A quarterly international newsletter on sexuality, sexual health, and sexuality education.
Volume 2, Issue 2 - Fall/Winter 2002
South Africa’s Sexual Rights Campaign
The Women's Health Project (WHP), an NGO based in Johannesburg, South Africa, that conducts research, sponsors trainings, and works to involve grassroots women in the formulation of policies that impact their lives, launched a Sexual Rights Campaign in 1999 with the goal of developing South Africa's first Sexual Rights Charter.
The Sexual Rights Campaign is a rights-based approach to addressing HIV/AIDS, violence against women, and teenage sexual health. It promotes an open dialogue around issues related to sexuality and the sexual rights of women and men.
The Campaign was initiated because WHP recognized that simple messages addressing only the surface issues related to sexuality would not meet the country’s needs.While supportive of prevention campaigns such as the “Abstain, Be Faithful, Condomise” (ABC) strategy, WHP acknowledged that the prevalence of poverty and gender inequality throughout the country made it almost impossible for many people to follow that strategy.
The Sexual Rights Campaign attempts to change the focus from ABC to reinforcing the right of each individual to choose when, with whom, and how to have sexual relations, and to support women and men in recognizing and asserting their sexual needs, satisfactions, and sexual safety.
Throughout the Campaign, public discussions and debates on sexual rights are encouraged through radio, television, and print media.The discussions are aimed at unpacking the causes of sexual inequality and injustice, thus striving to address the root of these issues.
The framework of the Sexual Rights Campaign evolved from the interpretation of human rights established at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 in Beijing, China.
Specifically, the Sexual Rights Campaign grew out of the following clause drafted at the conference:
The human rights of women include their right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, free of coercion, discrimination and violence. Equal relationships between women and men in matters of sexual relationships and reproduction, including full respect for the integrity of the person, require mutual respect, consent and shared responsibility for sexual behavior and its consequences.
The ultimate goal is to mobilize individuals and groups throughout South Africa for a culture of human rights and respect, where sexuality is a source of pleasure and strengthens relationships, rather than a source of violence, disease, and fear.
Zanele Hlatshwayo and Ndivhuwo Masindi of the WHP hope the campaign will allow South Africans to speak the language of sexual rights and use this new skill to fight HIV/AIDS and violence against women. The principles promoted by the Campaign encourage women to negotiate for safer sex with their partners, and encourage men to embrace women’s rights without feeling threatened.
Zanele Hlatshwayo and Ndivhuwo Masindi brought their campaign to the United States in 1999 through a partnership between the WHP and South Africa Partners.
South Africa Partners is a non-profit organization based in Boston dedicated to the development of long-term partnership opportunities between the United States and South Africa. Building on the efforts of individuals across the United States who supported the international movement for democracy in South Africa, South Africa Partners seeks to support those activities which promote South Africa’s equitable and sustainable development while building bridges between the two countries.
South Africa Partners organized the first Sisters Crossing Bridges conference in 1999 in collaboration with WHP. That meeting sponsored by 20 local Boston organizations provided a vehicle to discuss women’s health issues from a variety of perspectives.
Every year since then, Sisters Crossing Bridges has proved an exciting and dynamic forum, bringing together WHP representatives with a growing network of women’s health advocates and practitioners interested in exploring issues of women’s health and wellness.
Sisters Crossing Bridges has focused on a range of issues, including cultural competency in health care delivery systems and the advantages of employing a human rights framework for addressing issues of sexual health and violence against women and children.
Last year,WHP representatives Hlatshwayo and Masindi were featured speakers at the conference.Their presentation focused attention on WHP’s Sexual Rights Campaign and used a human rights framework, a strategy not often considered in the United States, to reexamine strategies and think of new ways to approach issues surrounding health care.
This year’s Sisters Crossing Bridges was held in May in Boston.The third annual event addressed a number of questions surrounding the disparities in health and steps to close the gap. Desiree Monareng and Zengeziwe Msimang of the WHP were featured speakers.
For more information, contact:
Sisters Crossing Bridges
c/o South Africa Partners
Ana Bodipo-Memba
25 Kingston Street, Sixth Floor
Boston, MA 02111
Phone: 617/482-1317
E-mail: abodiop@sapartners.org
Web site: http://www.sapartners.org
Women’s Health Project
P.O. Box 1038
Johannesburg 2000, South Africa
Phone: 27.11.489.9923
Fax: 27.11.489.9922
E-mail: mbangid@mail.saimr.wits.ac.za
Web Master: siecus@siecus.org