This factsheet was developed for the 2024 Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD), by the Regional Civil Society Engagement Mechanism Asia Pacific (RCEM) Thematic Working Group on Gender, Sexuality and SRHR, which APA co-leads.
Thematic Working Group on Gender, Sexuality and SRHR
Regional Civil Society Mechanism (RCEM) 2024 Factsheet
1. OVERVIEW
The Asia Pacific hosts 60% of the world's population and the world’s young people. Gender inequality, patriarchy, religious fundamentalism and increasing militarism are limiting the opportunities, available services and capabilities of nearly half of the population in Asia and the Pacific.
The region is facing a polycrisis, at the forefront of the climate crisis, with the impacts of COVID19 pandemic exacerbating pre-existing structural inequalities, and increases in conflict, which are intersecting with poverty, governance challenges, limited access to basic services and resources. Several governments in the region have undertaken undemocratic measures by closing civic space and undermining accountability processes, and there are increasing mobilizations of what can be broadly termed an ‘anti-gender movement’, all of which is negatively impacting the achievement of bodily autonomy for women, girls, LGBTIQ, migrants and forcibly displaced persons, climate change affected, young people, women living with HIV, women with disabilities, sex workers and other marginalised communities.
This is a pivotal year for the region, marking the midway point of the Agenda 2030, 30 years of the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action (ICPD@30) , almost 30 years of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (Beijing+30), and the first Summit of the Future; and yet maintaining progress on gender equality and the achievement of SRHR still remains a distant goal for many countries in Asia and the Pacific.
2. Development Justice and SDGs under review 2024
SDG 1 Poverty
Poverty should be understood as a multidimensional phenomenon[1]. Manifestations of poverty include “a lack of income and productive resources to ensure sustainable livelihoods; hunger and malnutrition; ill health; limited or lack of access to education and other basic services; increased morbidity and mortality from illness; homelessness and inadequate housing; unsafe environments and social discrimination and exclusion. It is also characterised by lack of participation in decision-making and in civil, social and cultural life.[2] At the same time, the high cost of healthcare prevents poor especially women , young people, women with disabilities and marginalised groups globally from accessing healthcare services.
The systemic barriers faced by women, girls, young people, women with disabilities and LGBTIQ persons in Asia Pacific perpetuate the cycle of poverty, including discrimination, stigma, and a lack of understanding in different social dimensions, which contribute to compromised mental and physical well-being. Specific barriers to healthcare faced by trans and gender diverse persons include experiences of discrimination, a lack of knowledge of SOGIESC among healthcare providers, lack of available affirming services, and monetised health services[3]. Research on transgender youth in 3 Southeast Asian countries found that out-of-pocket expenditure remained the primary health financing method for 56.17% of transgender individuals accessing health services[4]. This disproportionately impacts trans and gender-diverse people's access to healthcare in the region, resulting in socio-economic exclusion and impoverishment of the communities. Women and girls with disabilities are denied SRHR information, denied rights to establish relationships and to decide whether, when and with whom to form a family, and face violations including forced sterilization and coerced abortion.
Studies have shown the multifaceted challenges faced by women and girls due to systemic poverty, including women’s economic dependance, multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and violence, their unequal access to resources and services and ultimately their bodily autonomy[5]. 53.8 million unintended pregnancies occur each year in Asia, of which nearly 65% end in abortion[6]. Gendered power dynamics are clearly at play in the region given the unequal participation of women in labour forces, with an increased observation of unpaid work and gender gaps in time spent in unpaid work. [7]
SRHR encompasses “enabling people of all ages, including adolescents and those older than the reproductive years, to have safe and satisfying sexual relationships by tackling obstacles such as gender discrimination, restrictive laws, sexual coercion, exploitation, and gender-based violence”[8]. Poverty compromises the potential to enjoy good SRHR throughout the life cycle through a number of pathways: undernutrition and anaemia, low educational attainment, poor quality of shelter, sexual abuse and intimate partner violence, and poor access to SRH services. Women with disabilities also face significant financial barriers to SRH services.
