Symposium over Handicaps, ontwikkeling en Sexual & Reproductive Health and Rights

Symposium: Disability, Development & Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights
Date: Saturday, 3 December 2011
Venue: VU Griffioen, Uilenstede 106, 1183 AM Amsterdam (9:30 -16:00)
 
On Saturday 3 December – World Disability Day – DCDD and partners cordially invite you to the symposium on Disability, Development and Sexual & Reproductive Health and Rights. This symposium is being organised in the context of the ‘End Exclusion’ (www.endexclusion.eu) and ‘Making Development Inclusive’ projects, in collaboration with the VU University Amsterdam, LIGHT FOR THE WORLD and IDDC.
  
During the last few years, the international community increasingly recognised the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Although Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) are one of the focus points of Dutch development cooperation, there is still little attention given to people with disabilities in this area. According to the ’World Report on Disability’ released by the World Health Organization and the World Bank in June this year, around 15% of the world’s population has a disability. This means that the sexual and reproductive health and rights of a large part of the world’s population are being neglected. This is even more pronounced in developing countries, where around 80% of the world’s population is living.
 
Marriage, building a family, and access to information about SRHR are less self-evident for persons with disabilities than for their non-disabled peers. People with disabilities are more often the victims of sexual exploitation and abuse. Informed consent for treatments such as sterilisation and abortion is often denied to persons with disabilities. People with an intellectual disability are at higher risk of becoming victims of unauthorized proceedings.
 
There are many challenges for international cooperation to create equal rights and access to sexual and reproductive health for all. Often, legislation and policy at the national level insufficiently protect the rights of persons with disabilities. Research is essential for increasing public understanding about Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for people with disabilities. This topic needs urgent attention.

Het programma en mogelijkheden voor aanmelding vindt u op de website van de Dutch Coalition for Development and Disability: