International Women's Year ( IWY ) was the name given to 1975 by the United Nations . Since that year March 8 has been celebrated as International Women's Day , and the United Nations Decade for Women , from 1976 to 1985, was also established.
133-414: Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health that vary amongst countries around the world. The World Health Organization defines reproductive rights as follows: Reproductive rights rest on the recognition of the basic right of all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children and to have
266-570: A broad coalition of NGOs, civil servants, and experts working in international organizations have been promoting a reinterpretation of those instruments to link the realization of the already internationally recognized human rights with the realization of reproductive rights. An example of this linkage is provided by the 1994 Cairo Programme of Action: Reproductive rights embrace certain human rights that are already recognized in national laws, international human rights documents and other relevant United Nations consensus documents. These rights rest on
399-416: A social contract , positive law , and government – and thus legal rights – in the form of classical republicanism . Conversely, the concept of natural rights is used by others to challenge the legitimacy of all such establishments. The idea of human rights derives from theories of natural rights. Those rejecting a distinction between human rights and natural rights view human rights as the successor that
532-526: A "state of liberty" and perfect freedom, but "not a state of license". It also informed his conception of social contract . Although he does not blatantly state it, his position implies that even in light of our unique characteristics we should not be treated differently by our neighbors or our rulers. "Locke is arguing that there is no natural characteristic sufficient to distinguish one person from another... of, course there are plenty of natural differences between us" (Haworth 103). What Haworth takes from Locke
665-651: A Dream: The Story of Hadassah (1997), by Marlin Levin, " Bernice [Tannenbaum] asked [President Ronald] Reagan to publicly repudiate the U.N. resolution. He agreed and promised that the U.S. delegation would walk out of Nairobi if the Zionism-equals-racism resolution was included in the final conference declaration." Tannenbaum also convinced the United States Senate to condemn the conference resolution and demand its withdrawal. She also personally flew to Kenya with
798-585: A condition, every man has the right to every thing; even to one another's body. And therefore, as long as this natural Right of every man to every thing endureth, there can be no security to any man... of living out the time, which Nature ordinarily allow men to live." ( Leviathan . 1, XIV) This would lead inevitably to a situation known as the " war of all against all ", in which human beings kill, steal and enslave others to stay alive, and due to their natural lust for "Gain", "Safety" and "Reputation". Hobbes reasoned that this world of chaos created by unlimited rights
931-677: A draft of the Senate resolution, where Maureen Reagan , President Reagan's daughter and the head of the American delegation, repeated the president's promise to withdraw from the conference if the resolution was included in the final conference delegation. Kenya then brokered a compromise in which Zionism was omitted from the final conference report. A conference on 'Women and Politics' was held in September, attended by 700 women. The events of IWY in Canada as
1064-463: A furor of opposition so in 1777 he wrote another tract that clarified his position and again restated the de facto basis for the argument that the "liberty of men as agents is that power of self-determination which all agents, as such, possess." In Intellectual Origins of American Radicalism , Staughton Lynd pulled together these themes and related them to the slavery debate: Then it turned out to make considerable difference whether one said slavery
1197-520: A government derives its authority. Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) included a discussion of natural rights in his moral and political philosophy . Hobbes' conception of natural rights extended from his conception of man in a "state of nature". Thus he argued that the essential natural (human) right was "to use his own power, as he will himself, for the preservation of his own Nature; that is to say, of his own Life; and consequently, of doing any thing, which in his own judgement, and Reason, he shall conceive to be
1330-454: A human universal knowledge. Thus, it views enacted laws that contradict such universal knowledge as unjust and illegitimate, but some jusnaturalists might attribute the source of natural law to a natural order instead of a divine mandate. The idea that certain rights are natural or inalienable also has a history dating back at least to the Stoics of late Antiquity , through Catholic law of
1463-611: A kind of divine blessing that they must earn by moral behavior. The 40 Principal Doctrines of the Epicureans taught that "in order to obtain protection from other men, any means for attaining this end is a natural good" (PD 6). They believed in a contractarian ethics where mortals agree to not harm or be harmed, and the rules that govern their agreements are not absolute (PD 33), but must change with circumstances (PD 37–38). The Epicurean doctrines imply that humans in their natural state enjoy personal sovereignty and that they must consent to
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#17330859298011596-686: A natural rights case at the Council of Constance (1414–1418), led by Paulus Vladimiri , rector of the Jagiellonian University . He challenged legality of the Teutonic Order 's crusade against Lithuania , arguing that the Order could only wage a defensive war if pagans violated the natural rights of the Christians. Vladimiri further stipulated that infidels had rights which had to be respected, and neither
1729-444: A natural rights conception of human rights, the two terms may not be synonymous. The concept of natural rights is not universally accepted, partly due to its religious associations and perceived incoherence. Some philosophers argue that natural rights do not exist and that legal rights are the only rights; for instance, Jeremy Bentham called natural rights "simple nonsense". Iusnaturalism , particularly, holds that legal norms follow
1862-466: A people would supposedly alienate their right of self-government to a sovereign as, for example, in Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes . According to Ernst Cassirer , There is, at least, one right that cannot be ceded or abandoned: the right to personality...They charged the great logician [Hobbes] with a contradiction in terms. If a man could give up his personality he would cease being a moral being. ... There
1995-530: A piece of property, can in fact be transferred from one person to another. According to Hegel, the same would not apply to those aspects that make one a person: The right to what is in essence inalienable is imprescriptible, since the act whereby I take possession of my personality, of my substantive essence, and make myself a responsible being, capable of possessing rights and with a moral and religious life, takes away from these characteristics of mine just that externality which alone made them capable of passing into
2128-447: A result of the international focus on Women in 1975, a number of institutions were established: The IWY also launched the "dove" emblem used by the IWY, CEDAW, and UNIFIL. A stylized dove intersected by a female symbol and an equal sign, the emblem was donated by then 27-year-old New York City advertising company graphic designer Valerie Pettis. It remains the official symbol of UN Women and