SDG 2 Ending Hunger
Hunger and malnutrition in all its forms have gender and age dimensions, and are closely linked to health outcomes, including SRHR. Benefits from improved food and nutrition are accelerated if accompanied by access to adequate education, SRHR information, education and services, clean water, and necessary hygiene and sanitation. Policies and support programs need to be inclusive and participatory with trackable investments dedicated towards reshaping underlying social structures and practices that precipitate higher nutritional deprivation and food insecurity amongst women, girls, LGBTIQA+ people and those belonging to religious/ethnic/caste-based minorities, and indigenous, migrant and refugee/displaced communities.
Women's needs are central to framing food security and food sovereignty policies and programs that integrate SRHR. Investments in women’s nutrition and SRHR also brings dividends in terms of improved health security for their children, families, and entire communities. Including out-of-school CSE in farming communities can ensure that women are made equal partners in the production of food in the Pacific, and for agrarian societies can directly impact the types of food being farmed for families and thus dietary intake.
More attention is needed to address the complex relationship between migration, health, food security and nutrition as food insecurity and hunger are among the chief drivers of migration for both men and women. In the post COVID-19 world, it is crucial to rethink food systems and patterns of production and consumption through appropriate subsidies for food producers, people-centered policies, integrated support for nutrition, education, health services, water and sanitation, food price stability and curbing of artificial shortages and market distortions to ensure people will not have to choose between exposure to a virus and starvation[9].
SDG 13 Climate Change
Women and girls in all their diversities are disproportionately vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. The intersectionalities of climate change impacts are particularly noted in sub regions like South Asia, and small island states. [10] Resource scarcity such as food, water, firewood, medicines and daily required materials, heightened security risks such as harrassment and sexual abuse due to displacement, increased domestic workload and limited access to SRH and other basic health and education services. This leads women and girls in Asia and Pacific to experience the greatest impacts of climate change, which in turn amplifies existing gender inequalities and poses unique threats to their livelihoods, health and safety[11].
Studies in Bangladesh, Nepal and the Philippines have shown that climate change is a driver for communities to resort to early, child and forced marriages. In Nepal, young girls are often the first to be affected during climate extreme events, to the extent that they will have to drop out of their schools, because of the increasing domestic workload to help their families adjust to economic hardships of loss and displacements[12]. In Bangladesh, the climate catastrophe contribute to the increase in the prevalence of sexual and gender based violence such as sexual assault, exploitation and trafficking[13]. In the Philippines, marginalised women are more vulnerable to SRHR violation due to lack of services, especially contraceptive services. In Pakistan’s Sindh province, women encounter difficulties accessing health services during displacement due to the absence of women doctors in shelters and camps[14]. Patriarchal practices in the province further hinder women’s abilities to seek health services independently.
Immediate steps must be taken to implement existing policies and strategies that include integrating climate change adaptation and mitigation measures and establish special SRH services for women and youth in all their diversities in the severely impacted areas such as island and mountain regions. Multisectoral approaches are urgently needed to build health system resilience to climate, health and humanitarian crises.
SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
With conflict risks on the rise across Asia and the Pacific and geopolitical tensions mounting, the region is also seeing a rise in authoritarianism and militarism[15]. Conflicts and crises disproportionately impact women and girls, and marginalised communities. Conflict and post-conflict countries tend to show the highest sexual violence rates worldwide, with rape and other forms of gender-based violence (GBV) being used as weapons of war[16]. Women affected by crises have a higher risk of miscarriage, premature delivery, childbirth-related complications and infertility. Access to obstetric and antenatal care for pregnant people, access to contraceptive information and services, including emergency contraception, and access to safe abortion and post-abortion care, especially for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), are among the most pressing needs during times of conflict and post-conflict.
Respect for human rights is paramount to the prevention of conflict, and respect for international humanitarian law is obligatory for ALL state and non-state parties in armed conflict. The participation of civil society in all humanitarian aid, recovery and peacebuilding and development efforts should be embedded by providing opportunities for women and marginalised groups in relevant national, regional and international platforms. Women, LGBTIQ and other marginalised groups play an essential role in peacebuilding and conflict prevention.
