A quarterly international newsletter on sexuality, sexual health, and sexuality education.
Volume 2, Issue 2 - Fall/Winter 2002
Sexual Rights As Human Rights: A Grassroots Training Program in Turkey
“Women and sexuality” remains a strong taboo in many corners of the world.Too many women lack information on sexuality because it is not addressed in formal education systems and rarely within informal systems such as the family or the community.
Women for Women’s Human Rights (WWHR), a human rights nongovernmental organization based in Istanbul, Turkey, is working to break the taboos surrounding women and sexuality.
WWHR was formed in 1993 following the United Nations Human Rights Conferences that took place in Vienna, where it was agreed that women’s rights are an inseparable and inherent part of human rights.
WWHR developed and implemented the Human Rights Training Program for Women in 1995, which aims to raise women’s awareness of the laws that affect their lives—whether these are codified laws, customs, traditions, or daily practices.
Building on the central concept of “women’s human rights,” the training provides the participants with the information and skills to put their rights into practice both individually and through solidarity networks and initiatives pressing for social change.
The training includes a manual, Women’s Human Rights Education:A Trainer Manual, which contains 15 workshop modules on a variety of topics, including human rights and women’s rights, civil rights, economic rights, sexuality, reproductive rights, gender-sensitive parenting, and community organizing.
The program is available in community centers throughout Turkey. The local training groups meet weekly, and the participatory exercises and group discussions are facilitated by social workers.
WWHR is addressing the issue of sexuality within the framework of human rights based on the belief that the discussion of women’s rights must include talk about sexuality, as it is used as a central mechanism in the patriarchal control of women and their bodies. They also believe in the indivisibility of human rights and approach the issue as one of sexual rights, a human right to bodily integrity.
The increased knowledge and legal literacy has provided the participants with a feeling of security and self-confidence which allows them to address some of the taboos concerning their sexuality.
For more information, contact:
Women for Women’s Human Rights
(WWHR)
Inonu Cad. Saadet Apartment 37/6
Gumussuyu-Istanbul 80090
Turkey
Tel: 90.212.251.00.29
Fax: 90.212.251.00.65
E-mail: wwhrist@superonline.com
Web site: http://www.wwhr.org
Web Master: siecus@siecus.org