2261-438: A section that denounced gender-based violence and included forced sterilization as a human rights violation. However, the international community at large has not confirmed that women have a right to reproductive healthcare and in ensuing years since the 1995 conference, countries have proposed language to weaken reproductive and sexual rights. This conference also referenced for the first time indigenous rights and women's rights at
2394-646: A subset of sexual and reproductive health and rights . In 1945, the United Nations Charter included the obligation "to promote... universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without discrimination as to race, sex, language, or religion". However, the Charter did not define these rights. Three years later, the UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR),
2527-561: A weak evidence base. The report recommends a range of guiding principles to prevent compulsory sterilization in medical treatment, including ensuring patient autonomy in decision-making, ensuring non-discrimination, accountability and access to remedies. In many jurisdictions minors require parental consent or parental notification in order to access various reproductive services, such as contraception, abortion, gynecological consultations, testing for STIs etc. The requirement that minors have parental consent/notification for testing for HIV/AIDS
2660-572: A whole raised awareness with Canadian women as well as the general public on a wide range of women's issues and accomplishments. It spurred the creation of the Ontario Women and the Law Association and the Service, Office and Retail Workers’ Union of Canada (SORWUC) and offered funding for many to participate in educational and artistic endeavors aimed at presenting women's perspectives. One such effort
2793-549: Is also debate as to whether all rights are either natural or legal. Fourth president of the United States James Madison , while representing Virginia in the House of Representatives, believed that there are rights, such as trial by jury , that are social rights , arising neither from natural law nor from positive law (which are the basis of natural and legal rights respectively) but from the social contract from which
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#17330859298012926-623: Is another related issue. Intersex, in humans and other animals , is a variation in sex characteristics including chromosomes , gonads , or genitals that do not allow an individual to be distinctly identified as male or female. Such variation may involve genital ambiguity, and combinations of chromosomal genotype and sexual phenotype other than XY-male and XX-female. Intersex persons are often subjected to involuntary "sex normalizing" surgical and hormonal treatments in infancy and childhood, often also including sterilization. UN agencies have begun to take note. On 1 February 2013, Juan E Mendés,
3059-400: Is based upon the " self-evident " truth that "all men are ... endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights". Likewise, different philosophers and statesmen have designed different lists of what they believe to be natural rights; almost all include the right to life and liberty as the two highest priorities. H. L. A. Hart argued that if there are any rights at all, there must be
3192-765: Is discussed in Battles Over Abortion and Reproductive Rights (2017) by Suzanne Staggenborg and Marie B. Skoczylas. They define this concept as detailed below. Reproductive Justice: interrelationships among issues, linking reproductive health and rights to other social issues (broader human rights framework) Men's reproductive rights have been claimed by various organizations, both for issues of reproductive health, and other rights related to sexual reproduction. Three international issues in men's reproductive health are sexually transmitted infections , cancer , and exposure to toxins . Recently men's reproductive right with regards to paternity have become subject of debate in
3325-878: Is especially controversial as it can cause delayed diagnosis and treatment. Balancing minors' rights versus parental rights is considered an ethical problem in medicine and law, and there have been many court cases on this issue in the US. An important concept recognized since 1989 by the Convention on the Rights of the Child is that of the evolving capacities of a minor , namely that minors should, in accordance with their maturity and level of understanding, be involved in decisions that affect them. Youth are often denied equal access to reproductive health services because health workers view adolescent sexual activity as unacceptable, or see sex education as
3458-490: Is essential not only to achieve sustainable development but also to ensure that this new framework speaks to the needs and aspirations of people around the world and leads to realisation of their health and human rights. However, not all states have accepted the inclusion of reproductive rights in the body of internationally recognized human rights. At the Cairo Conference, several states made formal reservations either to
3591-465: Is from the perspective of poor women that this right can best be understood and affirmed. Women know that childbearing is a social, not a purely personal, phenomenon; nor do we deny that world population trends are likely to exert considerable pressure on resources and institutions by the end of this century. But our bodies have become a pawn in the struggles among states, religions, male heads of households, and private corporations. Programs that do not take
3724-564: Is in the changed conception of law that in part resulted from it." Cicero argues in De Legibus that "we are born for Justice, and that right is based, not upon opinions, but upon Nature." One of the first Western thinkers to develop the contemporary idea of natural rights was French theologian Jean Gerson , whose 1402 treatise De Vita Spirituali Animae is considered one of the first attempts to develop what would come to be called modern natural rights theory. The Polish-Lithuanian union made
3857-491: Is no pactum subjectionis , no act of submission by which man can give up the state of free agent and enslave himself. For by such an act of renunciation he would give up that very character which constitutes his nature and essence: he would lose his humanity. These themes converged in the debate about American independence. While Jefferson was writing the Declaration of Independence, Welsh nonconformist Richard Price sided with
3990-524: Is not dependent on natural law , natural theology , or Christian theological doctrine . Natural rights, in particular, are considered beyond the authority of any government or international body to dismiss. The 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights is an important legal instrument enshrining one conception of natural rights into international soft law . Natural rights were traditionally viewed as exclusively negative rights , whereas human rights also comprise positive rights. Even on
4123-410: Is not unreasonable to credit Locke with the social activism throughout the history of America. By founding this sense of freedom for all, Locke was laying the groundwork for the equality that occurs today. Despite the apparent misuse of his philosophy in early American democracy. The Civil Rights movement and the suffrage movement both called out the state of American democracy during their challenges to
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4256-575: Is property. The concept of inalienable rights was criticized by Jeremy Bentham and Edmund Burke as groundless. Bentham and Burke claimed that rights arise from the actions of government, or evolve from tradition, and that neither of these can provide anything inalienable . (See Bentham's "Critique of the Doctrine of Inalienable, Natural Rights", and Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France ). Presaging