The Summit of the Future has emphasised rebuilding the multilateral system to ensure it is responsive to the current needs. In Asia Pacific, there is a strong concern over the trend of closing civic space and the undermining of human rights, and the Pact of the Future must commit to the creation and protection of a safe and enabling environment for civil society to ensure full participation and respect for human rights. The contributions made by civil society, including women’s and community-based organizations, feminist groups, women human rights defenders, girls’ and youth-led organizations should be recognized by the Summit of the Future, along with their integral importance to multilateral processes.
SDG 17 Partnerships
Progress towards SDG17 has been slow in the Asia Pacific region and within some targets, the progress has been reversed. Inclusive partnerships at local national, regional and global levels are crucial in accelerating the progress towards the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development across financing, technology, capacity strengthening, and trade and systemic issues.
● Facilitate South-South cooperation for countries in the region to support each other with regards to the rights of young people in all their diversities, including their SRHR, with increased investments to facilitate intergenerational dialogues, the creation of safe spaces for women and young people in all their diversities, and peer-support leader groups.
● Invest in funding for feminist and intersectional civil society organizations. The leadership, meaningful participation and voice of women and young people in all their diversities (elderly persons, persons with disabilities, indigenous people, those from conflict areas/and in conflict with the law, people of diverse SOGIESC, and other marginalised groups and communities) must be promoted in decision-making including planning, implementation and monitoring processes
● Community groups, religious leaders, and institutions must be engaged to raise awareness on SRHR issues and alleviate socio-cultural barriers and misconceptions.
● Collaboration and cooperation amongst diverse civil society groups working across sustainable development is crucial to the achievement of the agenda in Asia and the Pacific
3 PEOPLE’S SOLUTIONS/ CSO solutions/ innovations
● Ensure an enabling environment for civil society, institutionalize their participation, and commit dedicated resources to support and enable engagement. Representation, active and inclusive participation requires core, flexible, and sustained funding, including for CS networks.
● Ensure that women and girls, and LGBTIQ persons are at the center of the design, implementation and evaluation of GBV prevention and response efforts and SRHR programming.
● Assess gender and climate change policy frameworks to enable youth and CSO engagement at all levels; address the technical knowledge needed to design age and gender responsive, gender specific and gender transformative climate actions; and build national frameworks for monitoring and evaluation of climate change adaptation to strengthen gender mainstreaming and gender responsive programmatic action[17] Strengthen the interlinkages between SRHR and bodily autonomy in differential vulnerability to climate change and allow space for integration of women, girls and LGBTI people’s needs in climate change action with a specific focus on health and climate change, prioritising the voices of youth and their inter-generational concerns.
4 RECOMMENDATIONS
We call upon Member States to:
● Strengthen health systems to deliver SRHR services using an adolescent, youth-centric, and disability friendly approach, as defined in international guidelines. Medical curricula must be inclusive of the health needs of all.
● Enact laws that will enable universal access to SRHR and achieve bodily autonomy for all, remove unnecessary legal and regulatory barriers.This should include passing and enforcing legislation which prohibits harmful practices including forced sterilisation and contraception, coerced abortion and female genital mutilation
● Ensure SRH services are included comprehensively in the UHC packages at the country level. Incorporate transgender health, including affirming primary care, mental health, and gender-affirming services, into the universal health coverage packages at the country's levels to ensure accessible healthcare for trans and gender-diverse persons in the Asia Pacific.
● Address all forms of SGBV in conflict, including early and forced marriage, ‘honor’ killings, and sex trafficking, as well as attacks on women in public life, lack of access to health services and education
● Ensure that women are included in the design and execution of humanitarian aid, recovery, peacebuilding and development efforts by: developing standardized trainings and resources for gender-responsive humanitarian action; prioritizing gender-sensitive budgets, including gender analysis in all humanitarian appeals, and significantly increasing funding to local women’s rights, feminist and women-led organizations including disability led4.
