scholarly journals Practice Note: Why We Started Talking About Menstruation—Looking Back (and Looking Forward) with the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation

2020 ◽  
pp. 475-483
Author(s):  
Virginia Roaf ◽  
Catarina de Albuquerque
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
Access To Education ◽  
Special Rapporteur ◽  
Water And Sanitation ◽  
Sanitation And Hygiene ◽  
Menstrual Health ◽  
Women And Girls ◽  
The Many ◽  
Looking Back

Abstract In this conversation, Catarina de Albuquerque, former UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to water and sanitation, and her former advisor, Virginia Roaf, discuss how menstrual health and menstruation have become critical to understanding the contribution that the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector can make to ensuring gender equality. They look back at country missions and the many conversations with women and girls that led to a closer examination of how stigma around menstruation limits access to education, work, and a life in dignity. WASH provides a strong entry point for addressing taboos relating to menstruation, but the authors identify that one must get past this often technical understanding to address deeply entrenched gender stereotypes.

scholarly journals THE PECULIARITIES OF IMPLEMENTATION OF GENDER POLICY IN SECURITY AND DEFENSE SPHERES ON THE EXAMPLE OF UN AND NATO

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iryna Klymchuk ◽  
◽  
Olena Shtraikher ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Special Rapporteur ◽  
Gender Policy ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
Women And Girls ◽  
And Gender

The study examines the peculiarities of the implementation of gender policy in the field of security and defense by the example of the UN and NATO. To achieve this goal, we considered the legal regulation of gender equality in the field of security and defense of the UN and NATO; analyzed the work of institutional mechanisms for the implementation of gender policy in the field of security and defense by the example of the UN and NATO; characterized the peculiarities of cooperation between Ukraine, the UN and NATO in ensuring gender equality in the field of security and defense. The legal regulation of gender equality at the UN and NATO levels was considered, in particular a number of resolutions (UN Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security No. 1325, No. 1820, No. 1888, No. 1889, No. 1960, No. 2106, No. 2122, No. 2422, No. 2467, No. 2493), which recognizes the importance of involving women and gender mainstreaming in peace negotiations, humanitarian planning, peacekeeping, post-conflict peacebuilding, governance, and equal participation of women at all levels of conflict prevention or protection from sexual violence. Also the authors analyzed the work of institutional mechanisms responsible for the implementation of gender policy of the UN and NATO, in particular, their expertise and scope of activities. It was clarified that the following persons responsible for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions in NATO: Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Women, Peace and Security; NATO Gender Office; Gender Adviser at the International Military Staff; a number of advisory committees and working groups led by NATO Strategic Command; Civil Society Advisory Council on Women, Peace and Security. At the same time, the UN has seven expert institutions and regional independent human rights experts to combat discrimination and gender-based violence against women and girls: UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women; UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women; UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls; Committee of Experts on the Follow-up Mechanism to the Belem-Par Convention; Expert Group on Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence; Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Africa of the African Commission on Human Rights; Human Rights Rapporteur. In addition, a number of sub-organizations and programs have been established at the UN level to achieve gender equality in all spheres of life, such as the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the HeForShe IMPACT 10x10x10 movement and the UN-Women. Aspects of Ukraine's cooperation with the UN and NATO in ensuring gender equality in the field of security and defense are highlighted separately. The importance and effectiveness of cooperation between Ukraine and the Alliance during the war in Eastern Ukraine have been established. The support by the UN of Ukraine in fulfilling the obligations within the international regulatory framework on the introduction of gender equality and women’s rights was also analyzed.

Monitoring the Progressive Realization of the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Mason Meier ◽  
Ryan Cronk ◽  
Jeanne Luh ◽  
Jamie Bartram ◽  
Catarina de Albuquerque
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Performance Index ◽  
Future Research ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Water And Sanitation ◽  
Frontier Analysis ◽  
External Monitoring ◽  
Sanitation And Hygiene ◽  
National Implementation ◽  
State Obligations

The human rights to water and sanitation have developed dramatically under international human rights law over the past forty years, with international political declarations leading to specific state obligations. Yet despite this evolution of human rights under international law, there are few mechanisms to monitor the progressive realization of those rights in national practice. The Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WaSH) Performance Index employs frontier analysis to monitor human rights to water and sanitation, across countries and over time. Tracking rates of change in water and sanitation coverage, the WaSH Performance Index allows for measurements of the progressive realization of human rights, publishing quantitative indicators reflective of the human rights to water and sanitation. Such external monitoring of outcome measures, correlating national implementation efforts with water and sanitation coverage data, provides a basis for future research and advocacy to facilitate rights-based accountability for water and sanitation policy.

