Africa, Conference at the Center for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, South Africa, Tues/Wed Nov 4-5, 2014.  Conference invitation.

FIGO World Congress 2015, Vancouver, BC,  Canada,  Oct 4-9, 2015 .  Congress 2015 website

RESOURCES:

[abortion, Brazil]  “Modern-Day Inquisition: A Report on Criminal Persecution, Exposure of Intimacy and Violation of Rights in Brazil,” by Alexandra Lopes da Costa, in: SUR – International Journal On Human Rights, 10.19, Dec. 2013. Abstract and article online.

Abortion Law in Transnational Perspective:  Cases and Controversies, ed. Rebecca J. Cook, Joanna N. Erdman and Bernard M. Dickens, 16 chapters.  Published by University of Pennsylvania Press, August 2014, 482 pages.
Introduction by the editors: online through SSRN.
Book reviewers should contact Gigi Lamm (glamm {a} pobox. upenn. edu)
Includes 16 chapters, Table of Legislation,
Table of Cases, also online here, with links to abortion-related decisions in English and/or other languages).
Table of Contents online here.
Purchase info: link to U Penn Press.

“Abortion Privacy/Abortion Secrecy – What’s the Difference and Why Does It Matter?””  video guest-lecture by US professor Carol Sanger at Birmingham Law School, UK, April 29, 2014, 53 minute lecture by Prof. Sanger.
Written comment by Prof. Máiréad Enright on the Human Rights in Ireland blog, June 6, 2014.  Written comment by Prof. Enright

[adolescents – El Salvador, Senegal and United Kingdom]  Over-protected and under-served: Legal barriers to young people’s access to sexual and reproductive health services.  Case studies 32-60 pages each.

[Canada]  “Choice, Interrupted: Travel and Inequality of Access to Abortion Services Since the 1960s,” Christabelle Sethna, Beth Palmer, Katrina Ackerman, and Nancy Janovicek, Labour/Le Travail, 71 (Spring 2013), 29-48.  Abstract and article online.

[Colombia]  Case Study on Colombia: Judicial Standards on Abortion to Advance the Agenda of the Cairo Programme of Action, by Ana Cristina González Vélez and Viviana Bohórquez Monsalve, SUR – International Journal On Human Rights, v. 10, n. 19, Dec. 2013.  Abstract and article online.

[Colombia]  “Movement and Counter-Movement: A History of Abortion Law Reform and Backlash in Colombia, 2006-2014” by Alba Ruibal,  (November 20, 2014). Reproductive Health Matters, Vol. 22, No. 44, November 2014, Forthcoming. Abstract online.

[Conscientious objection in healthcare – Colombia Constitutional Court’s definition of 2009]
—-T388/2009:  “Conscientious Objection And Abortion. A Global Perspective On The Colombian Experience,”   English, 198 pages    Spanish, 210 pages    (Joint publication by Women’s Link Worldwide and the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law.

—“Striking a Balance: Conscientious Objection and Reproductive Health Care from the Colombian Perspective,”  by Luisa Cabal, Monica Arango Olaya, Valentina Montoya Robledo,  Health and Human Rights Dec.  2014, 16/2.  Special issue on Health Rights Litigation.   Abstract and article online.

—see also:  “Healthcare responsibilities and Conscientious Objection” by R. J. Cook, M. Arango Olaya and B.M. Dickens,  International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 104 (2009): 249-252. English original.   Spanish translation.  Other “Ethical and Legal Issues in Reproductive Health”

[emergency contraception, Chile] “Morning-After Decisions: Legal Mobilization against Emergency Contraception in Chile,” by Fernando Muñoz León,  Michigan Journal of Gender and Law 21(2014):123-175.  Article online.

Health and Human Rights Resource Guide – updated 5th edition, from Harvard University. Searchable, available in English, Spanish and Georgian.  Resource Guide.

Health & Human Rights Syllabi Database has moved to USC:  Overview online.

[Late-stage clinical trials]  “Ethical issues for late-stage trials of multipurpose prevention technologies for HIV and pregnancy,” by Jessica A. Cohen, Anna C. Mastroianni and Ruth Macklin,  International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 127 (2014) 221–224.  Abstract and article online.

[Sexual and Gender-based Crimes]:  Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda of International Criminal Court publishes comprehensive Policy Paper.  More info and download.

[South Africa] “The Nasciturus Non-Fiction – The Libby Gonen Story – Contemporary Reflections on the Status of Nascitural Personhood in South African Law, by Marc Schulman (March 31, 2014 working paper).  Abstract and article online. 

US-focused news, resources, and legal developments are available on Repro Rights Prof Blog. View or subscribe.

NEWS:

Czech Republic: Controversial abortion pill (RU-486) goes on sale in Czech pharmacies.  English edition and Czech radio report.

Northern Ireland:  Public consultation on proposal to allow abortion for fetus with lethal abnormality  Newspaper article

JOBS / INTERNSHIPS

Global Legal Program 2015 Summer Internship at New York office- apply as soon as possible, before Nov 28, 2014 applications accepted on rolling basis.  Global internship details.

Legal Adviser for Latin America and the Caribbean, Bogota Colombia, Legal adviser LAC details.

US Federal Policy Law Student Intern, Center for Reproductive Rights, New York, USA.   Apply for Spring 2015 by Oct. 29, 2014  US internship details

Links to other employers in the field of Reproductive and Sexual Health Law are online here http://www.law.utoronto.ca/documents/reprohealth/joblinks.doc

Compiled by the Coordinator of the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program, reprohealth*law at utoronto .ca .  For Program publications and resources, see our website, online here. TO JOIN THIS BLOG: enter your email address in upper right corner of this webpage, then check your email to confirm the subscription.