4389-487: Is related to multiple human rights, including the right to life, the right to be free from torture, the right to health, the right to privacy, the right to education, and the prohibition of discrimination". Attempts have been made to analyse the socioeconomic conditions that affect the realisation of a woman's reproductive rights. The term reproductive justice has been used to describe these broader social and economic issues. Proponents of reproductive justice argue that while
4522-403: Is responsible for his own faith, and he must see it for himself that he believes rightly. As little as another can go to hell or heaven for me, so little can he believe or disbelieve for me; and as little as he can open or shut heaven or hell for me, so little can he drive me to faith or unbelief. Since, then, belief or unbelief is a matter of everyone's conscience, and since this is no lessening of
4655-430: Is that John Locke was obsessed with supporting equality in society, treating everyone as an equal. He does though highlight our differences with his philosophy showing that we are all unique and important to society. In his philosophy, it is highlighted that the ideal government should also protect everyone, and provide rights and freedom to everyone, because we are all important to society. His ideas then were developed into
4788-421: Is the first international policy document to define reproductive health , stating: Reproductive health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, in all matters relating to the reproductive system and its functions and processes. Reproductive health therefore implies that people are able to have a satisfying and safe sex life and that they have
4921-545: Is variously expressed as the is-ought problem , the naturalistic fallacy , or the appeal to nature . G.E. Moore , for example, said that ethical naturalism falls prey to the naturalistic fallacy. Some defenders of natural rights theory, however, counter that the term "natural" in "natural rights" is contrasted with "artificial" rather than referring to nature . John Finnis , for example, contends that natural law and natural rights are derived from self-evident principles, not from speculative principles or from facts. There
5054-954: The Greater Cleveland Congress , October. One of the most significant US events, because it was funded by the US government, was held in Houston, Texas and though planned as an IWY event, did not take place until 1977. The 1977 National Women's Conference included women from each state in the United States and developed a National Plan of Action, mirroring many of the points of the World Plan of Action. The then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had inaugurated National Women's Day and International Women's Year event jointly sponsored by 50 women's organizations at NDMC Indoor Stadium New Delhi in India on Basant Panchami Sunday February 16, 1975. As
5187-631: The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) be quickly ratified. The 1985 third conference in Nairobi , Kenya , not only closed the decade of women but set a series of member state schedules for removal of legislated gender discrimination in national laws by the year 2000. The 1975 Mexico City Conference was attended by over a thousand delegates. Prominent attendees included Elizabeth Reid and Margaret Whitlam of Australia. The International Women's Year Tribune
5320-647: The Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (DEDAW), which was passed by the General Assembly on 7 November 1967. Once support had been garnered for the declaration, the next step was to prepare it to become a Convention . Though there were delays, by 1972, when the United States Congress passed Title IX , eliminating discrimination in education for any institution receiving federal funding, hope that passage could be secured surged. In
5453-682: The HIV/AIDS epidemic . In 1999, recommendations at the ICPD+5 were expanded to include commitment to AIDS education, research, and prevention of mother-to-child transmission, as well as to the development of vaccines and microbicides. The Cairo Programme of Action was adopted by 184 UN member states. Nevertheless, many Latin American and Islamic states made formal reservations to the programme, in particular, to its concept of reproductive rights and sexual freedom, to its treatment of abortion, and to its potential incompatibility with Islamic law . Implementation of
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5586-501: The Holy See . Islamic Countries, such as Brunei , Djibouti , Iran , Jordan , Kuwait , Libya , Syria , United Arab Emirates , and Yemen made broad reservations against any element of the programme that could be interpreted as contrary to the Sharia . Guatemala even questioned whether the conference could legally proclaim new human rights. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and
5719-589: The U.S. constitution recognized and protected the institution of slavery . As a lawyer, future Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase argued before the Supreme Court in the case of John Van Zandt , who had been charged with violating the Fugitive Slave Act , that: The law of the Creator, which invests every human being with an inalienable title to freedom, cannot be repealed by any interior law which asserts that man
5852-524: The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) to adopt a declaration to eliminate discrimination against women, in 1965, CSW began working in earnest to obtain passage of a declaration to secure women's human rights. Collating responses covering education, employment, inheritance, penal reform, and other issues, from government actors, NGO representatives and UN staff, CSW delegates drafted
5985-594: The United States Declaration of Independence . Stephen Kinzer , a veteran journalist for The New York Times and the author of the book All The Shah's Men , writes in the latter that: The Zoroastrian religion taught Iranians that citizens have an inalienable right to enlightened leadership and that the duty of subjects is not simply to obey wise kings but also to rise up against those who are wicked. Leaders are seen as representative of God on earth, but they deserve allegiance only as long as they have farr ,
6118-518: The World Health Organization (WHO) advocate for reproductive rights with a primary emphasis on women's rights . In this respect the UN and WHO focus on a range of issues from access to family planning services, sex education, menopause , and the reduction of obstetric fistula , to the relationship between reproductive health and economic status. The reproductive rights of women are advanced in
6251-470: The World Health Organization issued a joint statement on Eliminating forced, coercive and otherwise involuntary sterilization, An interagency statement with the OHCHR , UN Women , UNAIDS , UNDP , UNFPA and UNICEF . The report references the involuntary surgical "sex-normalising or other procedures" on "intersex persons". It questions the medical necessity of such treatments, patients' ability to consent, and
6384-536: The natural state only the strongest could benefit from their rights. Thus, people form an implicit social contract, ceding their natural rights to the authority to protect the people from abuse, and living henceforth under the legal rights of that authority . Many historical apologies for slavery and illiberal government were based on explicit or implicit voluntary contracts to alienate any "natural rights" to freedom and self-determination . The de facto inalienability arguments of Hutcheson and his predecessors provided
6517-565: The social contract . Preservation of the natural rights to life, liberty, and property was claimed as justification for the rebellion of the American colonies. As George Mason stated in his draft for the Virginia Declaration of Rights , "all men are born equally free", and hold "certain inherent natural rights, of which they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity." Another 17th-century Englishman, John Lilburne (known as Freeborn John ), who came into conflict with both
