- Parliamentarians from around the world will meet in Ottawa to discuss sexual and reproductive health and rights next week
- Rohingya refugees NEED access to safe abortion
- Going Beyond the Basics: tools to help educators teach comprehensive sex-ed
- Canada's humans rights record is under review at the UN
- Getting our messages in the news
Parliamentarians meeting in Ottawa to defend access to abortion, sex-ed and more!
What is the IPCI Conference? It stands for the International Parliamentarians Conference of the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action. It is a space where over 200 parliamentarian from around the world meet to advance progressive laws and policies on sexual and reproductive health and rights issues such as access to abortion and sexuality education, access to contraception and the rights of LGBTQI people.
How is Action Canada involved? As secretariat to the Canadian Association of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (CAPPD), we're the Canadian non-profit organization co-hosting this year's IPCI Conference with the Government of Canada, the United Nations Population Fund, the Inter-American Parliamentary Group on Population and Development, and the European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development.
This conference is incredibly important because sexual and reproductive health is still considered controversial, as demonstrated by attacks around the world on peoples' reproductive choices. This conference is the only international space where parliamentarians can meet to make commitments on sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Keep a eye out for our op-ed on the conference, which will be published in the Hill Times on Monday!
Want to know more? Click here to visit the conference's website!
Rohingya Women Photo Exhibit
In emergency settings, such as the Rohingya refugee crisis, reproductive health care is often non-existent. In partnership with Ipas, we organized a photo exhibit on the experiences of Rohingya women and their need for reproductive health care in refugee camps.
Everyone who attended the exhibit was incredibly touched by the stories brought to life through photography, including Kamal Khera, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development. You can watch clips from the event on our Instagram story highlights!
Click here to read our op-ed on the Rohingya Refugee Crisis
Sex-Ed Webinar: Going Beyond the Basics
Were you able to attend our webinar on Beyond the Basics, our resource for teaching inclusive and comprehensive sex-ed? No? You're in luck, it's available online! Yes? Watch it again!
This webinar was created for educators and anyone interested in sex-ed to better support them in talking about sex, healthy relationships, gender identity and much more. Click here to watch the webinar!
Canada's Human Rights at the UN
Last May, Canada had it’s third Universal Periodic Review at the UN. The UPR is a UN human rights process where each country’s human rights record is reviewed by other UN member states.
Action Canada worked in partnership with the Sexual Rights Initiative and the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform to prepare a report highlighting human rights violations in Canada on unequal abortion access, lack of comprehensive sexuality education and the criminalization of sex work, to ensure these issues would be addressed in Canada’s review.
To improve its human rights track record, Canada was told by other member states to address unequal access to abortion and comprehensive sexuality education across all provinces and territories, two of the three issues our report focused on!
Canada announced it would follow these recommendations and ensure access to abortion and comprehensive sexuality education is improved across provinces and territories!
Click here to read our full statement made at the UN’s 39th Human Rights Council.
Action Canada in the News!
We've been featured recently in a number of news articles. Here's some we wanted to share with you:
- Advocates call for 'less painful' access to abortion services in Nova Scotia
- Women's health advocates urge Nova Scotia to change ultrasound rule to speed up abortion access
- Why sex-ed plays a role in the fight against sexual violence
- How Canada's growing anti-abortion movement plans to swing the next federal election
- Abortion pill inequality: How access varies widely across Canada
Action Canada for Sexual Health & Rights is a progressive, pro-choice charitable organization committed to advancing and upholding sexual and reproductive health and rights in Canada and globally.