On 14 February, Amnesty International will launch a new campaign to highlight the barriers faced by young people worldwide – especially young women and girls – when trying to access basic health services and information about their sexual and reproductive rights.
“My body, my rights” will launch with a joint civil society petition developed with RESURJ and Gestos, amongst other organizations from around the globe representing women’s and young people’s rights.
The campaign aims to gather support from hundreds of thousands of people to ask world leaders to do more to protect sexual and reproductive rights, as they prepare for a UN General Assembly Special Session in 2014. UN member states will meet to review progress on the implementation of the Programme of Action adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994.
Activists in nearly 40 countries will be taking part in actions as part of the campaign.
In Peru, Amnesty International activists will perform street theatre; Belgian campaigners will distribute information in railway stations and encourage young people to take part in an SMS action; while in Nepal, young people from all over the country will organize a three-day youth fair.
Information available to media includes:
Feature story looking at some of the challenges faced by women and girls when trying to access health services and information about their sexual and reproductive rights.
Facts and figures looking at the state of sexual and reproductive rights around the world – particularly amongst young people.
Selection of testimonies gathered by Amnesty International.
Photos from Burkina Faso, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Peru, Sierra Leone and the USA.
Briefing “Realizing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. A Human Rights Framework’” which provides a concise human rights analysis of the achievements, gaps and challenges related to the implementation of sexual and reproductive health standards set out in the International Conference on Population and Development’s Programme of Action, available here: https://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ACT35/006/2012/en
Amnesty International experts are available for interviews in English and Spanish.
For more information or to organize an interview, please contact: Josefina Salomon, +44 207 413 5562, [email protected]