6650-446: The 1969 which states "The family as a basic unit of society and the natural environment for the growth and well-being of all its members, particularly children and youth, should be assisted and protected so that it may fully assume its responsibilities within the community. Parents have the exclusive right to determine freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children." The 1975 UN International Women's Year Conference echoed
6783-659: The 20th century, and more recently in Latin America against the Indigenous population in the 1990s; in Peru , President Alberto Fujimori (in office from 1990 to 2000) has been accused of genocide and crimes against humanity as a result of a sterilization program put in place by his administration targeting indigenous people (mainly the Quechuas and the Aymaras ). The Istanbul convention ,
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#17330859298016916-651: The Assistant Secretary-General for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs and placed in charge of organizing events for the year. The first UN World Conference on Women was held in Mexico City from 19 June to 2 July. The 1975 conference led to the adoption of the World Plan of Action , as well as the Declaration of Mexico on the Equality of Women and Their Contribution to Development and Peace . It led to
7049-556: The Cairo Programme of Action varies considerably from country to country. In many countries, post-ICPD tensions emerged as the human rights -based approach was implemented. Since the ICPD, many countries have broadened their reproductive health programs and attempted to integrate maternal and child health services with family planning. More attention is paid to adolescent health and the consequences of unsafe abortion. Lara Knudsen observes that
7182-463: The Cairo Programme's definition of reproductive health, but established a broader context of reproductive rights: The human rights of women include their right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence. Equal relationships between women and men in matters of sexual relations and reproduction, including full respect for
7315-459: The Catholic Church and Evangelicals, which attempt to control women's reproduction. On the other side, human rights advocates are often aligned with religious institutions that are specifically combating political violence, instead of focusing on issues of individual bodily autonomy. The debate regarding whether women should have complete autonomous control over their bodies has been espoused by
7448-608: The Crimes Against Women was planned as an event for IWY but was not held until 4 to 8 March 1976 in Brussels , Belgium. Limited by funding strictures, the conference hosted 2000 women from forty countries. Speakers addressed economic exploitation and violence against women in its many forms. The most significant development to come out of the conference was the International Feminist Network . The 1975 conference
7581-496: The Declaration of Independence of the phrase "pursuit of happiness" instead of "property". More recently, the eminent legal historian John Phillip Reid has deplored contemporary scholars' "misplaced emphasis on John Locke", arguing that American revolutionary leaders saw Locke as a commentator on established constitutional principles. Thomas Pangle has defended Locke's influence on the Founding, claiming that historians who argue to
7714-753: The ICPD succeeded in getting feminist language into governments' and population agencies' literature, but in many countries, the underlying concepts are not widely put into practice. In two preparatory meetings for the ICPD+10 in Asia and Latin America, the United States, under the George W. Bush administration, was the only nation opposing the ICPD's Programme of Action. The 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, in its non-binding Declaration and Platform for Action , supported
7847-543: The Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue (1725), Hutcheson foreshadowed the Declaration of Independence, stating: "For wherever any Invasion is made upon unalienable Rights, there must arise either a perfect, or external Right to Resistance. ... Unalienable Rights are essential Limitations in all Governments." Hutcheson, however, placed clear limits on his notion of unalienable rights, declaring that "there can be no Right, or Limitation of Right, inconsistent with, or opposite to
7980-611: The Pope nor the Holy Roman Emperor had the authority to violate them. Lithuanians also brought a group of Samogitian representatives to testify to atrocities committed by the Order. The Stoic doctrine that the "inner part cannot be delivered into bondage" re-emerged centuries later in the Reformation doctrine of liberty of conscience. In 1523, Martin Luther wrote: Furthermore, every man
8113-862: The Proclamation of Tehran. The twenty-year "Cairo Programme of Action" was adopted in 1994 at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo . The non-binding Programme of Action asserted that governments have a responsibility to meet individuals' reproductive needs, rather than demographic targets. It recommended that family planning services be provided in the context of other reproductive health services, including services for healthy and safe childbirth, care for sexually transmitted infections, and post-abortion care . The ICPD also addressed issues such as violence against women , sex trafficking , and adolescent health. The Cairo Program
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#17330859298018246-412: The U.S. The term " male abortion " was coined by Melanie McCulley, a South Carolina attorney, in a 1998 article. The theory begins with the premise that when a woman becomes pregnant she has the option of abortion, adoption, or parenthood. A man, however, has none of those options, but will still be affected by the woman's decision. It argues, in the context of legally recognized gender equality , that in
8379-686: The UN Declaration of Human Rights (1948), The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979), the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals, and the new Sustainable Development Goals , which are focused on integrating universal reproductive healthcare access into national family planning programs. Unfortunately, the 2007 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, did not address indigenous women's reproductive or maternal healthcare rights or access. Since most existing legally binding international human rights instruments do not explicitly mention sexual and reproductive rights,
8512-651: The UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, issued a statement condemning non-consensual surgical intervention on intersex people. His report stated, "Children who are born with atypical sex characteristics are often subject to irreversible sex assignment, involuntary sterilization, involuntary genital normalizing surgery, performed without their informed consent, or that of their parents, "in an attempt to fix their sex", leaving them with permanent, irreversible infertility and causing severe mental suffering". In May 2014,
8645-455: The UN structure. As part of the Cold War politics, the United States then proposed that the conference not be limited to women, but should be gender-neutral, because an all-woman conference would not be taken seriously. Finally, Mexico City agreed to host the conference, and CSW set about the tasks to prepare the "machinery" necessary to secure passage of CEDAW. Helvi Sipilä , was selected as
8778-460: The United Nation's 1968 International Conference on Human Rights. The resulting non-binding Proclamation of Tehran was the first international document to recognize one of these rights when it stated that: "Parents have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and the spacing of their children." Women's sexual, gynecological, and mental health issues were not a priority of
