Gender & Sexuality Justice

Amnesty International USA fights for women’s rights, LGBTQI+ rights, and the rights of all to enjoy their sexual and reproductive rights.

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Last updated on July 14, 2023

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  • North Carolina: Abortion Is A Human Right

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  • STOP THE ABORTION BANS AND PROTECT THE RIGHT TO ABORTION CARE

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  • URGE CONGRESS TO PROTECT NATIVE WOMEN FROM VIOLENCE

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  • ENSURE NATIVE WOMEN’S EQUAL ACCESS TO CARE AFTER SEXUAL ASSAULT

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  • It’s Long Past Time: End Violence Against Women!

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  • North Carolina: Abortion Is A Human Right

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  • Act Now: Trans Rights Are Human Rights

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  • Stop The Abortion Bans And Protect The Right To Abortion Care

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  • Tell Facebook: Stop Censoring Reproductive Rights Information

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What’s the Problem?

All people should be able to enjoy the full range of human rights, without exception.  

However, every day, across the globe, people face discrimination and violence because of their sex, gender, or sexuality, or their perceived sex, gender, or sexuality.  

We all have the right to make decisions about our own health, body, sexuality, and reproductive life, without fear, coercion, violence, or discrimination. But, people’s freedom to make these decisions and their ability to access their rights are often controlled by the state, medical professionals, or even their own families.

Women and girls around the world routinely face unequal treatment and violence. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and other gender-non-conforming people face stigma and criminalization. 

We all have the right to make decisions about who we are and what we want to do with our lives. Yet all over the world, many are persecuted for making their own choices and many more are prevented from making any choices at all.

Discrimination against women and LGBTQI+ people and the denial of sexual and reproductive rights are rooted in unequal power relationships and the attempt to control people’s bodies and choices.

Why Is It An Issue?

Governments have a legal obligation to protect people from discrimination and violence. 

When governments fail to protect people, Amnesty International is there helping to ensure that all people can live in dignity, safety, and freedom. 

People have very different experiences based on their sex, gender, or sexual orientation– and the fact is that women, girls, and LGBTQ+ people often face discrimination that means they do not have equal access to their rights. Our work encompasses a range of human rights as they relate to the rights of women and girls, LGBTQ+ people, and sexual and reproductive rights for all.

What is the solution?

In order for all of us to participate in our communities and enjoy human rights, we need the ability to live free from discrimination and with full access to our sexual and reproductive rights– and to make decisions about our lives, bodies, and identities without fear.

Women’s rights are human rights, yet women and girls around the world experience violence and discrimination throughout their lifetimes. Violence and discrimination against women and girls stem from social norms that value them less than men and boys and prevent women and girls from enjoying their human rights. While such violence and discrimination impact all women and girls, intersectional factors, such as educational or economic status, race, caste, ethnic origin, sexual identity, age and abilities exacerbate the challenges many women face.

Women’s Rights



Being able to make our own decisions about our health, body and sexual life is a human right. Whoever you are, wherever you live, you have the right to make choices about your body, health, and sexual life without fear, violence, or discrimination. A backlash against sexual and reproductive rights is brewing at home and around the world as governments seek to restrict our choices and criminalize our identities.​

Sexual & Reproductive Rights



Around the world, people are under attack for who they are. People who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex (LGBTQI) face threats to their lives in many countries across the globe. LGBTQI+ people face discrimination and violence from both state and non-state actors. LGBTQI+ people globally should be able to live lives of dignity and fully enjoy all their human rights, including their right to life, freedom and safety.

LGBTQI+ Rights



LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – 2023/03/18: Protesters hold Woman Life Freedom placards in support of freedom in Iran during the demonstration near BBC headquarters. Thousands of people marched through Central London in support of refugees and in protest against racism and the UK Government’s Illegal Migration Bill. (Photo by Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Press Release

Iran: One Year After Uprising, International Community Must Combat Impunity for Brutal Crackdown

September 13, 2023 – Iran demonstrations

SIMFEROPOL, CRIMEA – AUGUST 17: People walk by fresh graffiti depicting Vladimir Putin in Simferopol on August 17, 2015 in Simferopol, Crimea. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill in March 2014 to annex the Crimean peninsula but Ukraine and most of the international community do not recognize its annexation. (Photo by Alexander Aksakov/Getty Images)

Update

Amnesty International USA urges the State Department to protect human rights in Ukraine as the risk of further conflict with Russia grows

February 16, 2022 – Government Relations

Opposition activists attend a rally against efforts to stop opposition candidates to register for the elections to the Moscow City Duma outside the headquarters of a local election commission in central Moscow on July 14, 2019. – Some 2,000 people protested in central Moscow on July 14, 2019 as opposition candidates accused the city authorities of seeking to remove them from the ballot in elections for the city legislature. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP) (Photo credit should read KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images)

Press Release

To Protect Human Rights in Russia, Newly Elected MPs Must Repeal Repressive Laws

September 19, 2021 – Freedom of Expression