A rights based approach:
Promoting sexual rights of young
people
Doortje Braeken
Senior Adviser
Adolescents/Youth
IPPF
London
ASRH Seminar 2005 Tokyo
Rights based approach
• Asks different questions
• Focuses on the process and not only the
outcome
• Shifts the focus and role of us young people
in programs from recipients to actors
• Shifts the focus from morality to social justice.
• A means of ensuring accountability
ASRH Seminar 2005 Tokyo
Rights based approach versus
public health approach
• Prescribing behaviour versus valuing personal
choices
• Individual versus social change
• Information versus addressing power and inequity
• IEC versus real activism
• Participation as a means- participation as an end
• Empowerment as something to be acquired
versus empowerment as intrinsic/ a given
ASRH Seminar 2005 Tokyo
Rights based approach
• ‘ .. A means of describing situations not in terms
of human needs, or areas of development, but in
terms of obligation to respond to the right of
individuals. This empowers people to demand
justice as a right and not as charity… and implies
that direct involvement in people in decisions in
relation to their own development.’
Mary Robinson.1999
ASRH Seminar 2005 Tokyo
The Rights-based Approach for
young people
Promotes
• Positions young people as sexual beings
• Self-reliance and responsibility
• Empowerment
• Participation
• Challenging harmful practices
• It looks at the real needs of young people living
with HIV
ASRH Seminar 2005 Tokyo
Rights based programs include efforts to:
• Address violence and coercion and restriction of
choices of young people
• Encourage young people to demand their rights
• Incorporate communication and behaviour change
interventions that encourage equitable
partnerships
• Make programs accountable when rights are
violated
based on J. Jacobson
ASRH Seminar 2005 Tokyo
Rights and responsibilities
• This issue always comes up,
especially when it is about young
people’s rights
• What is responsibility and who
determines what it is?
ASRH Seminar 2005 Tokyo
Policy implications
• Promoting self-reliance/
independence
• Accept young people as sexual
beings
• Participation
ASRH Seminar 2005 Tokyo
Program implications
• Messages
• Focusing on assets instead of fixing problems
• Elements:
– Individual as a sexual being
– Sexual culture: moralities
– Context of sexual behaviour
– Risk prevention
• Homogeneous versus diversity
• Violation of sexual rights:
– Victims/offenders
ASRH Seminar 2005 Tokyo
Programme Implementation
All approaches mean for program implementers:
openly communicate sexuality with young
people as real partners
This means we have to:
• gain knowledge on sexuality & young people
• have positive attitudes
• learn to cope with social/cultural norms
• get skills to communicate sexuality in an open,
confidential, non-judgmental
ASRH Seminar 2005 Tokyo
What can we do?
Personal
You
Structural Cultural
ASRH Seminar 2005 Tokyo
Personal level
Personal biases
Professional ethics
Communication – Language
Know the rights, where to get support and
what to do when these rights are violated
ASRH Seminar 2005 Tokyo
Cultural level
Beliefs, values and attitudes
Organisational culture – is your organisation
prejudiced with regard to young people?
ASRH Seminar 2005 Tokyo
Structural
Address structural inequalities
that hinder access to information and services
Breading ground for stigma and discrimination
Policies and legal barriers
Inconsistencies
ASRH Seminar 2005 Tokyo
Conclusions
criteria for programs:
Push the boundaries of addressing sexuality
and sexual enjoyment
Have a clear philosophy
Recognize sexual rights
Recognize strengths of young people
Recognize the social context
Provide skills beyond problem reduction
ASRH Seminar 2005 Tokyo
Our challenge
Trust Young
People!!!!!
ASRH Seminar 2005 Tokyo
Dealing With Barriers
GOAL
SOLUTIONS! Obstacles
Obstacles
STEPS FORWARD
AND STEPS
BACKWARDS
Obstacles
Obstacles
ASRH Seminar 2005 Tokyo