Août 2015, dans le centre-ville de Bogota. Depuis sa déclaration comme zone de tolérance en 2001, le quartier des environs de la rue N° 22, en centre-ville, est investi par les bordels, motels, hôtels de passe et bars à spectacle pour hommes: les femmes en petite tenue y côtoient « clients », dealers et consommateurs de drogues, vendeurs d’armes...

Last week in Jakarta, I met leaders of the Support Group and Resource Center on Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Indonesia, who were brimming with confidence about their work with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.

Sexual intercourse often left out of family planning conversation, researchers say

Married couples in low- and middle-income countries around the world that use contraception are having more frequent sexual intercourse than those that do not, new research from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests.

The Zika virus must be fought with better access to contraception and safe abortion as well as anti-mosquito measures, Tewodros Melesse, Director General of the International Planned Parenthood Federation has said today.

Croatia held its Parliamentary elections on 8 November 2015. The result of the elections for the National Parliament was almost equal for Social Democrats Coalition and the so called Patriotic Coalition lead by conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). The country’s election was inconclusive, with the opposition right-wing and the ruling left-wing coalition winning 59-56 seats respectively. The newly formed ’list’ MOST (Bridge), the third political option, as they called themselves, became kingmaker after winning 19 seats and had decisive power, after weeks of ’negotiations’, with both blocs to form, with their 15 seats, the new government with the conservatives.

On Tuesday 12 January, MEP Anna Hedh (S&D group, Sweden) hosted the Screening of “Honour” (“Heder”, in Swedish), a film based on a real case, that shows different forms of violence against women made in the name of “honour”. The screening was followed by a discussion with the crew of the film, European Parliament researchers and women’s rights organisations, such as the European Women’s Lobby and the Arab Women’s Solidarity Association Belgium AWSA-Be.

C’est une salle comble qui est venue assister à la conférence « Prostitution et commerce du sexe : de la réalité à l’action » ce mercredi 13 janvier au Luxembourg. Organisée par le Conseil National des Femmes du Luxembourg (@CNFL_LUX) et le Lobby européen des femmes (LEF - @EuropeanWomen), l’évènement s’inscrit dans la campagne « Ensemble pour une Europe libérée de la prostitution » et vise à apporter des éléments nouveaux dans le débat sur la prostitution au Luxembourg. Pour la Ministre de l’Egalité des chances Lydia Mutsch, qui a ouvert la soirée, la conférence a permis de casser le silence et le tabou autour du commerce du sexe.

Abortion has always existed. The earliest written record of abortion is more than 4,000 years old. Pregnancy has always been accompanied by the seeking and sharing of methods for ending pregnancy.

Crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) lie about abortion to dissuade women from exercising their Constitutional rights to reproductive health care. Sadly, states are complicit in this chicanery by referring women to them. A new study has documented that this nationwide campaign of disinformation extends to contraception and its relationship to sexually transmitted infections. As is often the case, these lies hurt the most vulnerable among us, those who are young, poor, and with limited education.

The Chilean Ministry of Health has issued instructions to its national health sector to stop “normalising” medical interventions on intersex infants and children. This guidance is a global first: the first time that a health ministry has shown leadership in taking this step without legislation or legal action. They have done this while awaiting the development of human rights-affirming treatment protocols and legislation to offer protection from discrimination on grounds of “sexual characteristics”.Thank you to the Ministry, and to work by Camilo Godoy Peña, Andres Rivera Duarte and everyone who has worked towards this major step forward.