● Enact law reform towards amending the laws and policies that restrict the right to safe abortion and expose pregnant persons to discrimination and restrict their rights to bodily autonomy. Resources must also be made available to provide accessible, high-quality, stigma free contraception and safe abortion information and services for women in all their diversity, enabling them to live with dignity and ensuring bodily autonomy and informed choice.
● The Pact of the Future must commit to the creation and protection of a safe and enabling environment for civil society to ensure full participation and respect for human rights in Asia and the Pacific, and policy coherence and reaffirmation of the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action (ICPD PoA)
● Prioritise budget availability for and integrate comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) into curricula, in both formal and non-formal education settings, and update curricula to make it comprehensive. CSE programmes and resource material must be tailored and made accessible for marginalised youth. Gender-transformative education systems should also be promoted, which must include gender-responsive education sector planning and budgeting, adequate WASH facilities and appropriate menstrual hygiene management facilities, child and social protection.
● Take steps to implement existing policies and strategies that include integrating climate change adaptation and mitigation measures and establish special SRH services for women and youth in all their diversities in the severely impacted areas such as island and mountain regions. Multisectoral approaches are urgently needed to build health system resilience to climate, health and humanitarian crises
● Support measures to ensure the meaningful inclusion under the UNFCCC framework, and accelerate climate, gender equality and SRHR-related education with disaggregated data, invest in research, build capacity, training, and participation in a comprehensive set of measures to ensure that States adopt inclusive solutions to the climate crisis and uptake SRHR services.
● Governments should design and implement policies and programmes which raise awareness of the SRHR of people with disabilities, emphasising their sexual autonomy and decision-making capacity and the multiple and intersectional discrimination faced
● Digitalization must be pursued with human rights at the center, with ongoing consideration of the impact of rapidly-evolving technologies that perpetuate existing patterns of inequality.
● Ensure that cyber laws do not infringe upon adolescents, young people, women, LGBTIQ peoples’ human rights, in particular SRHR.
● Develop legislation to include new forms of gender-based violence with regard to online harassment, disinformation, misinformation, and harmful stereotyping.
● Governments should ratify ILO Convention 190 in order to eliminate gender-based violence and harassment in work settings, and contribute to equality of opportunity.
[1] as defined by the World Summit on Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995
[3] Asia Pacific Transgender Network,. (2023) available at: https://weareaptn.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/English.pdf
[4] Asia Pacific Transgender Network (2023) available at: https://weareaptn.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/English.pdf
[5] UN Women (2018) available at: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/Library/Publications/2018/Discussion-paper-Gender-equality-and-poverty-are-intrinsically-linked-en.pdf
[6] Guttmacher Institute (2018). Abortion in Asia: Fact sheet.
[7] (https://arrow.org.my/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ARROW-AFC-29_1_2023_WEB_Accesible-PDF.pdf)
[8] Glasier et al, 2006
[9] Asia Pacific Alliance for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights APA (2020) Food Systems and Nutrition Patterns and Linkages with Gender and SRHR. Available at: https://www.asiapacificalliance.org/our-publications/food
[10] IPCC 2022 report
[11]ARROW https://arrow.org.my/publication/accelerating-gender-responsive-climate-action-through-empowered-csos-capacity-needs-assessment-in-bangladesh-cambodia-and-vietnam/
[12] ARROW https://arrow.org.my/publication/nepal-scoping-study-amplifying-voices-of-indigenous-women-and-girls-with-disabilities-on-the-nexus-of-climate-change-and-srhr/ ,
[13]ARROW https://arrow.org.my/publication/bangladesh-scoping-study-policy-research-on-climate-change-and-srhr-in-khulna-division-of-bangladesh/ ,
[14] ARROW https://arrow.org.my/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Climate-Change-and-SRHR-Scoping-Study_Pakistan.pdf ,
[15] According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the majority of countries (for which there is data) show an increase in military spending between 2021-2022. See https://www.sipri.org/visualizations/2023/military-expenditure-asia-and-oceania-2022
[16] UNODC, "Global Study on Homicide," United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2019, from: https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/global-study-on-homicide.html