8911-532: The United Nations and individual countries, but many of those same countries fail to implement these human rights for their female citizens. This shortfall may be partly due to the delay of including women-specific issues in the human rights framework. However, multiple human rights documents and declarations specifically proclaim reproductive rights of women, including the ability to make their own reproductive healthcare decisions regarding family planning, including:
9044-437: The United Nations until its Decade of Women (1975–1985) brought them to the forefront. States, though, have been slow in incorporating these rights in internationally legally binding instruments . Thus, while some of these rights have already been recognized in hard law , that is, in legally binding international human rights instruments , others have been mentioned only in non binding recommendations and, therefore, have at best
9177-427: The absence of obligations. Since by our (human) nature, we seek to maximize our well being, rights are prior to law, natural or institutional, and people will not follow the laws of nature without first being subjected to a sovereign power, without which all ideas of right and wrong are meaningless – "Therefore before the names of Just and Unjust can have place, there must be some coercive Power, to compel men equally to
9310-557: The aptest means thereunto." ( Leviathan . 1, XIV) Hobbes sharply distinguished this natural "liberty", from natural "laws", described generally as "a precept, or general rule, found out by reason, by which a man is forbidden to do, that, which is destructive of his life, or taketh away the means of preserving his life; and to omit, that, by which he thinketh it may best be preserved." ( Leviathan . 1, XIV) In his natural state, according to Hobbes, man's life consisted entirely of liberties and not at all of laws – "It followeth, that in such
9443-408: The basis for the anti-slavery movement to argue not simply against involuntary slavery but against any explicit or implied contractual forms of slavery. Any contract that tried to legally alienate such a right would be inherently invalid. Similarly, the argument was used by the democratic movement to argue against any explicit or implied social contracts of subjection ( pactum subjectionis ) by which
9576-662: The basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity, including with regard to reproductive health, access to HIV/AIDS information and therapy and access to hormonal or other therapy as well as to gender-reassignment treatments where desired." Nonetheless, African, Caribbean and Islamic Countries, as well as the Russian Federation , have objected to the use of these principles as Human Rights standards. State interventions that contradict at least some reproductive rights have happened both under right-wing and left-wing governments. Examples include attempts to forcefully increase
9709-449: The best chance of having a healthy infant [para. 72]. Unlike previous population conferences, a wide range of interests from grassroots to government level were represented in Cairo. 179 nations attended the ICPD and overall eleven thousand representatives from governments, NGOs , international agencies and citizen activists participated. The ICPD did not address the far-reaching implications of
9842-445: The birth rate – one of the most notorious natalist policies of the 20th century was that which occurred in communist Romania in the period of 1967–1990 during communist leader Nicolae Ceaușescu , who adopted a very aggressive natalist policy which included outlawing abortion and contraception, routine pregnancy tests for women, taxes on childlessness , and legal discrimination against childless people – as well as attempts to decrease
9975-452: The body indeed is subjected and in the power of a master, but the mind is independent, and indeed is so free and wild, that it cannot be restrained even by this prison of the body, wherein it is confined. Of fundamental importance to the development of the idea of natural rights was the emergence of the idea of natural human equality. As the historian A.J. Carlyle notes: "There is no change in political theory so startling in its completeness as
10108-519: The capability to reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when and how often to do so. Implicit in this last condition are the right of men and women to be informed [about] and to have access to safe, effective, affordable and acceptable methods of family planning of their choice, as well as other methods for regulation of fertility which are not against the law, and the right of access to appropriate health-care services that will enable women to go safely through pregnancy and childbirth and provide couples with
10241-451: The change from the theory of Aristotle to the later philosophical view represented by Cicero and Seneca. ... We think that this cannot be better exemplified than with regard to the theory of the equality of human nature." Charles H. McIlwain likewise observes that "the idea of the equality of men is the profoundest contribution of the Stoics to political thought" and that "its greatest influence
10374-430: The colonists' claim that King George III was "attempting to rob them of that liberty to which every member of society and all civil communities have a natural and unalienable title." Price again based the argument on the de facto inalienability of "that principle of spontaneity or self-determination which constitutes us agents or which gives us a command over our actions, rendering them properly ours, and not effects of
10507-608: The concept of reproductive rights or to its specific content. Ecuador , for instance, stated that: With regard to the Programme of Action of the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development and in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and laws of Ecuador and the norms of international law, the delegation of Ecuador reaffirms, inter alia, the following principles embodied in its Constitution:
10640-468: The context of the right to freedom from discrimination and the social and economic status of women. The group Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) explained the link in the following statement: Control over reproduction is a basic need and a basic right for all women. Linked as it is to women's health and social status, as well as the powerful social structures of religion, state control and administrative inertia, and private profit, it
10773-495: The contrary either misrepresent the classical republican alternative to which they say the revolutionary leaders adhered, do not understand Locke, or point to someone else who was decisively influenced by Locke. This position has also been sustained by Michael Zuckert . According to Locke, there are three natural rights: In developing his concept of natural rights, Locke was influenced by reports of society among Native Americans , whom he regarded as natural peoples who lived in
10906-448: The delegation of Ecuador enters a reservation with respect to all terms such as "regulation of fertility", "interruption of pregnancy", "reproductive health", "reproductive rights" and "unwanted children", which in one way or another, within the context of the Programme of Action, could involve abortion. Similar reservations were made by Argentina , Dominican Republic , El Salvador , Honduras , Malta , Nicaragua , Paraguay , Peru and
11039-407: The distinction popular and important", and in the 1776 United States Declaration of Independence , famously condensed this to: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights... In the 19th century, the movement to abolish slavery seized this passage as a statement of constitutional principle, although