scholarly journals Everywhere is Nowhere: A Systematic Review of Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management (MHHM) as a Human Right

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suruchi Sood ◽  
Sarah Stevens ◽  
Maho Okumura ◽  
Astha Ramaiya ◽  
Michael Hauer
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Full Text ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
English Language ◽  
Grey Literature ◽  
Hygiene Management ◽  
Sanitation And Hygiene ◽  
Menstrual Health ◽  
Rights Issue

Abstract Background: In many countries, stigma surrounds menstruation, which impacts several Sustainable Development Goals, including good health, quality education, gender equality, and water and sanitation. Despite its relationship with several development issues, menstrual health and hygiene management among adolescents has until recently been ignored by practitioners and researchers. This paper is a systematic review of existing literature and argues that menstrual health and hygiene management is a human rights issue, cross-cutting through development domains of health, education, nutrition, child protection, and water, sanitation, and hygiene. Methods: Four coders independently screened PubMed, Academic OneFile, and Google Scholar to obtain articles using iterations of the key terms: menstrual health; adolescents; health outcomes; education; nutrition; water, sanitation, and hygiene; and child protection. English language primary studies in peer-reviewed or grey literature articles published after 2000, that mentioned adolescents, health or hygiene, and menstruation or menstrual were included. A 9-item scale was used to rate selected full-text articles as strong, moderate, or weak. Synthesis of the results were narrative and examined the relationships between menstrual health and hygiene management and the cross-cutting domains.Results: In total, 28,745 articles were screened, with 84 articles included in the full-text review and quality assessment. Nine articles were coded as “strong” (10.8%), 46 (55.4%) as “moderate,” and 28 (33.7%) as “weak.” More than 60% of the articles examined the relationship between menstrual health and hygiene management and health (37.3%) or water, sanitation, and hygiene (25.3%). Only 11 manuscripts examined menstrual health and hygiene management as a cross-cutting issue impacting more than one development domain.Conclusions: Access to adequate facilities and menstrual health and hygiene management resources are the most common relationships documented within literature. However, there is little focus on menstrual health and hygiene management in the context of other development domains, highlighting the fact that poor menstrual health and hygiene management has not been studied as a human rights issue, negatively impacting millions of girls. Using a cross-cutting, human rights framework to address inadequate menstrual health and hygiene management is fundamental to promoting menstrual health and hygiene management with dignity among girls and women across the globe.

scholarly journals The Human Rights to Water and Sanitation in Policy Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Analysis of Brazilian States

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 228
Author(s):  
Davi Madureira Victral ◽  
Léo Heller
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Financial Sustainability ◽  
Economic Sustainability ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Water And Sanitation ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
Sanitation And Hygiene

The outbreak of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) led to an unprecedented number of policy responses from public institutions involved in the health and economic sectors. Nonetheless, the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector remained in the background of this decision-making arena. The objective of the study presented herein was to observe and discuss political responses to the new coronavirus pandemic in the context of WASH during the first 40 days of the outbreak, using as cases the five Brazilian states most affected by the pandemic. We addressed this issue with a quali-quantitative exploratory study using content analysis to discuss the direction (for whom and how?) of those policy responses, through the framework of the human rights to water and sanitation. The paper also introduces a timeline to map the reactivity and proactivity of the studied institutions. We identified two major priorities in policy responses to the coronavirus pandemic: population protection and financial and economic sustainability of service providers. In regard to population protection, the findings show that it often did not contemplate all of the population, and that equality and non-discriminations were partially ignored in the laws and regulations. In addition, institutions more attached to service providers were more committed to the provider’s economic and financial sustainability than to measures to directly protect the population.

scholarly journals 2030 Agenda for Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Look from the Human Rights Perspective

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Water And Sanitation ◽  
Sanitation Services ◽  
2030 Agenda ◽  
Sanitation And Hygiene ◽  
Access To Water ◽  
The Caribbean

