Human Rights and Adolescent Reproductive Health (ARH)

1
Human Rights and Adolescent Reproductive Health
(ARH)

• By the Human Rights and Adolescent RH Working
  Groups of the POLICY Project 2002

2

• Adolescents are defined by POLICY as people
  between the ages of 10 and 24 years old.

3
Why should we care about adolescents right to
health?

• Adolescents are making decisions about sex and
  family planning, AND
• Due to their risk-taking behaviors, lack of
  adequate reproductive health education, and/or
  poor access to services, adolescents are a
  population at high risk for complicated pregnancy
  and STIs (Sexually Transmitted Infections),
  including HIV/AIDS.
• Adolescents have the right to participate, and
  their participation in program development makes
  for more effective programs!

4
Statistics say..

• In sub-Saharan Africa, 83 of women have had
  first sexual intercourse by age 20. For 38 of
  them, this happened before marriage.
  Additionally, 55 of women had had their first
  child by age 20.
• Into A New World, The Alan Guttmacher Institute
  (1998)
• An estimated 11.8 million young people worldwide
  between ages 15 24 are living with HIV/AIDS.
• Young People and HIV/AIDS, UNICEF (2002)
• 6,500 young people are infected with HIV daily,
  or at the rate of 5 per minute.

• Health-Asia HIV/AIDS Messages Miss the
  Youth. Candida Ng, Inter Press Service
  (2001)

5
What RH rights do adolescents have?

• Right to non-discrimination
• Right to participation (association)
• Right to the highest attainable standard of
  physical and mental health
• Right to equitable resource allocation
• Right to information and education

All of which should be reflected in policies,
plans, and guidelines
6
There is a broad-based consensus on the RH rights
of adolescents

• Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), 1990
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
  Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), 1979
• International Covenant on Economic, Social and
  Cultural Rights (ICESCR), 2000
• The ICPD Cairo Programme of Action, 1994

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How does the POLICY Project use human rights to
strengthen adolescents
reproductive health?
8
POLICY Jamaica

• Recognizes adolescents as a special target group
  (MOH strategic framework for RH 2000-2005)
• Collaborates with Youth.now, the National Center
  for Youth Development, and other CAs to improve
  ARH policy environment and make adolescents a key
  target group
• Provides relevant info for National Youth Policy
• Permits informed advocacy for increased quality
  of care for adolescents

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POLICY Jamaica

• Supports legal, regulatory and policy analysis to
  demonstrate that minors under age 16 are often
  denied services
• Result Policy working group in the MOH,
  spearheaded by the Executive director of the
  National Family Planning Board, drafts guidelines
  for the provision of contraceptives to minors
  (2000-2002)

10
POLICY Kenya

• Strengthens capacity to identify, prioritize, and
  advocate for RH/HIV/AIDS issues for adolescents
  through youth leader workshops with Kenya AIDS
  NGO Consortium (KANCO)
• Ensures adolescents input to the policies that
  affect their health
• Limits discrimination against adolescents

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POLICY Nigeria

• Through a core package, developing an advocacy
  strategy for Young Adult Reproductive Health
  (YARH) in Edo State, Nigeria
• Formed an advocacy network of organizations with
  adolescent representation
• Conducted advocacy training of network members,
  providing capacity building to adolescent members

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How you can use a Human Rights approach to
improve ARH

• Analyze country-specific data on ARH,
• Survey customs and traditions to understand
  adolescent and adult views of ARH,
• Review national laws on ARH,
• Compare laws and social norms to international
  instruments and best practices that define ARH
  rights,
• Use human rights arguments to form/propose
  comprehensive, sustainable national health
  policies,
• Advocate for adoption of these policies through
  capacity building, community involvement, and
  activism.

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Examples of what you can do

• Use human rights arguments to advocate for
  implementing a comprehensive reproductive health
  curriculum in schools.
• Make provisions for specific adolescent needs
  where contraceptives are made available to the
  public.
• Recognize adolescents right to participation by
  collaborating with them to create HIV/AIDS,
  sexual-violence, gender discrimination prevention
  programs.

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Examples of what you can do

• In the absence of a national policy addressing
  ARH, collaborate with others in the field to
  build one based on international rights law and
  social justice then advocate for its adoption.
• If your area has ARH policies or programs in
  place, use ICPD guidelines and ICESCR provisions
  to evaluate their impact on youth.