Sexual and Reproductive Rights

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One of the most important fronts in the struggle for women's human rights is around sexual and reproductive autonomy, and the coercive and often violent ways in which that autonomy is suppressed.

Much of the gender-based violence that men inflict on women is aimed at restricting and controlling their sexuality and reproductive capacity: from so-called "honor killings" of women who've had sex outside marriage, to marital rape or the targeting of pregnant women of the "enemy" camp as a strategy of conflict. These and other sexual and reproductive rights violations are happening worldwide on a massive scale and are clearly proscribed under international law. Yet they are amongst the most challenging issues for human rights defenders to work on.

One key reason is the widespread deference to cultural and religious values when it comes to issues of sexuality and women's control over their reproductive choices. What is considered socially acceptable in terms of sexual relations and family planning, it is argued, depends to such a varying degree on cultural and religious attitudes in each context that an affirmative right to sexual and reproductive autonomy cannot be asserted as a universal right.

Such arguments are often based on a fixed and stereotypical view of "culture" or "tradition," which denies the variety and heterogeneity of opinion that can exist within one faith or cultural context. They also overlook the fact that societies of all faiths and none have targeted women's sexuality and reproductive autonomy as a key means of keeping them socially subordinate, and have turned a blind eye even to the most violent manifestations of this form of discrimination.

Human rights defenders working on sexual and reproductive rights issues at the domestic level have often faced fierce resistance, not only from officialdom, but from powerful political or religious institutions, the media or even from other sectors of the human rights movement.

As well as seeking to end police brutality, gender-based violence and other abuses, sexual and reproductive rights defenders are also affirming an emancipatory vision of human rights, one which sees bodily and sexual integrity as integral to human flourishing, well-being and dignity as freedom of conscience or belief. Indeed, autonomy in one's intimate, affective and family life is itself an issue of conscience.

Amnesty International supports women in claiming their rights. The lived experience of girls and women including of those with whom we work directly, shows how central are sexual and reproductive rights to their freedoms including their right to be free from gender-based violence and as a remedy where they have been subjected to such violence.

Fact Sheets

Press Releases

June 14, 2007

Downloadable Resources (PDF format)

Contact: srrinfo@aiusa.org