This document was inspired by the need to promote comprehensive actions in the management of water and sanitation services with a human rights focus within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) related to drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean; in addition, it ratifies the results reported in a PAHO study (2016) on the profound inequalities between urban and rural areas in access to water and sewage services, and the correlation with characteristics such as gender, age, income, education, among others. This report assumed this challenge using a methodology based on the Human Rights to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation (HRWS) analytical framework. This report seeks to provide the most up-to-date overview of the SDG targets 6.1 and 6.2 situation in Latin America and the Caribbean. Besides outlining the general situation of countries, it presents some elements regarding human rights and the targets 6.1 and 6.2 that have been neglected in the initial monitoring of the 2030 Agenda, above all, the dimensions of inequality and affordability. This report presents four case studies, one per sub-regional block, with a more detailed characterization of the national and subnational situations of Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic. The results of this study show that a significant proportion of the Latin American and Caribbean population still lacks adequate access to water and sanitation services. Only 65% of the population has access to safely managed water services, a percentage lower than that reported worldwide, which is 71%. With regard to safely managed sanitation services, the situation is even more critical, with an access level of 39% worldwide being reported, compared to 22% in our Region.

The Emergence of “New” Health-Related Human Rights

2020 ◽  
pp. 263-284
Author(s):  
Benjamin Mason Meier ◽  
Inga T. Winkler
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Communicable Disease ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Water And Sanitation ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Sanitation And Hygiene ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Human Rights Advocacy ◽  
The Right

This chapter discusses the evolving understanding of human rights to encompass determinants of health through the human rights to water and sanitation, which are vital to the prevention of both communicable and non-communicable disease. In 2002, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights argued that the right to water is a distinct human right derived from the right to an adequate standard of living and the right to health. Solidified by the UN General Assembly and the Human Rights Council, states have provided a normative framework for efforts to realize the human rights to water and sanitation. This recognition of the human rights to water and sanitation has provided a foundation to implement these rights through national policy and international organizations. With advocates now seeking accountability for these rights, human rights advocacy, litigation, and monitoring will be crucial for meeting water, sanitation, and hygiene needs.

s.Three Contemporary Applications, 12 The Emergence of “New” Health-Related Human Rights: Recognizing the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meier Benjamin Mason ◽  
Winkler Inga T
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Communicable Disease ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Water And Sanitation ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Sanitation And Hygiene ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Human Rights Advocacy ◽  
The Right

This chapter discusses the evolving understanding of human rights to encompass determinants of health through the human rights to water and sanitation, which are vital to the prevention of both communicable and non-communicable disease. In 2002, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights argued that the right to water is a distinct human right derived from the right to an adequate standard of living and the right to health. Solidified by the UN General Assembly and the Human Rights Council, states have provided a normative framework for efforts to realize the human rights to water and sanitation. This recognition of the human rights to water and sanitation has provided a foundation to implement these rights through national policy and international organizations. With advocates now seeking accountability for these rights, human rights advocacy, litigation, and monitoring will be crucial for meeting water, sanitation, and hygiene needs.

scholarly journals Addressing Menstrual Health & Hygiene Practices in the Era of COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Santosh Kumar Mishra ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Research Work ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Menstrual Hygiene ◽  
Hygiene Practices ◽  
Sanitation And Hygiene ◽  
Menstrual Health ◽  
The Face ◽  
Displaced People ◽  
Women And Girls

Menstruation is the natural bodily process of releasing blood and associated matter from the uterus through the vagina as part of the menstrual cycle. Menstrual health take into account both menstrual hygiene management (MHM) practices and the broader interventions that link menstruation to health, wellbeing, gender, education, equality, empowerment and rights. Ensuring menstrual health & hygiene (MHH) practices in the face of COVID-19 health crisis gains increased significance in today’s world. In relation to MHM, several countries have reported that COVID-19 pandemic has worsened key challenges for women and adolescent girls who bleed due to several reasons. This research work aims to address strategies needed to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on MHH. Also, attempts have been made to investigate into considerations needed for ensuring MHH practices among women and girls with disabilities, and refugee and displaced people, as they are likely to be severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Secondary data (largely qualitative in nature) have been used in the work and nature of data analysis is descriptive. The paper concludes that there is need to ensure that MHH supplies and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) are in place for both menstruating women and girls, and health care workers in hospital settings offering both menstrual health and COVID-19 care and services.

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