11172-422: The earliest stages of pregnancy the putative (alleged) father should have the right to relinquish all future parental rights and financial responsibility, leaving the informed mother with the same three options. This concept has been supported by a former president of the feminist organization National Organization for Women , attorney Karen DeCrow . The feminist argument for male reproductive choice contends that
11305-540: The early Middle Ages , and descending through the Protestant Reformation and the Age of Enlightenment to today. The existence of natural rights has been asserted by different individuals on different premises, such as a priori philosophical reasoning or religious principles. For example, Immanuel Kant claimed to derive natural rights through reason alone. The United States Declaration of Independence, meanwhile,
11438-504: The economy. This divide between first world versus third world women established as feminists focused on women's issues (from the first world largely promoting sexual liberation) versus women focused on political issues (from the third world often opposing dictatorships and policies). In Latin America, this is complicated as feminists tend to align with first world ideals of feminism (sexual/reproductive rights, violence against women, domestic violence) and reject religious institutions such as
11571-686: The establishment of monitoring mechanisms such as, International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and set in motion plans for follow-up conferences, the first of which would be held in 1980 in Copenhagen . It established the period of 1975 to 1985 as the UN Decade for Women , to enable progress and failures to be evaluated and resulted in urging that
11704-422: The exercise of this right, they should take into account the needs of their living and future children and their responsibilities towards the community. Similarly, Amnesty International has argued that the realisation of reproductive rights is linked with the realisation of a series of recognised human rights , including the right to health , the right to freedom from discrimination , the right to privacy , and
11837-434: The existence of inalienable rights is unnecessary for the existence of a constitution or a set of laws and rights. This idea of a social contract – that rights and responsibilities are derived from a consensual contract between the government and the people – is the most widely recognized alternative. One criticism of natural rights theory is that one cannot draw norms from facts. This objection
11970-676: The fertility rate – China 's one child policy (1978–2015). State mandated forced marriage was also practiced by authoritarian governments as a way to meet population targets: the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia systematically forced people into marriages, in order to increase the population and continue the revolution. Some governments have implemented racist policies of forced sterilizations of 'undesirable' ethnicities. Such policies were carried out against ethnic minorities in Europe and North America in
12103-512: The first international legal document to delineate human rights ; the UDHR does not mention reproductive rights. Reproductive rights began to appear as a subset of human rights in the 1968 Proclamation of Tehran, which states: "Parents have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and the spacing of their children". This right was affirmed by the UN General Assembly in
12236-554: The first legally binding instrument in Europe in the field of violence against women and domestic violence, prohibits forced sterilization and forced abortion : Article 39 – Forced abortion and forced sterilisation Human rights have been used as a framework to analyze and gauge abuses, especially for coercive or oppressive governmental policies. The framing of reproductive (human) rights and population control programs are split along race and class lines, with white, western women predominately focused on abortion access (especially during
12369-847: The government should provide rights, but rights to everyone through his social contract. The social contract is an agreement between members of a country to live within a shared system of laws. Specific forms of government are the result of the decisions made by these persons acting in their collective capacity. Government is instituted to make laws that protect the three natural rights. If a government does not properly protect these rights, it can be overthrown. Thomas Paine (1731–1809) further elaborated on natural rights in his influential work Rights of Man (1791), emphasizing that rights cannot be granted by any charter because this would legally imply they can also be revoked and under such circumstances, they would be reduced to privileges: International Women%27s Year#International After years of work by
12502-516: The government's view on equality. To them it was clear that when the designers of democracy said all, they meant all people shall receive those natural rights that John Locke cherished so deeply. "a state also of equality, wherein all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal, no one having more than another" (Locke II,4). Locke in his papers on natural philosophy clearly states that he wants a government where all are treated equal in freedoms especially. "Locke's views on toleration were very progressive for
12635-509: The greatest public Good." Hutcheson elaborated on this idea of unalienable rights in his A System of Moral Philosophy (1755), based on the Reformation principle of the liberty of conscience. One could not in fact give up the capacity for private judgment (e.g., about religious questions) regardless of any external contracts or oaths to religious or secular authorities so that right is "unalienable". Hutcheson wrote: "Thus no man can really change his sentiments, judgments, and inward affections, at
12768-460: The information and means to do so, and the right to attain the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health. They also include the right of all to make decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence. Reproductive rights may include some or all of the following: right to abortion ; birth control ; freedom from coerced sterilization and contraception; the right to access good-quality reproductive healthcare ; and
12901-434: The integrity of the person, require mutual respect, consent and shared responsibility for sexual behavior and its consequences [para. 96]. The Beijing Platform demarcated twelve interrelated critical areas of the human rights of women that require advocacy. The Platform framed women's reproductive rights as "indivisible, universal and inalienable human rights." The platform for the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women included
13034-597: The interests of women into account are unlikely to succeed... Women's reproductive rights have long retained key issue status in the debate on overpopulation . "The only ray of hope I can see – and it's not much – is that wherever women are put in control of their lives, both politically and socially; where medical facilities allow them to deal with birth control and where their husbands allow them to make those decisions, birth rate falls. Women don't want to have 12 kids of whom nine will die." David Attenborough According to OHCHR : "Women’s sexual and reproductive health
13167-458: The inviolability of life, the protection of children from the moment of conception, freedom of conscience and religion, the protection of the family as the fundamental unit of society, responsible paternity, the right of parents to bring up their children and the formulation of population and development plans by the Government in accordance with the principles of respect for sovereignty. Accordingly,
