GENEVA / BANJUL / WASHINGTON D.C. (24 September 2015) – A group of international and regional human rights experts today urged Governments to seize the opportunity of the upcoming adoption of the new United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to renew their commitments and ensure full respect, protection and fulfillment of sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Following months of intense negotiations, more than 150 world leaders will attend this week the UN Sustainable Development Summit in New York (25-27 September) to adopt the new Agenda – the successor to the Millennium Development Goals –, which aims to end poverty by 2030 and universally promote shared economic prosperity, social development and environmental protection.

“Despite clear obligations for States to ensure women’s sexual and reproductive health, violations remain prevalent and widespread in all the regions across the world,” said the group of experts from the UN, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, in a joint statement made public today ahead of the high-level summit.

The experts noted that these violations “take many forms including denial of access to goods and services that only women require, subjecting women’s and adolescents’ access to services to third party authorization, poor quality reproductive health services, harmful practices, and performance of procedures without a woman’s informed consent.”

“The adoption of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development represents a unique opportunity to combat inequalities and discrimination, including the elimination of discriminatory laws, policies and practices, which often lie at the heart of violations against women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights,” the experts said.

The experts acknowledged the Agenda commitments to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health care services, including family planning, information and education. However, they deeply regretted the States’ decision “not to advance a more expansive and explicit recognition of sexual and reproductive health and rights, despite committing to implement the Agenda in a manner consistent with their human rights obligations.”