Women shocked after sexual health rights omitted from UN Commission on the Status of Women key declaration

The omission of sexual and reproductive health rights from the key declaration of the 69th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York has left women from various organizations in Fiji and abroad shocked.

Pacific delegate and women’s advocate Noelene Nabulivou from Fiji told BenarNews it’s shocking thirty years after Beijing, not one mention of sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Nabulivou says the core of gender justice and human rights lies in the ability to make substantive decisions over one’s body, health, and sexual decision-making.

She says it is a common sentiment among the approximately 100 Pacific participants at the largest annual gathering on women’s rights that attracts thousands of delegates from around the world.

Fiji-based DIVA for Equality representative Viva Tatawaqa says this is a major omission, especially given the current conditions in several states and the wider push-back and regression on women’s human rights.

Tatawaqa says that sexual and reproductive health and rights was included in the second version of the political declaration but was later removed due to a lack of consensus and trade-offs in language.

She says they will not let everyone ignore this omission and the reason given for the trade-off.

Pacific Women Mediators Network coordinator Sharon Bhagwan Rolls says the inclusion of climate justice and the women, peace, and security agenda in the Beijing+30 Action Plan is a reminder of the inter sectional and inter generational work that has continued.

Rolls says this work has been forged through women-led networks and coalitions like the Pacific Women Mediators Network and the Pacific Island Feminist Alliance for Climate Justice, which align with the Blue Pacific Strategy and the Revitalized Pacific Leaders Gender Equality Declaration.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in the general assembly hall at the 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York says the poison of patriarchy is back, and it is back with a vengeance, slamming the brakes on action, tearing up progress, and mutating into new and dangerous forms without singling out any countries or individuals.

Guterres says the masters of misogyny are gaining strength denouncing the bile women face online.

He says the current rate would take 137 years to lift all women out of poverty, calling on all nations to commit to the promise of Beijing.

Guterres stresses the text comes amid mounting threats to sexual and reproductive rights, including increased efforts, led by conservative groups, to roll back on access to contraception, abortion, comprehensive sexuality education, and gender-affirming care across the world, adding the termination of USAID had compounded the situation.

He says the U.N. Population Fund confirmed in February the U.S., the U.N.’s biggest donor, had cut US$377 million in funding for reproductive and sexual health programs and warned of devastating impacts.