13300-466: The laws that govern them, and that this consent (and the laws) can be revisited periodically when circumstances change. The Stoics held that no one was a slave by nature; slavery was an external condition juxtaposed to the internal freedom of the soul ( sui juris ). Seneca the Younger wrote: It is a mistake to imagine that slavery pervades a man's whole being; the better part of him is exempt from it:
13433-579: The meantime, members of the Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF) had long been pressing for an international women's year and conference to address women's inequality. As WIDF was designated as an observer and not a member of the CSW, they could not propose the event directly but drafted a proposal. Persuading the Romanian delegate of CSW to present their proposal, it was seconded by Finland. In turn, CSW approved
13566-405: The monarchy of King Charles I and the military dictatorship of Oliver Cromwell , argued for level human basic rights he called " freeborn rights " which he defined as being rights that every human being is born with, as opposed to rights bestowed by government or by human law . The distinction between alienable and unalienable rights was introduced by Francis Hutcheson . In his Inquiry into
13699-461: The movements for freedom from the British creating our government. However, his implied thought of freedom for all is applied most heavily in our culture today. Starting with the civil rights movement, and continuing through women's rights, Locke's call for a fair government can be seen as the influence in these movements. His ideas are typically just seen as the foundation for modern democracy; however, it
13832-565: The notion that women's rights should fall under a separate area designated by gender, but instead should be governed by the United Nations Human Right's position. Angela Davis was one of the key guests at the conference, as was Hortensia Bussi de Allende , former First Lady of Chile . The state-sponsored program advocated women's solidarity in the national struggles to free women from oppression based on class, race and gender through state socialism. The International Tribunal on
13965-842: The operation of any foreign cause." Any social contract or compact allegedly alienating these rights would be non-binding and void, wrote Price: Neither can any state acquire such an authority over other states in virtue of any compacts or cessions. This is a case in which compacts are not binding. Civil liberty is, in this respect, on the same footing with religious liberty. As no people can lawfully surrender their religious liberty by giving up their right of judging for themselves in religion, or by allowing any human beings to prescribe to them what faith they shall embrace, or what mode of worship they shall practise, so neither can any civil societies lawfully surrender their civil liberty by giving up to any extraneous jurisdiction their power of legislating for themselves and disposing their property. Price raised
14098-454: The performance of their Covenants..., to make good that Propriety, which by mutual contract men acquire, in recompense of the universal Right they abandon: and such power there is none before the erection of the Commonwealth." ( Leviathan . 1, XV) This marked an important departure from medieval natural law theories which gave precedence to obligations over rights. John Locke (1632–1704)
14231-508: The pleasure of another; nor can it tend to any good to make him profess what is contrary to his heart. The right of private judgment is therefore unalienable." In the German Enlightenment , Hegel gave a highly developed treatment of this inalienability argument. Like Hutcheson, Hegel based the theory of inalienable rights on the de facto inalienability of those aspects of personhood that distinguish persons from things. A thing, like
14364-494: The possession of someone else. When I have thus annulled their externality, I cannot lose them through lapse of time or from any other reason drawn from my prior consent or willingness to alienate them. In discussion of social contract theory, "inalienable rights" were said to be those rights that could not be surrendered by citizens to the sovereign. Such rights were thought to be natural rights , independent of positive law. Some social contract theorists reasoned, however, that in
14497-530: The proposal and submitted it to the General Assembly, which proclaimed 1975 as International Women's Year on 18 December 1972. The date was significant because it would take place on the thirtieth anniversary of the creation of the United Nations. But there were problems with the conference. Initially, Soviet women rejected the call for a conference and filibustered the negotiations, preferring to host their own conference in East Berlin that would not be subject to
14630-440: The recognition of the basic right of all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children and to have the information and means to do so, and the right to attain the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health. It also includes the right of all to make decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence as expressed in human rights documents. In
14763-427: The responsibility of parents. Providers of reproductive health have little accountability to youth clients, a primary factor in denying youth access to reproductive health care. In many countries, regardless of legislation, minors are denied even the most basic reproductive care, if they are not accompanied by parents: in India, for instance, in 2017, a 17-year-old girl who was rejected by her family due to her pregnancy,
14896-549: The right not to be subjected to torture or ill-treatment. The World Health Organization states that: Sexual and reproductive health and rights encompass efforts to eliminate preventable maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity, to ensure quality sexual and reproductive health services, including contraceptive services, and to address sexually transmitted infections (STI) and cervical cancer, violence against women and girls, and sexual and reproductive health needs of adolescents. Universal access to sexual and reproductive health
15029-407: The right to education and access in order to make free and informed reproductive choices. Reproductive rights may also include the right to receive education about sexually transmitted infections and other aspects of sexuality, right to menstrual health and protection from practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM). Reproductive rights began to develop as a subset of human rights at
15162-431: The right to legalized abortion and contraception applies to everyone, these choices are only meaningful to those with resources and that there is a growing gap between access and affordability. This more nuanced framework of reproductive justice that recognizes that even with the necessary access to reproductive health, there are other influences beyond choice that determine a women's ability to control her bodily autonomy
15295-449: The right to liberty, for all the others would depend upon this. T. H. Green argued that "if there are such things as rights at all, then, there must be a right to life and liberty, or, to put it more properly to free life." John Locke emphasized "life, liberty and property" as primary. However, despite Locke's influential defense of the right of revolution , Thomas Jefferson substituted " pursuit of happiness " in place of "property" in
15428-528: The rights of persons to decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free from coercion, discrimination, and violence." In relation to reproductive health, Principle 9 on "The Right to Treatment with Humanity while in Detention" requires that "States shall... [p]rovide adequate access to medical care and counseling appropriate to the needs of those in custody, recognizing any particular needs of persons on
15561-590: The same time, combining them into one category needing specific representation. Reproductive rights are highly politicized, making it difficult to enact legislation. The Yogyakarta Principles on the Application of International Human Rights Law in relation to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, proposed by a group of experts in November 2006 but not yet incorporated by States in international law, declares in its Preamble that "the international community has recognized
15694-507: The second kind of right, what Price called "that power of self-determination which all agents, as such, possess," was inalienable as long man remained man. Like the mind's quest for religious truth from which it was derived, self-determination was not a claim to ownership which might be both acquired and surrendered, but an inextricable aspect of the activity of being human. Meanwhile, in America, Thomas Jefferson "took his division of rights into alienable and unalienable from Hutcheson, who made
15827-601: The second wave feminism of the 1970–1980s), silencing women of colour in the Global South or marginalized women in the Global North (black and indigenous women, prisoners, welfare recipients) who were subjected to forced sterilization or contraceptive usage campaigns. The hemisphere divide has also been framed as Global North feminists advocating for women's bodily autonomy and political rights, while Global South women advocate for basic needs through poverty reduction and equality in
15960-408: The secular power, the latter should be content and attend to its own affairs and permit men to believe one thing or another, as they are able and willing, and constrain no one by force. 17th-century English philosopher John Locke discussed natural rights in his work, identifying them as being "life, liberty, and estate (property)", and argued that such fundamental rights could not be surrendered in
16093-482: The shift in thinking in the 19th century, Bentham famously dismissed the idea of natural rights as "nonsense on stilts". By way of contrast to the views of Burke and Bentham, Patriot scholar and justice James Wilson criticized Burke's view as "tyranny". The signers of the Declaration of Independence deemed it a "self-evident truth" that all men "are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights". In The Social Contract , Jean-Jacques Rousseau claims that
16226-570: The status of soft law in international law , while a further group is yet to be accepted by the international community and therefore remains at the level of advocacy . Issues related to reproductive rights are some of the most vigorously contested rights' issues worldwide, regardless of the population's socioeconomic level, religion or culture . The issue of reproductive rights is frequently presented as being of vital importance in discussions and articles by population concern organizations such as Population Matters . Reproductive rights are
16359-419: The time" (Connolly). Authors such as Jacob Connolly confirm that to them Locke was highly ahead of his time with all this progressive thinking. That is that his thought fits our current state of democracy where we strive to make sure that everyone has a say in the government, and everyone has a chance at a good life. Regardless of race, gender, or social standing starting with Locke it was made clear not only that
16492-593: The uneven ability to choose experienced by men and women in regards to parenthood is evidence of a state-enforced coercion favoring traditional sex roles . In 2006, the National Center for Men brought a case in the US, Dubay v. Wells (dubbed by some " Roe v. Wade for men"), that argued that in the event of an unplanned pregnancy, when an unmarried woman informs a man that she is pregnant by him, he should have an opportunity to give up all paternity rights and responsibilities. Supporters argue that this would allow
16625-464: The woman time to make an informed decision and give men the same reproductive rights as women. In its dismissal of the case, the U.S. Court of Appeals (Sixth Circuit) stated that "the Fourteenth Amendment does not deny to [the] State the power to treat different classes of persons in different ways." The opportunity to give men the right for a paper abortion is heavily discussed. Sperm theft
16758-627: Was a petition to the National Film Board of Canada which led to the creation of Studio D. The University of Guelph hosted a conference in September dedicated to Nellie McClung and the reform issues which had been important to her. In June a United Women's Convention was held in Wellington . Events in support of IWY were held throughout the United States by private organizations and NGOs, such as those held in Connecticut , 11–12 June 1977 and
16891-605: Was also notable for passing the first " Zionism is racism" resolution passed at any UN-sponsored forum, thus preparing the way for United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379 in 1975 the following November. A statement equating Zionism with racism was also included in an annex to a report to be considered at the final conference of the United Nations Decade for Women in 1985 in Nairobi, Kenya. However, as stated in It Takes
17024-659: Was also organized by the conference committee and attended by 4,000 women in 1975. The World Congress of Women was held in East Berlin as a part of IWY soon after the Mexico City event. It idealized women's equality as the "true embodiment of the socialist conception of human rights". The Working Group on Equal Rights, composed of experts on government and law from the East German Academy of Sciences , Humboldt University and Socialist United Party Central Committee rejected
17157-424: Was also rejected by hospitals and gave birth in the street. In recent years the lack of reproductive rights for adolescents has been a concern of international organizations, such as UNFPA . Legal right Some philosophers distinguish two types of rights , natural rights and legal rights . Natural law first appeared in ancient Greek philosophy , and was referred to by Roman philosopher Cicero . It
17290-616: Was another prominent Western philosopher who conceptualized rights as natural and inalienable. Like Hobbes, Locke believed in a natural right to life, liberty , and property . It was once conventional wisdom that Locke greatly influenced the American Revolution with his writings of natural rights, but this claim has been the subject of protracted dispute in recent decades. For example, the historian Ray Forrest Harvey declared that Jefferson and Locke were at "two opposite poles" in their political philosophy, as evidenced by Jefferson's use in
17423-584: Was highly undesirable, since it would cause human life to be "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short". As such, if humans wish to live peacefully they must give up most of their natural rights and create moral obligations to establish political and civil society . This is one of the earliest formulations of the theory of government known as the social contract . Hobbes objected to the attempt to derive rights from " natural law ", arguing that law ("lex") and right ("jus") though often confused, signify opposites, with law referring to obligations, while rights refer to
17556-560: Was subsequently alluded to in the Bible, and then developed in the Middle Ages by Catholic philosophers such as Albert the Great , his pupil Thomas Aquinas , and Jean Gerson in his 1402 work " De Vita Spirituali Animae." During the Age of Enlightenment , the concept of natural laws was used to challenge the divine right of kings , and became an alternative justification for the establishment of
17689-418: Was wrong because every man has a natural right to the possession of his own body, or because every man has a natural right freely to determine his own destiny. The first kind of right was alienable: thus Locke neatly derived slavery from capture in war, whereby a man forfeited his labor to the conqueror who might lawfully have killed him; and thus Dred Scott was judged permanently to have given up his freedom. But
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